Under Mount Saint Elias:
The History and Culture
of the Yakutat Tlingit
Frederica de Laguna
?
SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY
VOLUME 7
H

SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY
VOLUME 7 [In Three Parts]
PART ONE
SERIAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
The emphasis upon publications as a means of diffusing knowledge was expressed
by the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. In his formal plan for the Insti-
tution, Joseph Henry articulated a program that included the following statement:
"It is proposed to publish a series of reports, giving an account of the new discoveries
in science, and of the changes made from year to year in all branches of knowledge."
This keynote of basic research has been adhered to over the years in the issuance
of thousands of titles in serial publications under the Smithsonian imprint, com-
mencing with Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge in 1848 and continuing with
the following active series:
Smithsonian Annals of Flight
Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology
Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics
Smithsonian Contributions to Botany
Smithsonian Contributions to the Earth Sciences
Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology
Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology
Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology
In these series, the Institution publishes original articles and monographs dealing
with the research and collections of its several museums and offices and of professional
colleagues at other institutions of learning. These papers report newly acquired facts,
synoptic interpretations of data, or original theory in specialized fields. These pub-
lications are distributed by mailing lists to libraries, laboratories, and other interested
institutions and specialists throughout the world. Individual copies may be obtained
from the Smithsonian Institution Press as long as stocks are available.
S. DILLON RIPLEY
Secretary
Smithsonian Institution
Under Mount Saint Elias:
The History and Culture of the
Yakutat Tlingit
Frederica de Laguna
PART O N E
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS
City of Washington
1972
A Publication of the
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
National Museum of Natural History
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CARD 77-185631
United States GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1972
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $16.50 per 3 part set.
Sold in sets only.
To the People of Yakutat
The day has long passed since the ethnographer
could write in the confident expectation that the people
whose culture he described would never read his book.
The growing literacy and self-consciousness of peoples
all over the world mean that, even in those remote areas
of Melanesian jungle where today the missionary or
trader has hardly penetrated, there will be a literate
population, perhaps sooner than we expect. In Alaska,
during little more than a lifetime, there has been the
transformation of hunting and fishing peoples who could
neither read nor write into literate fellow citizens. What-
ever we as anthropologists or as historians write about
Alaska will be read and judged by these Alaskans, and
upon their verdict will depend the welcome and success
of those ethnologists who may follow us.
The local critics will be more severe than our profes-
sional colleagues, since it is their own lives (or those of
their parents and grandparents), their hopes and fears,
their failings and triumphs that we, the anthropologists,
describe. To my friends at Yakutat I must therefore
address both my heartfelt thanks for their friendship
and help in gathering the data used in wTiting this book,
and my apologies for any mistakes I may have made. I
also ask forgiveness if I have unwittingly offended any-
one. In any community, large or small, there are bound
to be differences of opinion, for, as one of my Tlingit
teachers used to say: "There's always two sides." For
this reason alone, I know I cannot please everyone
equally. In describing the potlatch given by one sib,
other sibs may feel slighted, or other persons believe
that they could have given a better account than the one
I used. If there were dark pages in the ancient life, my
Tlingit friends must remember that no cruelty toward
witches or slaves, no blasphemous bigotry, no blood-
thirsty violence of which their ancestors may be accused
can equal those examples of which my own ancestors or
other Whites have been guilty. As part of our history,
these facts should not be forgotten.
Lest anyone suppose that I or anyone else is making
any money from this book, let me explain that the
Government Printing Office is not a commercial pub-
lishing house; it does not make a profit on books it
sells, because to print them is the service which it must
render to the people of the United States. In recom-
mending this book for publication, the Smithsonian
Institution does me a great honor, but no one has or
ever will pay me royalties for it. Of course, I could not
have gathered the information without the grants-in-
aid that made travel to Alaska possible, nor written the
book without the fellowship that permitted me to leave
my regular job for a year. For this help I am truly grate-
ful. But it has not enriched me. The additional labor
through many vacations and the many extra expenses
incidental to this work, I have gladly undertaken, for
it is in work of this kind that anthropologists delight
and in which they find their most precious rewards.
Yet, I should like the people of Yakutat to feel that
this is thek book, too.
Needless to say, all notes involving personalities are
held in confidence; all tape recordings of songs belonging
to sibs or to individual composers will never be repro-
duced without permission from their owners. The pur-
pose of this work has not been to gather material for
personal gain, but rather to record in as truthful a
manner as possible the history and customs of the
people of Yakutat, so that not only our students today
but also their own children and grandchildren might
learn about this chapter in the history of our Alaska.
I have wanted this book to be accurate and scholarly,
based upon what I was taught, not on what I guessed
or imagined. Therefore, when quoting a statement or
reporting some item of information, I should have liked
to include the name or initials of the person from whom
I heard it, just as I have cited the author of a book
from which I have quoted. But I do not feel free to do
this with my Yakutat friends, lest I inadvertently
cause embarrassment to someone. Such specific credit
to individual informants is given only to those who
have died. These volumes are therefore a tribute to
their memory. The living will find their names or
initials only where I have quoted them on the history
of Yakutat, on myths and tales, or on other subjects
of public knowledge such as may pertain, for example,
to the songs they recorded.
I do not want anyone to assume, however, that my
debt to the living is less than that to those who have
left us. To Olaf and Susie Abraham I owe knowledge
about many topics including the old-style house, hunt-
ing, cosmology, and song composition. Harry K.
Bremner taught me not only about history, sib ter-
ritories, religion, the potlatch, and native beliefs of the
afterlife, but also about the duties of the chief?his
role in war, in the potlatch, and in the education of the
young. No one could have been more helpful or patient
in explaining the intricacies of social organization than
was Helen Bremner. Maggie Harry shared her knowl-
edge of preparing dried salmon, helping women in
childbirth, and caring for babies. Emma Ellis and Annie
George both gave valuable information about Dry Bay
customs: the former was particularly helpful in matters
pertaining to the life of women and to the making of
peace; the latter gave information about sib heirlooms
and the protocol of the potlatch. Information about
hunting, fishing, food preparation, and native manu-
factures I also owe to these women, as well as to Olaf
Abraham, Harry K. Bremner, Sampson Harry, Harvey
Milton, William Thomas, and John Ellis. The last
named, John Ellis, was both patient and skilled in
questions pertaining to Tlingit linguistics; to him I
owe many insights into the meanings of abstract terms
and philosophical concepts.
To single out my friends mentioned above does not
lessen my debt to the others. My special gratitude goes
to all of the following native residents of Yakutat who
showed so much patience in answering questions, inter-
est in volunteering information, and kind friendship.
I have identified each person with whom I worked
according to sib affiliation (see pp. 217-229) and birth-
place, although all have long been residents of Yakutat.
Obviously, from some who were met only in 1949, or
briefly in 1952 and 1954, only a little information was
gained, while others gave much more. I have not
included the many children and grandchildren who
served, not so much as informants but as unconscious
embodiments of Yakutat life. Finally, I must make
special mention of Mrs. Katy Dixon Isaac, who shared
with me her name, Kux&nguwutan, and who now lies
in the cemetery at Ankau Point.
Olaf Abraham, Teqwedi, born Yakutat, 1886. In 1949
his son, David, was interpreter; in 1952 and 1954,
his wife.
Susie Bremner Abraham, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat,
1903; wife of Olaf.
Harry K. Bremner, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat, 1893;
lived in Controller Bay area, 1907-10.
Helen Italio Bremner, Gafyix-Kagwantan, born Yaku-
tat, 1900; wife of Harry.
John Bremner, Kwac]?qwan, born Yakutat, 1912;
brother of Harry.
Maggie Dick, CAnkuqedi, born Dry Bay, 1897; moved
to Yakutat in the 1930's; since deceased. Her hus-
band, Frank Dick, Tl'uknaxAdi, born Sitka, 1899;
died 1964; acted as interpreter.
Ben Dirky, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat, 1890; edu-
cated by his father (White) at Katalla. Visiting his
mother, Mrs. Annie Johnson, at Yakutat in 1954.
Jack Ellis, Ti'uknaxAdi, born Sitka, 1892; died Yaku-
tat, 1952.
Emma Ellis, Kagwantan, born Dry Bay, 1896; widow
of Jack Ellis; has lived in Yakutat since 1911.
John Ellis, Kagwantan, born Yakutat, 1914; son of
Jack and Emma Ellis.
Annie George, Tl'uknaxAdi, born Yakutat, 1890;
widow of a Dry Bay man.
Maggie Adams Harry, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat (or
Juneau?), 1892; widow.
Sampson Harry, Kwackqwan, born Situk River, 1906.
Annie Nelson Harry, KTacKqwan, born Cordova, 1906;
widow of Galushia Nelson with whom Dr. Birket-
Smith and I worked at Cordova in 1933, now married
to Sampson; speaks Eyak and Tlingit.
Paul Henry, Tl'uknaxAdi, born Yakutat, about 1910.
David Henry, Tl'uknaxAdi, born Yakutat, 1914; Paul's
brother.
Katy Dixon Isaac, Kwackqwan, born Katalla; a very
old lady in 1949, died about 1955. Her grand-
daughter, Violet Sensmeier, acted as interpreter in
1952; in 1954, her grandson, Sheldon James, Jr.,
since deceased.
Frank Italio, CAnkuqedi, born Dry Bay, 1870; died
Yakutat, 1956; brother to Maggie Dick. Minnie
Johnson or Helen Bremner as interpreter.
Jenny Jack, Teqwedi, born Yakutat, 1903; widow.
Sheldon James, Sr., Teqwedi, born Yakutat, 1896; died
about 1955.
Mary James, Kwackqwan, born Katalla, 1926; daughter
of Annie Johnson and wife of Sheldon James, Sr.
Tom John, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat, 1901; died
1959.
Minnie Gray Johnson, Tl'uknaxAdi, born Yakutat,
1884; died 1964; widowed, but remarried in 1955 to
Frank Johnson (White).
George Johnson, Tcicqedi, born Katalla or Cordova
1892; speaks Eyak and Tlingit.
Annie Johnson, Kwackqwan, born Controller Bay or
Bering River, 1875; died 1964; wife of George. Her
husband or Minnie Johnson as interpreter.
Esther Johnson, CAnkuqedi, born Dry Bay, 1900;
married to Chester Johnson (White).
Jenny Kardeetoo, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat(?), 1872;
died 1951. Minnie Johnson as interpreter in 1949.
Peter Lawrence, Kagwantan, born Sitka, 1871; came
to Yakutat before 1897; died 1950.
William Milton, Teqwedi, born Yakutat(?), 1888; died
1950.
Nick Milton, Teqwedi, born Yakutat, 1896; died 1966;
brother of William.
Harvey Milton, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat, 1912; son
of William.
Louise Kardeetoo Peterson, KwacH:qwan, born Yakutat,
1905; married to Ben Peterson (White).
Jack Reed, Ti'uknaxAdi, born Sitka, 1880; died Yaku-
tat, 1953.
Edward Renner, Ti'uknaxAdi, born Yakutat, 1924; died
1962(?).
William Thomas, Teqwedi, born Controller Bay(?),
1911; has lived in Yakutat since infancy.
Mary Kardeetoo Thomas, KwacK:qwan, born Yakutat,
1911; died 1967; wife of William.
Charley White, Ti'uknaxAdi, born Situk River, 1879;
died 1964; brother to Minnie Johnson.
Jenny White, CAnkuqedi, born Dry Bay, 1903; wife of
Charley.
Sarah Williams, Kwackqwan, born Yakutat, 1910;
widow.
vn

Preface
The field data on which this report is based were
gathered at Yakutat in 1949, 1952, 1953, and 1954.
On my first exploratory visit, June 8 to July 13, 1949,
I was assisted by Edward Malin, then a graduate
student at the University of Colorado, and by William
Irving, then an undergraduate at the University of
Alaska. At that time several old village sites and a
number of well-informed, friendly natives gave promise
that combined archeological and ethnological investi-
gations would be fruitful. Furthermore, I learned that
there were two persons in the community who could
speak Eyak, a language which I had feared was extinct.
In the summer of 1952 (June 6 to September 13),
I returned to Yakutat with a larger party. Dr. Catharine
McClellan, who had worked with me at Angoon in
1950, collaborated in the ethnological investigations
at Yakutat, and Francis A. Riddell, who had also
been with us at Angoon, now directed the archeological
excavations at Knight Island near Yakutat under my
genera] supervision. He was assisted by Kenneth S.
Lane, Donald F. McGeein, and J. Arthur Freed, then
all students at or graduates of the University of Cal-
ifornia, Berkeley. For part of the summer, Dr. Fang-
Kwei Li, Department of Far Eastern Studies, Univer-
sity of Washington, undertook linguistic research on
Eyak, both at Yakutat and at Cordova.
The following summer, Riddell returned to continue
the archeological work, with another party from the
University of California consisting of Lane, McGeein,
Albert H. Olson, and Robert T. Anderson. During
the summer some ethnological information was gath-
ered, although this was not the primary aim of the
expedition.
In the winter and spring of 1954 (February 13 to
June 16), I was able to resume ethnological work at
Yakutat, assisted by Mary Jane Downs (now Mrs.
Benjamin Lenz, then Fellow in Anthropology at Bryn
Mawr College). We were accompanied by my mother,
Professor Emeritus Grace A. de Laguna, although
she took no active part in our investigations.
For hospitality in the field I am indebted to Paul
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 2
Stout, manager of the cannery in 1949, and for other
courtesies to Robert Welsh, manager in 1952 and
1954. J. B. Mallott, owner of an independent store,
was also very helpful. The Alaska Native Service,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Public
Health Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S.
Coast Guard, all rendered invaluable assistance.
Research at Yakutat was supported by the Wenner-
Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (1949,
1952), the Arctic Institute of North America, with
funds from the Office of Naval Research (1949, 1953),
the Social Science Research Council, the American
Philosophical Society (1954). The Department of An-
thropology, University of California at Berkeley,
the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Phila-
delphia, and Bryn Mawr College have all supported
the fieldwork and aided in the preparation of this
monograph. A Faculty Research Fellowship from the
Social Science Research Council in 1962-63, and the
hospitality of the Berkeley campus have enabled me
to write much of this volume.
A grant from the National Science Foundation
(G-4875) made possible assembling the illustrative and
bibliographic material.
In preparation of this monograph, I have received
the help and advice of many persons. For bibliographic
assistance, especially in finding unpublished materials,
I am indebted to Dr. J. Ronald Todd, Chief Reference
Librarian, University of Washington, Seattle; to Dr.
Willard E. Ireland, Provincial Librarian and Archi-
vist, Victoria, British Columbia; to Dr. Wilson Duff,
then Curator of Anthropology, and Donald N. Abbott,
then Assistant Anthropologist, both at the Provincial
Museum in Victoria; to Dr. John Barr Tompkins,
and to Assistant Director Robert H. Becker, indeed
to all the staff of the Bancroft Library at the Uni-
versity of California, Berkeley. Kenneth Lane, who
had copied many rare items in the Bancroft Library,
generously turned over to me his complete notebook,
and Dr. Robert F. Heizer, Department of Anthro-
pology, University of California, Berkeley, gave me
ix
SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
notes and photographs made at Yakutat by C. Hart
Merriam in 1899.
Through the kindness of Dr. Luis Pericot Garcia of
the University of Barcelona I was able to secure copies
of pictures, in the Museo Naval at Madrid, which had
been made at Yakutat in 1791 by the painter, Tomas
de Suria. Permission to publish the sketches in the
MS. journal of this painter (cf. Wagner, 1936) were
given by Dr. David Watkins, Chief Reference Librar-
ian, and Dr. Archibald Hanna, Curator, Western
Americana Collection, Yale University Library. I am
also endebted to Dr. Joaquin Gonzales-Muela, Pro-
fessor of Spanish, Bryn Mawr College, for assistance
in translating the accounts of Suria and Malaspina.
Dr. Erna Gunther, now at the Department of Anthro-
pology, University of Alaska, not only furnished a list
of all Suria's paintings in Madrid, but gave me her
invaluable notes on the specimens from Yakutat ac-
quired by the Portland Art Museum from the Reverend
Axel Rasmussen in 1948. Permission to publish photo-
graphs of these is gratefully acknowledged, as is addi-
tional information obtained from Donald Jenkins,
Curatorial Assistant. Dr. Luyse Kollner, Curator,
Airs. Mona Bedell, Secretary, and Virginia Hillock,
Registrar, procured photographs and information on
specimens in the Thomas Burke Memorial Washington
State Museum, Seattle, and Dr. Walter A. Fairservis,
Jr., Director, gave me permission to publish data on
them. Edward L. Keithahn, Curator, sent information
and his own photographs of Yakutat specimens in the
Alaska Historical Library and Museum, Juneau. Other
pictures of specimens there were taken for me by
Malcolm Greany, photographer. Dr. Frederick J.
Dockstader, Director, gave permisison to publish
photographs of specimens in the Museum of the Amer-
ican Indian, Heye Foundation, New York City. I am
grateful to Dr. Harry L. Shapiro, Chairman, to Miss
Bella Weitzner, Associate Curator Emeritus, and to
Dr. Richard A. Gould, Assistant Curator, Department
of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural His-
tory, New York City, for permission to utilize notes
and photographs made by G. T. Emmons at Yakutat
before 1889. I am especially grateful to Dr. Gould for
his tireless help and skill in photographing so many
specimens in the Emmons collections. At Princeton
University, Dr. Donald Baird, Department of Geology,
and Will Starks, photographer, spared no pains to give
me excellent photographs and fullest data on the
collection made in 1886 by Libbey at Yakutat. Lastly,
I should like to thank my Yakutat friends, John Ellis,
Mrs. Minnie Johnson, and Mr. and Mrs. Harry K.
Bremner for giving me pictures of Yakutat persons
and scenes to use in this book.
Parts of the manuscript hi various stages of comple-
tion have been read by a number of experts, and if,
despite their vigilance, errors have crept in or gone un-
detected, the fault is mine. These are Dr. George
Plafker, Geologist, Alaskan Geology Branch, U.S.
Geological Survey; Dr. John W. Aldrich, Research
Staff Specialist, and Dr. Richard H. Manville, both of
the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service; Dr. Fenner A. Chace, Jr., Dr.
J. F. Gates Clarke, Dr. Harald Rehder, Dr. W. R.
Taylor, and Howard L. Chapelle, all at the U.S. Na-
tional Museum; Dr. Donald Baird, Department of
Geology, Princeton University; Dr. Michael E. Krauss,
Department of Linguistics, University of Alaska; Dr.
Dell Hymes, Department of Anthropology, University
of Pennsylvania; and lastly, Dr. Catharine McClellan,
Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin,
Madison, my collaborator in the field in 1952.
Preliminary studies of Yakutat recordings were
made by Lindy Li Mark and by Agi Jambor, Professor
of Music at Bryn Mawr College. The transcriptions in
the Appendix, however, are those prepared by Dr.
David P. McAllester, Director of the Laboratory of
Ethnomusicology, Wesleyan University, under a grant
from the Penrose Fund of the American Philosophical
Society (1967).
It is Edward Schumacher, staff artist of the Smith-
sonian Institution, who has so skillfully and beautifully
prepared the maps and many of the illustrations for
this book. But without the skill and patient devotion
of the editor, these labors would have come to nothing.
Preparation of the index was made possible by the
kindness of Maude Hallowell, and through grants from
the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Re-
search and from Bryn Mawr College.
To those institutions that made this work possible,
to the many individuals who gave help and information,
and to my companions in the field, I wish to express
my thanks.
FEEDEEICA DE LAGTJNA
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Contents
Part 1
Page
To THE PEOPLE OF YAKUTAT v
PREFACE ix
INTRODUCTION 3
Basic assumptions and aims 4
Conduct of the fieldwork 8
Transcription of native words 11
THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 13
Introduction to Yakutat 15
The Tlingit world 15
The Gulf Coast of Alaska 16
The Gulf Coast tribes 17
Ecology of the Yakutat Bay area 21
Geography and geology 21
Geological changes 24
Climate 29
Flora 30
Mammals 35
Amphibia 41
Birds 42
Fish 50
Marine invertebrates and seaweed 55
Insects 56
THE HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 57
Yakutat Bay 58
The west side of Yakutat Bay 59
The east side of Yakutat Bay 61
Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord 67
Yakutat Bay to Dry Bay 71
The Ankau lagoon system 73
Lost River to Italio River 76
The Dry Bay area 81
The Alsek River 85
Cape Fairweather and Lituya Bay 90
The Gulf Coast west of Yakutat Bay 95
IcyBay 95
Icy Bay to Copper River 98
X I
SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Page
THROUGH ALIEN EYES: A HISTORY OF YAKUTAT 107
Eighteenth-century exploration 108
The first explorers (1741-83) 108
Zaikov and other Russian expeditions to the mainland (1783-88) 112
LaPerouse (1786) -- H 4
Dixon (1787) 123
Colnett (1788) 128
Ismailov and Bocharov (1788) 132
Douglas (1788) 138
Malaspina (1791) 139
Vancouver (1794) 153
The Russians 158
Shelikhov's "Glory of Russia," and Baranov (1792-93) 158
Purtov and Kulikalov (1794) 161
"Novo Rossiysk" (1795-1801) 166
Revolt of the Tlingit: Sitka (1802-04) 170
Revolt of the Tlingit: Yakutat (1805-06) 173
Yakutat (1806-67) 176
Under the American flag 180
Thefirstyears (1867-80) 180
The first surveys (1880-84) 184
Schwatka and Seton-Karr (1886) 187
Topham (1888) 194
Miners, missionaries, and the U.S.S. Rush (1888-90) 197
The conquest of Mount Saint Elias and the end of an era (1890-1900) 201
MYTH, LEGEND AND MEMORY: THE NATIVE HISTOEIES OF YAKUTAT 209
Setting the stage 210
Myth and history 210
Tribe and sib 211
Foreign peoples 213
Sibs among the Gulf of Alaska peoples, or important to their history 217
Historical narratives 230
Introduction 230
The history of Yakutat 231
Other versions of the Kwacliqwan migration story 236
Further tales about Knight Island and Xatgawet 242
The story of the CAnkuqedi 248
The story of the Teqwedi 251
The story of the Garyix-Kagwantan 254
Wars with the Aleuts 256
The first ship at Lituya Bay 258
The defeat of the Russians 259
War between the Tl'uknaxAdi and the Tl'axayik-Teqwedi 261
The story of Gusex and the fate of the Dry Bay people 270
Smallpox 277
The war between the Kagwantan and the Cx-Atqwan 279
An averted war with the Tsimshian 284
Geological changes in the Yakutat area 286
History of the Frog House: trouble between the Tl'uknaxAdi and the KiksAdi
at Si tka 288
IN THREE PARTS CONTENTS
Page
YAKUTAT HOUSES 293
Aboriginal dwellings and other structures 294
Meaning of the house 294
The aboriginal winter house 295
Three old houses 300
Smokehou ses 302
Camps 304
Caches 305
Bathhouses 305
House furnishings 306
Domestic life 309
Camps and houses in the 18th century 310
Houses in Lituya Bay, 1786 310
Houses in Yakutat Bay, 1787, 1788 311
Houses in Yakutat Bay, 1791 311
Houses and camps in the 19th century 313
Houses on Khantaak Island, 1886-90 313
Eyak Houses at Kayak, Controller Bay, 1886 313
Bark shelters, Disenchantment Bay, 1899 314
History of Yakutat houses 315
Tcicqedi and Garyix-Kagwantan houses west of Cape Yakataga 315
Knight Island houses 316
Nessudat houses 316
Diyaguna 'Et houses 316
Ahrnklin River houses 317
Tl'uknaxAdi houses on Johnson Slough 317
Dry Bay houses 318
Khantaak Island houses 319
Situk houses 320
Houses in the Old Village 321
Yakutat: the present town 326
The future 327
TRAVEL AND TRADE 329
Canoes 330
Introduction 330
Skin boats 330
Dugouts of the 18th century 332
Modern Yakutat dugouts 335
Snowshoes and sleds 345
Trade 346
Introduction 346
Travel and trade with the west . . 348
Travel and trade with the interior 350
Travel and trade with the south 351
Values in exchange 352
Coppers 353
Trade etiquette 354
Motives for travel and trade 356
MAKING A LIVING 359
Hunting and fishing 360
The annual cycle 360
Control of territories 361
Religious aspects 361
x ; v SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Page
MAKING A LIVING?Continued
Hunting and fishing?Continued
Land mammals 364
Weapons 367
Traps and snares 370
Sea mammals 373
Fishing 381
Food and its preparation 391
Introduction 391
Food in the 18th and 19th centuries 393
Meat of land animals 394
Birds and birds' eggs 395
Seal meat 395
Meat of other sea mammals 398
Fish 399
"Beach food" 403
Plant food 405
Some native recipes for modern foods 410
Tobacco and intoxicants 410
Native manufactures 412
Raw materials 412
Men's tools 413
Domestic utensils 416
Wooden boxes 419
Pottery 420
Women's tools 421
Skin dressing and sewing 423
Skin containers 426
Matting and cordage 427
Baskets 427
Chilkat blankets 431
Dress and decoration 432
Aboriginal clothing 432
Dress at Yakutat 435
Ceremonial costumes 439
Personal adornment and grooming 444
THE SOCIAL WORLD 449
Sibs and crests 450
Sib and moiety 450
Sib individuality 451
Yakutat crests 452
Ownership of crests 453
Types of crests 455
Validation of crests 457
Alienation of crests and crest objects 458
Sib characteristics 461
IN THREE PARTS C O N T E N T S XV
Page
THE SOCIAL WORLD?Continued
Social position 461
Aristocrats and commoners 461
Slaves 469
Chiefs and slaves in the 18th century 474
Kinship 475
The basic terms 475
Grandparents and grandchildren 476
Parents and children, father's brother and mother's sister 478
Maternal uncles and their sister's children. 479
Paternal aunts and their brother's children 481
Brothers and sisters 482
Sib-children 485
Husbands and wives 488
Mothers-in-law and fathers-in-law 492
Brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law 494
THE LIFE CYCLE 497
Birth 498
Introduction 498
Personal characteristics believed determined at birth 499
Pregnancy 500
Childbirth 500
Infancy 502
Care of the baby 502
Magic for babies 506
Childhood 507
Small children 507
Discipline 50S
Education 512
Food taboos 514
Children's games and toys 515
Growing up 516
Training of boys 516
Adolescent girls 518
Premarital sex knowledge and illegitimate babies 523
Maturity 524
The missionary's views on marriage at Yakutat 524
Marriage 524
Adult life 527
Old age 529
Death 531
Death ceremonies 531
The corpse 532
The smoking feast 533
Cremation 534
The mourners 536
The end of mourning 538
Graves in the 18th century 539
Graves of the late 19th century and modern times 542
Modern funerals 545
xvi SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Part 2
Page
RECREATION AND ART: GAMES AND MUSIC 551
Introduction 552
Games 553
Gambling games 553
Stick drawing game 554
Hand game or "stick game" 555
Chair dice 555
Stick tossing game . - 556
Quoits 556
Chess and checkers 557
Bingo 557
Tops 558
Contests 558
Fourth of July canoe races 559
Cat's cradles 559
Music 560
Songs 560
18th-century singing 561
Recording Yakutat songs 564
Character of Tlingit songs 565
Dancing 567
Categories of songs 568
Poetic imagery in songs 572
Acquiring and composing songs 574
WAR AND PEACE 579
War 580
Types of wars 580
Maj or wars and military alliances 580
Causes for war 581
Preparations for war 582
The wTar party 5S3
Victory and defeat 584
Arms and armor 585
The warrior and his accouterments 5S5
Weapons 588
The warrior's costume 590
Peace and justice 592
The meaning of peace 592
Preliminaries to the peace ceremony 593
Restitution and retribution: evening the score 594
The peace ceremony: seizing the 'deer' 596
The peace ceremony: the role of the 'deer' 598
The peace ceremony: naming and dressing the 'deer' 599
The peace ceremony: eight nights dancing 601
The end of the peace ceremony 602
Summary of known peace ceremonies 603
THE POTLATCH 605
Introduction 606
The Yakutat conception of the potlatch 606
Functions of the potlatch 606
Types of potlatch 607
Preliminary feasts 608
IN THREE PARTS CONTENTS XVli
Page
THE POTLATCH?Continued
The major potlatch 610
Summary 610
Purposes of the potlatch 611
Rivalry at the potlatch 613
Beginning the potlatch 616
Preparations 616
Arrival of the guests 619
Entertainment at the potlatch 623
Feasts before the potlatch 623
Singing and dancing by the guests 624
Feasting 627
Special shows by the hosts 627
The potlatch proper 629
The hosts 629
Honoring individuals 634
Paying the guests 638
Feasting and dancing after the potlatch 642
"Potlatches" for insults or to shame a rival 643
Reports of potlatches 644
The Tl'uknaxAdi potlatch in Dry Bay, 1909 644
The Teqwedi potlatch in Yakutat, 1910 646
A missionary's account of Yakutat potlatches 650
A layman's comments on a potlatch 651
CURES, MEDICINES AND AMULETS 653
Surgical techniques 655
Medical plants 655
Medicines for external use 655
Medicines for internal use 657
Medicines with great power 657
Magical plants and amulets 659
Other amulets 664
The land otter hair amulet 667
SHAMANISM 669
Introduction 670
The shaman 670
Known shamans 671
Becoming a shaman 673
The death of a shaman and the new shaman 673
Receiving the call 675
The quest 676
Cutting tongues 678
Subsequent retreats and the first seance 681
The shaman's spirits 682
The shaman and his paraphernalia 683
Regimen 683
Personal appearance 684
The shaman's "outfit" 685
Costume 687
Masks, maskettes and headdresses 690
Other paraphernalia 695
Spirit intrusions 699
SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Page
SHAMANISM?Continued
The shaman and his powers 701
Introduction 701
The shaman's assistants 702
Inspiration 702
Spirit warnings 703
Sending the spirit for news 703
Ghostly visits 704
Power demonstrations 704
Kivalry 706
Curing the sick 708
Minor ailments 709
Epidemics 710
Stories about shamans 710
Xatgawet as shaman 710
How a man acquired land otter spirits 712
How a man acquired disease spirits 712
Daxodzu, the female shaman 712
How QA-taxetl became a shaman 713
The female shaman, Cakwe, and the chief who stabbed his nephews 714
How a Wrangell shaman was defeated 715
Further reminiscences of Tef-'ic 715
Refusing the call 719
A young man refuses to become a shaman 719
A woman refuses the call 720
White men's views of Yakutat shamanism 720
A Yakutat shaman, 1886 720
A missionary's account of Yakutat shamanism 722
The shamanistic legacy 723
"The Shouters in Alaska" (1890) 724
Native accounts of the "Shouters" 725
WITCHES AND LAND OTTER MEN 727
Witchcraft 728
Witches 72S
Activities of witches 730
Origin of witches 733
Identifying the witch and destroying his power 735
Witchcraft stories 73S
The girl who witched herself 738
Haida methods: the woman who witched her own son 739
The witching of ^adane& and his relatives 739
The witching of Sitka Ned 740
The witching of Jack 743
Witchcraft accusations 743
Land Otter Men 744
Fear of land otters 744
Capture by land otters and protection from them 745
Land Otter Men 747
Present beliefs about land otters 748
Stories about Land Otter Men 749
The story of Qaki 749
The girls who had Land Otter Men as lovers 750
Two little boys rescued from the Land Otter People 751
A boy rescued from land otters 752
IN THREE PARTS CONTENTS xix
Page
WITCHES AND LAND OTTER MEN?Continued
Stories about Land Otter Men?Continued
Nfeintel rescued from land otters 752
idaxin and the land otters 753
The drowned woman 754
A girl captured by land otters 754
Small boys saved by dogs 755
Two boys lost in the woods 755
Adventures of White men with Land Otter Men 755
THE TLINGIT INDIVIDUAL 757
The body 758
Sleep and dreams 759
Body parts and functions 760
Symbolism of the body in art and language 761
Reified body parts and functions 763
The tree of life 764
Afterlife and the spirit 765
The "soul" and the "ghost" 765
Forms of death 766
The story of 'Askadut who visited the land of the dead 767
The disease boat 769
Afterlife in Kiwa'a 770
"Dog Heaven" 771
Visits to the land of the dead 772
The Chilkat man who visited Kiwa'a 772
The man who visited Kiwa'a 773
Death and reincarnation of Qawusa 773
Death and reincarnation of 'AsdjiwAn and his partner 774
Reincarnation of Joseph 775
The story of Lxakunik who visited the land of the dead 775
Reincarnation 776
Insuring reincarnation 777
Choosing one's parents 778
Choosing one's sex 779
Multiple souls 779
Rebirth in the wrong sib 780
Names 781
Real names 781
Naming the child 782
Namesakes 783
Teknonymy 784
"Big names" 785
Pet names and nicknames 787
Origin of names 787
Conclusion: personal identity 788
MAN AND THE FORCES OF NATURE 791
Cosmology 792
The earth 792
The sky 795
Sun, moon, and stars 796
Space and time 797
Spatial orientation and measurement 797
Temporal orientation 798
Divisions of the year 799
xx SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Page
MAN AND THE FORCES OF NATUKE?Continued
Space and time?Continued
Counting days 801
Divisions of the day 801
The weather 803
Predicting the weather 803
Animals associated with the weather 804
The winds 804
Weather taboos 805
Bringing fair weather 806
Divination 807
The forces of nature 808
A statement of problems 808
18th-century observations 809
Swanton 's contribution 810
The Spirit Above 812
Fate, moral law, taboo, and luck 813
God 815
Spirits and beings in the world 816
Monsters and wealth-bringing beings 820
Manufactured objects 822
Plants 822
The world of animals 823
Animal souls 823
Attitudes toward annuals 824
Totem animals and other animals 825
Dogs 832
Conclusion: the ordering of the world 833
Totemism 833
The world of spirits 835
MYTHS AND TALES 837
Introduction 838
The Raven Cycle 839
Three connected versions of the Raven Cycle 844
Isolated incidents of the Eaven Cycle 857
Other myths and tales 873
The children of the sun 873
The story of Lgayal" 875
The story of Kats who married a bear 879
The story of the woman who married a bear 880
The story of the woman who married a bear and comments on the story
of Kats 882
The story of the woman who raised the worm 883
The man who married Fair Weather's daughter 883
The story of Tl'EnAxxidAq 884
Stories about hemlock child and spruce root child 885
The story of the blind man and the loon 888
The story of salmon boy 889
The story of black skin 890
Wolverine man 892
The story of the girls who stole mountain goat tallow 892
The story of the girl who turned into an owl 893
The braggart gambler 894
Legend of glaciers at Yakutat 894
IN THREE PARTS CONTENTS
Page
MYTH AND TALES?Continued
Other myths and tales?Continued
The moral of Chief Shakes 894
The lying and truthful brothers in Sitka 895
Stories about a transvestite 895
The visitor to Yakutat 897
The race between the fox and the crab 897
A story about the big-breasted woman 897
The land otter's halibut hook 897
About the land far out to sea 898
The story of a Copper River potlatch 898
The discovery of copper 890
The true story of the discovery of gold 900
LITERATURE CITED 903
FIGURES
Page
1. Mount Saint Elias 22
2. Mount Fairweather 23
3. LituyaBay 25
4. A native chief and woman of Port Mulgrave, 1843 178
5. "Princess Thorn" 192
6. Eagle Fort 264
7. Spearhead and log 265
8. Front of Bear House 295
9. Aboriginal winter house, Yakutat 296
10. Bear Paw House, Lost River Landing 299
11. Beaver House, Kahliak River, detail of roof 300
12. Winter house 300
13. Diagram of Kagwantan Box House, Dry Bay, 1903-07 301
14. Diagram of the Teqwedi Bear House, Khantaak Island, 1886 301
15. Diagram of the Teqwedi Coward House, Situk, 1888 302
16. Diagram of the Teqwedi Coward House, Situk, 1885 302
17. Smokehouse, 1949 303
18. Smokehouse, 1949 304
19. Smokehouse 304
20. Smokehouse 304
21. Log cabin 305
22. "Primitive bark shelter, Yakutat Bay" 314
23. Yakutat dug-out canoe and two-hole baidarka, 1791 334
24. Boats at Nuchek, Prince William Sound, 1887 _ _ . . . 335
25. Yakutat canoe and paddles, 1788 335
26. Yakutat canoes - 336
27. "Yakutat sealing canoe," 1899 339
28. Modern Yakutat "canoe" 345
29. Traditional shape of the copper 354
30. Bow and arrow 368
31. Arrowheads 369
32. Figure-four trap for weasels 370
33. Deadfall for fox, lynx, and wolverine 371
34. Snare for foxes 371
35. Snare for foxes 372
xxii SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Page
36. Snare for bear 372
37. Snare for brown bear 372
38. Snare for bear 372
39. Harpoon for seals, sea otter, and fish 377
40. Flattened butt of seal harpoon shaft 377
41. Iron harpoon heads 385
42. Fish spearing device 385
43. Oelachon trap 387
44. Halibut hooks 389
45. Halibut hook 390
46. "Flensing seal hide, Yakutat Bay," 1899 396
47. Method of cutting salmon for drying 400
48. Bundle of dried fish tied up for storage 401
49. Hand hammers or pestles 417
50. Ulos 421
51. Curved iron scraper 422
52. Halibut skin bag 426
53. Spruce root rainhat and gutskin rain shirt 436
54. Patterns for beaded moccasin tops . . _ .. 438
55. ThikwaxAdi man's dance shirt 440
56. Button blankets 442
57. Headdress 443
58. Face stamps 447
59. Baby carrier 503
60. Baby hammock 504
61. Tlingit child in hammock 505
62. Chair die 556
63. Carved wooden chessmen 557
64. Tlingit song recorded in Lituya Bay, 1786 560
65. Song recorded in Sitka Sound, 1787 562
66. Metal daggers from Port Mulgrave 586
67. War pick 588
68. Design for war bonnet 591
69. Face painting for peace hostages 600
70. Positions of hosts and guests at E>acE:qwan potlatch 625
71. Positions of hosts and guests at Teqwedi potlatch 631
72. Shaman's headdress and false beard 694
73. Shaman's false beard and headdress as worn 695
74. Shaman's prophetic bone 697
MAPS
1. The Yakutat Tlingit and their neighbors 14
2. The Gulf Coast of Alaska facing 17
3. Ice fronts and coast line, A.D. 600-1290 26
4. Ice fronts and coast line, A.D. 1700-1791 26
5. Hypothetical extension of glaciers during ice-flood stage 27
6. Yakutat Bay facing 59
7. Southeastern shore of Yakutat Bay 60
8. Yakutat Harbor facing 63
IN THREE PARTS CONTENTS xxiii
Page
9. Yakutat Bay to the Alsek River 72
10. Monti Bay to Black Sand Island 73
11. Yakutat to the Alsek River Delta facing 79
12. The Alsek River 88
13. Dry Bay to Cross Sound facing 91
14. Iituya Bay 92
15. The Mount Saint Elias Region 96
16. Malespina Glacier to Cape Suckling facing 99
17. Controller Bay facing 101
18. Iituya Bay, from LaPerouse 118
19. Port Mulgrave as surveyed by Dixon 124
20. Route of Malaspina's explorations, 1791 140
21. Port Mulgrave as surveyed by Malaspina 142
22. Disenchantment Bay as surveyed by Malaspina 148
23. Yakutat Bay to Iituya Bay, 1849 160
24. Yakutat Bay to Cape Suckling, 1849 162
25. Yakutat Bay, 1849 168
26. Iituya Bay, 1849 179
Part 3
PLATES (listed on page 915) 918
APPENDIX (song titles listed on page xlvii) 1149
Index of Yakutat Tape Recordings 1370
INDEX 1375

Under Mount Saint Elias:
The History and Culture of the Yakutat Tlingit
PART ONE

Introduction
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS AND AIMS
This report deals with the history and culture of the
Indians of Yakutat, Alaska, based upon ethnographic
fieldwork and upon historical sources. It continues and
elaborates, therefore, the briefer study entitled "The
Archeology of the Yakutat Bay Area, Alaska" (de
Laguna et a]., 1964). These volumes were planned to-
gether, and were conceived as part of a more ambitious
program of coordinated researches into the archeology,
history, and ethnology of the northern Tlingit. The
first exploratory study of this nature was made in the
Angoon area and was published in 1960 as "The story
of a Tlingit community: a problem in the relationship
between archeological, ethnological, and historical
methods." In that report, which owes its inception to
the stimulation of the late Marian W. Smith, the basic
premises and objectives of the program were stated, and
the methods explained by which the fieldwork was
conducted.
The ultimate aim, as originally conceived, was
". . . to trace the development of Tlingit culture
from the earliest period represented by discoverable
remains down to the present time, not simply to pre-
sent a descriptive history of Tlingit culture but to
explore it as a case study in cultural dynamics. This
would involve consideration of ancient cultural dif-
fusion, continuity of traits and attitudes, internal
readjustments and shifts in emphasis within the
culture, the growth of those specialized patterns
which give Tlingit culture its distinctive individuality,
and the break-down of these under white contact
with resulting consequences to Tlingit personality."
[de Laguna, 1960, p. 5.]
The archeological data from Yakutat have already
been presented and interpreted in the light of Yakutat
historical traditions and Yakutat ethnography, seen
against the background of geological changes in the
area, and analyzed to exhibit the distribution of Yaku-
tat cultural traits along the Northwest Coast and in
adjacent regions. Since nothing found could claim
great antiquity, but all belonged to the period immedi-
ately preceding or following the first appearance of
Europeans in 1787, our Yakutat archeology should be
viewed as Yakutat ethnography of the 18th century.
The study, unfortunately, could neither prove nor dis-
prove the various theses advanced to explain the de-
velopment of northern Northwest Coast culture (de
Laguna, 1960, pp. 5-6), but could only suggest what
may have been the prehistoric stages of cultural growth
at Yakutat.
Although the earlier emphasis of fieldwork at Yakutat
was primarily directed toward the history of the culture,
an understanding of that culture, for itself and in its
own terms, came to be the more immediate aim. As I
wrote in 1949:
"It would be of interest to discover what aboriginal
institutions or attitudes are still alive, what aspects
of culture have broken down almost completely, and
which ones have proved most responsive to change
without losing their continuity with the past.
"In all the history of growth, change, and break-
down it should be possible to trace certain continu-
ities of pattern that are distinctively Tlingit. The
ultimate objective of the whole study should be to
discover some of the underlying causes and factors
in this dynamic process.
"An assumption which was not explicitly stated
in the original formulation of the problem may be
presented here, since it is basic to an understanding
of Tlingit culture history, and since it received
validation and illustration throughout our work in
the field. Stated in its simplest form it is that the
Tlingit themselves are as much responsible for their
own culture and its history as are any of the peoples
who have influenced them. In the past, it was they
who, consciously or unconsciously, chose what to
accept of the cultural innovations offered them
through diffusion and what use to make of the op-
portunities thus afforded. It has been Tlingit char-
acter, interests, and orientations that have deter-
mined how these importations were reinterpreted to
fit Tlingit ethos and adjusted to Tlingit culture."
[de Laguna, 1960, pp. 7-8.]
The understanding of Tlingit culture now, or even
in the past when there was presumably a more homo-
geneous aboriginal life, involves not simply the elu-
cidation of a set of ethnographic patterns, or norms,
or behavioral averages, or ideals, as the characteristics
of a "model system" in which the standard, average
"individual" plays his culturally patterned roles.
Rather, these cultural patterns make up the universe
for many different, actual persons, who see it, live it,
use it, accept it, or modify it, each in his or her own
manner and from his or her own vantage point, and
who find themselves fulfilled, molded, and thwarted,
in varying degrees and in different ways, by the life
to which each in some individual measure gives form
and meaning. Ethnographic understanding demands
not only a survey of behavior, concepts, and attitudes
common to, or characteristic of, a group of such
individuals, but, more importantly, the envisioning
IN THREE PARTS INTRODUCTION
of their cultural universe through the eyes of those
who live in it. It is worth attempting this, even though
our understanding can never be complete, since at
best we will be able to see only certain aspects of the
cultural universe from the perspectives of perhaps
only a few persons, or even at times mistake our own
reflections for the outlines of that alien reality.
We must not expect perfect harmony in the view-
points of those we study, if only because every culture,
no matter how "functionally intact" or consistent,
offers unequal opportunities to individuals and de-
mands conflicting choices. Their satisfactions or dis-
satisfactions, their delight in the novel or their fear
of change, their ambitions, their placid acceptance,
or their rebellions, create those social equilibriums and
strains that are the dynamic forces responsible for
cultural continuity and change (de Laguna, 1952).
Our own view of culture must be flexible enough to
recognize these varying reactions, and our formulations
loose enough to accommodate both the typical and
the atypical (which, paradoxically, is just as typical
in its own way).
Yakutat culture presents its own particular problems.
It is now Tlingit, but has not always been so. At least
the aboriginal speech was Eyak, and the culture has
always been somewhat marginal to the "classic"
Tlingit. There are articulate traditions referring to the
introduction of Thngit speech and Tlingit ceremonial
and ritual elaborations. In referring to "Tlingit," how-
ever, we must not forget that local diversity distin-
guished the various geographical groups, as was recog-
nized by the natives and early explorers alike who
designated these tribal units by geographical names:
Sitka, Hoonah, Auk, Chilkat, Stikine, etc. McClellan
(1954, pp. 76, 82-83) has indicated how such local
peculiarities furnished themes to be exploited in pot-
latch ceremonial. Despite this, we do not know the full
extent of these differences. We are simply aware that
Frederick Sound marks a division between the northern
and southern coastal Tlingit, and that there are also
variations among island, mainland, and inland groups.
Here, differences in ecological setting, in contacts with
different foreign groups, or relative degrees of isolation,
are obviously important factors. Yet no one of these
tribal groups has been the subject of a full-scale ethno-
graphic monograph, nor is there any study in which
local peculiarities, other than sib composition, have
been made clear. (McClellan will, however, deal with
the Inland Tlingit in a forthcoming monograph.)
Indeed, there is no single, detailed, and comprehensive
study of Tlingit culture in general.
Therefore, while we can interpret most of Yakutat
culture in terms of what we know of Tlingit, we cannot
be sure to what extent Yakutat is unique or, recog-
nizing unique features, cannot be sure how to interpret
these. There is local pride at Yakutat, and an a%vare-
ness of their particular geographical position and of
their special contacts with their non-Tlingit neighbors.
There is also great respect for the Tlingit of Sitka and
Klukwan, from whom some of the lineages are derived
and with whom many individuals are united by ties of
kinship.
Even a primarily historical study of Yakutat culture
requires not only a recording of events and changes,
but an attempt to answer that simpler but more
difficult question: What is (was) Yakutat culture?
Even if we find answers, how should we present them?
How shall we write the ethnography of a people?
The life of a people, seen through their eyes, is the
picture of a universe. It encompasses all of the world,
all that matters, all that was established in the begin-
ning of time and that will endure to the end, all that
has been introduced, has changed or will change, or
will someday vanish.
One could, of course, try to describe such a world
as it gradually unfolds before the baby born into it,
or sketch its outlines as they are first apprehended
and later become more sharply defined for the eth-
nologist. Neither course would, of itself, lead to a full
portrait of the culture, for the ethnologist would first,
in either case, be obliged to present an understanding
of the world in order to make clear what is happening
to the child or what his own experiences mean. As
we know, the native autobiography, presented without
explanations either by the teller or by the ethnographer-
editor, conveys little meaning to the reader who does
not already know something about the culture. The
attempt of the ethnographer to publish his full diary
and notes in the hope of exhibiting what he had learned
and how he had come to learn it, would also be con-
fusing, for he could never make clear or explicit the
prior assumptions, understandings, prejudices, and
theoretical orientations which colored, transformed,
and illumined his first contacts with an alien people,
much less the often undramatic but more intricate
processes by which he came to know them better.
To write an ethnography from such a point of view
would demand that the ethnographer constantly ob-
serve and study himself in the act of observing and
studying others. The attempt might be an exceedingly
interesting experiment in investigating the method-
ology of fieldwork, but would hardly be itself an
adequate ethnography. Such autobiographical accounts
as have been published are literally reflections, re-
constructions from memory, made either after the
return from the field, or during pauses in the fieldwork.
One is, of necessity, always more aware in the field
of what one is learning or trying to learn than of the
processes of learning, and the concentrated, vicarious
SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
participation in the life of others, demanded by ex-
ploration of another culture, precludes a sophisticated
study of one's own experiences while that exploration
is in process.
There has been a fashion of late to condemn the so-
called "classic monograph" as giving only the formal
outlines of institutions and customs, not their inner
meanings, or the values for those who practice them, or
their "functions" (too often the meanings ascribed to
them by the ethnologist himself), or their mutual inter-
relationships within a system. I believe that these stric-
tures apply only to poorly written accounts; poor
either because the writer had failed to penetrate deeply
and so did not know the culture very well, or because
he was afraid of presenting material that might be
judged irrelevant or subjective. The good ethnog-
rapher, however, is not really constrained by the mono-
graphic form but uses it simply as a framework for
organizing his material. For this purpose, the "classic"
form is neither better nor worse than any other form
of presentation, since all are of necessity linear exposi-
tions of something which is multidimensional, complex,
never completely integrated nor completely understood
by anyone. No presentation can claim to be definitive,
although some may exhibit a wider awareness and
broader range of interests than others, for never have
all possible questions been asked or answered, and some
of the most important questions unfortunately arise
during the very process of writing. The richer the field
data, the more selection is necessary for presentation
in the monograph. Lastly, each account is tinged in
ways of which the ethnographer himself cannot be
fully aware.
The order of presentation of data can perhaps best be
determined by what are felt to be the major emphases
of the particular culture and the clearest ways of ex-
hibiting them. Beyond this, more easily organizable
material will be a wealth of seeming trivialities, of
observations that do not seem to fit any organized table
of Contents or that are themselves incomplete items of
information. The present temptation is to discard these,
and to write only a study focused on some clearly defined
aspect of the culture, preferably something that can be
handled at a distance like a "theoretical model," sac-
rificing the vivid, the concrete, the obstinately awkward
detail, for the more abstract, neatly articulated and
esthetically satisfying "elegant" presentation. It wall
be obvious that I have not attempted the latter course,
but have, perhaps rashly, risked being both unscientific
and subjective in trying to let the ethnographic data
exhibit Yakutat culture as I believe it is understood
by the Yakutat people.
A Tlingit philosopher might well begin by trying to
explain his views of the universe in which men live, for
the nature of that world determines and is determined
by the ways in which men live in it. There are not only
spatial dimensions to be considered, but temporal ones
as well, since the world was not always as it is now. We
should, therefore, have to understand not only the
cosmology, geography, and notions of tune and space,
but also the vital forces of the world and man's relation
to them. These fundamental questions have never, as
far as I can tell, been systematically explored by a native
philosopher, or, at least, I have never worked with such
an informant. Only scattered, although often illuminat-
ing, insights into these problems have been given me.
Perhaps for this reason, I was dissatisfied with my
initial attempt to begin this ethnography with the
native view of the universe, and have therefore post-
poned to a later chapter a discussion, admittedly con-
jectural, of man and nature. Instead, after an introduc-
tion to the land and its inhabitants, I have presented a
discussion of the ecology of the Yakutat area in terms
of our knowledge of its geography, geology, climate, and
biota, also trying to indicate what the Gulf Coast of
Alaska and its resources mean to the aboriginal in-
habitants as then- living space.
Across the stage of the aboriginal world have moved
the ancestors of the people, already in Tlingit view
divided into sibs of the Raven and Eagle-Wolf moieties.
The histories of these groups are the expressions of
their destinies established in the legendary past by
"supernatural events" (as we wTould call them) which
endowed each sib with its totemic crest and with other
symbols that determine or confirm its identity and its
relationship to the world of nature. The interrelation-
ships between sibs form the framework for all the im-
portant social activities of individuals, while enduring
social ties are symbolized most vividly and concretely
in the lineage houses of which the sib is composed.
The ways in which the people make a living, securing
their food and clothing, their medicines and luxuries,
bring us back again to a further understanding of their
environment. These are not simply technological activi-
ties, but have moral aspects?men are not something
apart from nature, but share with "animate" and
seemingly "inanimate" things the same being, while
"natural laws" have social, moral, and "supernatural"
aspects. We shall have to consider these aspects in
order to understand how men should act in order to
secure good fortune and success, or even to survive.
We must explore in some detail the organization of
human society, the relationships between moieties, sibs,
and lineages, between chiefs, commoners and slaves,
between the various Tlingit geographical communities,
and between the Tlingit and foreign peoples. The basic
social groups are symbolized by totemic crests and
heirlooms, by names, by songs and dances, and their
symbols are all manipulated at the great ceremonies of
the potlatch and of peacemaking, and even in trading,
IN THREE PARTS INTRODUCTION
for these are the occasions when social relations are
established, maintained, or reaffirmed. The fundamental
social groupings determine the relationships of men to
the territories from which they obtain their livelihood,
to the animals and plants that inhabit it, and to the
unseen forces allied with shaman and witch, as well as,
of course, the kinship of man to man. In the minds of
the natives, perhaps, the order of these relationships
may be reversed, and the homeland or the bonds with
animals may determine the order of human society.
Lastly, we must come to the individual himself,
following the pattern of his life from birth to death, or
rather through a cycle which has no beginning or end,
since the human soul is immortal, and is repeatedly
reincarnated in the same lineage, just as the souls of all
living creatures continue to reanimate new bodies when
the old are discarded.
The picture which I am attempting to present is one
that will go back to a time when my oldest informants
were young, some 80-90 years ago. It is based on the
memories of their childhood and on the traditions
taught them by their parents and grandparents.
Through the last there will be glimpses into a still more
remote past. It will be obvious that since these inform-
ants are of different ages, lived in different settlements,
and had different personal experiences and interests,
their accounts will not be uniform. There have been
many changes since 1880, and these are indicated where
appropriate, although it is not my intention to present a
study of Yakutat acculturation. In any event, such a
study would have a flavor of artificiality, because
changes of certain kinds, occurring within certain
temporal limits, would have been arbitrarily selected
for emphasis, whereas Yakutat culture, like that of any
group, is an on-going, multifaceted, never stable set of
living patterns. My view admittedly will be directed
more toward the past than the present, but it will
become evident how much that past is still alive.
Since I want to show Tlingit culture as lived by
my informants, I let them speak for themselves in
their own words as far as possible, respecting when
advisable the anonymity of living individuals. This
may result in an idealized picture of aboriginal life,
partly because some persons were consciously con-
cerned to present their culture in as favorable a light
as possible, and partly because vanished glories shine
the brighter for those who have lost them, just as the
wild strawberries of youth taste sweeter in retrospect
than any that grow today. But there are also criticisms
of the old days, and omissions of practices well docu-
mented in early historical records, that are, perhaps,
as significant as corroboration. Yet the pattern of
values, as attested by myth and legend, by remembered
moral preachment and biographical incident, seems
to be not only the core of the aboriginal culture but
that part which best endures as long as the culture
retains any living integrity. For this reason, the past
as idealized by the Tlingit themselves has a special
kind of validity and vitality, the more so since in any
age the great deeds of ancestors, their moral qualities,
skills, accomplishments, and spiritual powers have
been held up as models for the present generation to
emulate, The ideals of the past are recalled because
they provide the norms by which people still try to
pattern their lives.
One may well wonder why so much is remembered
and respected, and why a "memory culture" refuses to
die, but continues to function as a fairly lively ghost.
I believe that Francis A. Riddell has offered a correct
explanation. In his ethnological-archeological work in
California he had been impressed by the persistence of
aboriginal cultural patterns despite years of exposure
to intensive acculturative forces. He found, however,
that as long as the social groups could preserve their
integrity, and family ties be maintained, little children
continued to learn from then" grandparents, who nor-
mally cared for them while the parents worked. Later,
when that younger generation had perhaps tried to make
a living and a satisfactory life in the White man's
world, only to meet with disappointment, they would
ultimately find greater worth in native life and its
values. These middle-aged people would turn again to
the aged for reinstruction in the old culture. This same
process has clearly been operating among the Tlingit
where bonds between grandparents and grandchildren
are especially close, and where the wisdom of the aged is
traditionally revered and the wishes of parents re-
spected. During the span of my fieldwork at Yakutat
I have heard several of the older natives regret their
renunciation of the old ways and have witnessed their
attempts to revive them again.
In describing Yakutat culture, there are times when
it is necessary to explain, summarize, and interpret,
and here it is impossible to prevent a shift in point of
view from the inside one of the native to the outside
one of the ethnographer. There are obvious gaps, due
to ignorance on the part of informants or to my failure
to ask the right questions of the right people. I find
now in writing, not only glaring omissions which might
have been filled in the field, but also discover much
of what I had previously been unaware, and regret that
it is no longer possible to check these new insights.
However, such a process could have no end, for a
culture is too rich to be ever exhausted. It was naive to
suppose, as I did in 1954 when returning to Yakutat,
that I could "fill in gaps" in my knowledge without
simultaneously discovering as much or more that still
needed to be learned, for each new piece of informa-
tion seemed to open up new fields for questioning or
observation, and further knowledge only revealed
8 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
more distant and enticing vistas which there was no
opportunity to explore.
Although it is my primary concern to exhibit Yakutat
culture "from the inside," it must first be approached
from the outside?that is, with a description of the
people and country of Yakutat from our point of
view, so that we may orient ourselves in the terrain
and identify the tribes and sibs with which we have
to deal. More importantly, we must study the history
of White exploration and settlement and the observa-
tions made by White explorers and visitors. Deficient
though we may judge their accounts, or tantalizingly
silent about so many matters which they could easily
have reported verbally or in sketches, their views of
the Yakutat people antedate by a full century the
actual memories of our oldest informants, and supple-
ment or contrast in significant ways with native tra-
ditions. These earliest accounts, combined with the
reports of later visitors and residents in the area,
provide a background against which native tradition
can be better viewed. The very biases of these White
men are of interest, as indicating the kinds of pressures
to which the Yakutat people were subjected. More
than this, the historical records will help us to under-
stand how the Yakutat people reacted to their foreign
influences, and how the foreigners in their turn re-
sponded. In short, we will be better able to see what
the Yakutat people have made of their lives. It will
also help us to avoid the fallacy of picturing the ab-
original culture in a fictional tuneless "present."
For ethnographic insight involves temporal depth
of vision, and also the acknowledgment that every
people lives its own mythology. 'Ha (our) CAgiin' is
conceptualized by the Yakutat Tlingit as the origin
and destiny of the sib to which each individual be-
longs. It is manifested in the beginnings, in the history,
and in the future of the line. The ethnologist, too,
must see the present (and by implication, the future)
as shaped both by the idealized and by the actual
past, neither of which can be thoroughly understood
without the other, and without which the present
is a shadowy two-dimensional projection of reality.
CONDUCT OF THE FIELDWORK
On my first visit to Yakutat in 1949, contacts
with the native people were sporadic and unsystematic.
Not only were we living on "Cannery Row," about
half a mile from the nearest native houses, but much
of our time had to be devoted to archeological explora-
tion. It was on this trip, however, that I renewed my
old friendship with Annie Nelson. She was the widow
of Galushia Nelson, and these were the Eyak couple at
Cordova with whom Dr. Birket-Smith and I had
worked in the spring of 1933 (Birket-Smith and de
Laguna, 1938). Now in 1949 she was married to a
Yakutat man, Sampson Harry, and her first child,
Johnny Nelson, whom I had last seen as a little boy,
was a young man. From him, I learned something of
what had happened to the other Eyak we had known at
Cordova in 1933, and also gained some understanding
of what it meant to be a youth at Yakutat.
On this first visit also, I began a long friendship
with Minnie Gray Johnson. At that time she was
living in a big house in the middle of town. The follow-
ing winter it was destroyed by fire, and she lost a
priceless collection of native baskets, boxes, blankets,
ceremonial costumes, and old photographs. Helen
Bremner also opened her heart to us, and her husband,
Harry K. Bremner, learning of our interest, tramped home
the 9 miles along the railway track from fish camp in order
to tell us the native history of Yakutat. We also visited
Mrs. Maggie Harry, Mr. and Mrs. Olaf Abraham, and
several others whom I came to know better in later
years.
During the first summer, Edward Malin was par-
ticularly helpful, especially for his skill in sketching
and his warmth in making friends. Through him, I
met Peter Lawrence, aged veteran of the first successful
ascent of Mount Saint Elias. William Irving was
primarily occupied with archeological work that
summer, although he did gather data about the then
recently incorporated community of Yakutat.
On my return in 1952, with Catharine McClellan, we
were fortunate in being able to live in a nice little
house on the main street, right in the center of town,
between the church and the ANB (Alaska Native
Brotherhood) Hall on the one hand, and the post
office and jail on the other. Across the street was the
new house in which Minnie Johnson was living with
her little granddaughter, Catharine ("Tiny") Cranston,
so we naturally saw a great deal of her and her friends.
Her house was, in fact, a center for the social life of
the older people in the community. Catharine McClellan
and I also tried to make our house a place where all
the people could feel welcome, and there we enjoyed
many visits from native friends and neighbors.
IN THREE PARTS INTRODUCTION
Just after I had moved into this house in June, and
before Catharine McClellan and the archeological crew
joined me, I was invited to go on a daylong excursion to
Haenke ("Egg") Island in Disenchantment Bay with
a large party of natives aboard Paul Henry's new gas-
boat, the Fairweather. This was a wonderful experience,
not only because it enabled me to learn a good deal
about the geography of Yakutat Bay, but because the
festive atmosphere of the outing served to establish
new friendships. It was on this trip that I first met
Emma Ellis, still in mourning for the death that spring
of her husband, Jack Ellis, whom I had known in 1949.
Some of the young fellows with us shot a number of
seals in Disenchantment Bay, and we all had a picnic
supper of delicious boiled seal meat and broth before
embarking on the long trip home. Nothing perhaps so
readily admits a stranger into comradeship as the
common enjoyment of favorite local foods. Later in the
summer, our entire party was able to make a trip on
the Fairweather clear to the very head of Yakutat Bay,
Nunatak Fiord, and Kussell Fiord.
Owing to the kindness of J. B. Mallott, who ran an
extension line from his electric generator into the empty
school building, we were able to play for a native
audience some Tlingit songs that had been recorded at
Angoon in 1950. These were heard with great interest
which later enabled us to make tape recordings of
Yakutat songs. For most of the latter, Minnie Johnson
provided a translation. On my return to Bryn Mawr in
the fall of 1952, Dr. Thomas Benham, Professor of
Physics at Haverford College, helped me to edit and
copy these songs onto a master tape. From this, phono-
graph records were cut and sent back to Yakutat to all
those who had made the original recordings.
Another occasion which led to greater mutual under-
standing came late in the summer of 1952 when Cath-
arine AlcClellan showed our colored slides in the
church, while I explained our work. The people were
particularly interested in the series that illustrated the
many kinds of local foods available, and how these
were preserved, especially since Yakutat Bay is tradi-
tionally noted for its abundance of fine seals, fish,
berries, and "beach food."
Catharine McClellan and I had profited from our
earlier collaboration at Angoon in 1950. We followed
the same general procedures of fieldwork (de Laguna,
1960, pp. 12-15), except that we improved our skills
in recording statements verbatim, an accomplishment
in which she surpasses me. Since we usually worked
together, we would normally have two versions of each
interview to be checked against each other and com-
bined in making the final typed copies. Such verbatim
(or nearly verbatim) transcriptions were invaluable, not
simply because they recorded as faithfully as possible
the peoples' own observations about their own culture,
265-517?72?voL VII, pt. 1 3
but because they preserved information which might not
be completely understood at the time but which later
comments could often illuminate and make significant.
Unfortunately, there were often two versions of each
Tlingit word or phrase, with subsequent variations as
the word was mentioned on later occasions. In some
cases I am fairly confident that a reasonably accurate
transcription was eventually achieved, but in others I
have been forced to offer several versions. Quite possibly
some of the differences may reflect dialectical variations,
especially since our informants or their parents had
come from various settlements all along the Gulf of
Alaska or even from southeastern Alaska, and local
differences in pronunciation are recognized. Moreover,
it seems that there are also differences in pronunciation
between those who speak no English or very little, and
those who speak it so regularly that they are "like third
grade in then: own language."
During the summer of 1952 our house at Yakutat
also served as headquarters for the four men who
were excavating at the site of Old Town on Knight
Island (de Laguna et al., 1964). From time to time,
members of the archeological crew would come to
Yakutat, bringing specimens which they had found
and which we would discuss with informants. In Au-
gust, Catharine McClellan and I visited the site for
several days, participating in the digging.
Due to Catharine McClellan's initiative, a number
of native plants were collected. Whenever possible
these were shown to our informants in order to secure
their Tlingit names and any information about their
possible use. In this way, samples of several native
medicines were obtained. These plants were taken by
Francis Riddell to California where they were identi-
fied by Dr. F. R. Heckard, at the University of Cal-
ifornia Herbarium, and by Dr. William Steere, at
the Herbarium of Stanford University, who had pre-
viously identified botanical specimens from Angoon.
These specimens are now at Bryn Mawr College.
During the summer of 1953, Francis Riddell and
Kenneth S. Lane, although busy with excavations
at Knight Island, nevertheless managed to secure some
ethnographic information which is, of course, incor-
porated in this account.
In February, 1954, I returned to Yakutat, accom-
panied by my mother and by Mary Jane Downs. The
latter served as ethnographic assistant. This time we
rented a house, belonging to John Ellis, which was
situated on top of a steep bank well above the main
road. Because of its location we were thrown into closer
contact with new neighbors: Mr. and Mrs. Olaf
Abraham, Emma Ellis and her son (our landlord), Mr.
and Mrs. Charley White, and Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon
James, Sr. My old friends, however, also climbed the
snowy trail to visit us. At first we were without electric
10 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
current, but in March, Robert Welsh permitted us to
tap the cannery line so that we had not only electric
lights but power for the tape recorder.
The phonograph records of native songs which had
been sent as Christmas presents to those who had sung
for us in 1952 had, in the meantime, stimulated an
intense interest in Tlingit music. A number of the
earlier singers had died since 1952, and the recordings
which they had made had been played at their funeral
potlatches, which in itself gave a value to our efforts in
preserving the songs. More extensive recordings could,
therefore, be made in 1954, although it was usually not
possible to arrange for as large a chorus as would have
been desirable. The revived interest in native songs also
led to some new compositions. On our return from the
field, Dr. Benham of Haverford College was again
generous with his equipment and skill, helping me to
copy the songs so that records could be cut and sent to
the performers. Again, as previously, copies of photo-
graphs were sent to all who had posed for us.
Because our field trip in 1954 was made in the winter
and early spring, with heavy snowfalls, many more
hours of the day had to be devoted to the tasks of
living: pumping fuel oil for the space heater, carrying
coal, chopping kindling, fetching water from a hole
cut through the ice of a nearby pond, shoveling snow,
hauling groceries on a sled, etc. However, these simple
chores were those of our neighbors, some of whom said
they knew we were "just like" them, when they saw
us every morning spreading ashes on the steep path
below our door.
Since a fire from a defective oil stove had destroyed
one house in the village that winter, we were partic-
ularly grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Henry and to
Olaf Abraham who dealt so effectively with the fire
on our own roof, caused by an overheated stovepipe.
On another occasion, when our oil heater threatened
to burn down the house, all of the neighbors ran to
our rescue and skillfully brought the heater under
control in the nick of time.
Aside from these adventures, the work was conducted
much as before, except that I profited from Mary
Jane Downs' skill in stenographic transcription. With-
out her special ability and devotion, I would never
have been able to secure the complete record of an
interview that lasted some 10 hours, and eventually
formed some 75 typed pages, single-spaced!
Among the major events of the winter was the
discovery of the body of Conrad Edwards, who had
drowned in 1953. In April, the niece of one of our
best friends was killed in an automobile accident,
an event that shocked the community. These two
tragic occurrences demonstrated how sib and moiety
alinements still continue to function in comforting the
bereaved, honoring the dead, and in carrying out all
the onerous obligations of the wake, funeral, and
burial.
Memorial Day meant an exodus of the entire com-
munity to decorate the graves in the cemetery at the
mouth of the Ankau, and also provided an occasion
for us to visit all the other graveyards near Yakutat.
In this way we were able to learn a good deal about
the older generations from the inscriptions on tomb-
stones, especially when these were discussed with
informants who could identify the dead by their native
names.
On each of the fieldtrips all members of the parties
kept diaries, of which I have copies. These recorded
our own activities, events in the life of the community,
notes on the weather, on birds and animals seen or
reported, and descriptions of places visited on excur-
sions. In addition, we prepared typed copies of all
interviews. The original copy has been microfilmed for
safekeeping by the American Philosophical Society;
a second copy I have cut apart and filed according to
the type of ethnographic information obtained. There
are also special notes pertaining to the songs recorded
including, when possible, both the native text and a
translation. Copies of these notes and of the unedited
tapes are deposited with the Folklore Division of the
Library of Congress and with the American Philo-
sophical Society. Other records consist of two Ror-
schach protocols, analyzed by Maude (Mrs. A. Irving)
Hallowell, sketches made in 1949 by Edward Malin
(also microfilmed by the American Philosophical
Society), and photographs taken by various members of
the different parties, of which I have copies. Dr.
Catherine McClellan also has copies of the tapes and
notes from 1952 and 1954 (Department of Anthro-
pology, University of Wisconsin, Madison).
From the information thus obtained, we have com-
piled not only a Tlingit vocabulary, but lists of place
names, lineage houses and crests, and native names of
all persons who were mentioned in interviews or could
be identified from their tombstones. These personal
names are arranged according to sib affiliation. There
is also a complete census and map of the town as of
1952, as well as lists of earlier houses and their principal
occupants. I cannot claim that the genealogical records,
although numbering over a thousand entries, are com-
plete. To have attempted an exhaustive compilation of
this kind would have meant sacrificing the oppor-
tunity to gather other, more valuable, ethnographic
data.
IN THREE PARTS INTRODUCTION 11
TRANSCRIPTION OF NATIVE WORDS
The system of transcription of native words is
essentially that employed by Boas (1917) for writing
Chilkat Tlingit, except that diagraphs are used for
affricatives, and A, B, I, and u are substituted for
Greek letters. Raised w is used instead of raised "? in
indicating such rounded back consonants as kw, qw,
and xw. These are phonemically different from kw, qw,
xw, etc., according to Velten (1944, p. 168, note 6),
even though I was not always able to distinguish be-
tween the two sets of sounds. All voiceless consonants
are aspirated (It, q, i, etc.), but the aspirate sign is here
omitted. All initial vowels are preceded by a slight
glottal stop, that is, at the beginning of a word, and
often at the beginning of a syllable. This glottal stop
and also the glottalization of consonants are very
lightly pronounced by most present-day speakers at
Yakutat, so that mistakes may have been made in
transcription. In this respect, also, the speech of these
younger men and women is in striking contrast to that
of the older, non-English-speaking informants, most of
whom had been practiced in oratory and who more
clearly aspirate or glottalize voiceless consonants.
We should also note that some apparent incon-
sistencies in transcription reflect the slight dialectical
differences which informants recognized. The people
from Dry Bay are believed to speak more like the
Tlingit of Sitka or Hoonah. Thus, the southeastern
Alaskan Tlingit and Dry Bay people pronounce
'whale' as yay, while at Yakutat it is pronounced as
yay. There are also known to have been some recent
changes in the Tlingit spoken at Yakutat; for example,
y (velar y) has in many cases shifted to w. Thus, many
persons say wase, not yase, for Yahtse, the river in
Icy Bay from which Mount Saint Elias derives its
native name.
Velten (1939, 1944) has discussed Tlingit phonetics,
pointing out that Boas' transcriptions of 1917 are
entirely phonemic, even though Boas worked with a
Chilkat informant, and Velten himself with the south-
ernmost dialect of Klawak on Prince of Wales Island.
Although pitch is of morphophonemic importance in
Tlingit, I often failed to hear it, or heard it incon-
sistently.
Despite the errors, known or suspected, Tlingit
words and phrases are included wherever relevant;
the use of these expressions helped us the better to
understand Tlingit thought. While I made no attempt
to study Tlingit linguistics for itself, these efforts may
be of some slight value to other scholars.
For this report, I was also given copies of the notes
which had been made by Dr. John P. Harrington at
Yakutat in 1939-40 and which are now in the Archives
of the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology. When
transcribing Tlingit, Harrington indicated the lengths
of the consonants and vowels (by double or single
letters), a feature usually ignored by other linguists.
He distinguished surds from sonants by indicating the
aspirations of the former (i.e., kh or kkh for k, and k
for g). Velar k (q) and velar g (g) he rendered by bold-
faced letters: kh and k. Velar y (y was usually gamma
(7) or velar gamma (7) , as indeed, I was often inclined
to hear it. In using his notes, I have sometimes sub-
stituted the more familiar q, g, and y for these last three
velar sounds. Harrington makes a sharp distinction
between the forward x and velar x, but I have omitted
his special symbol for the first. It should be noted that
Dr. Michael Krauss, Professor of Linguistics at the
University of Alaska, is incorporating all of Harrington's
Eyak material from Yakutat in his own definitive study
of that language. In his own work the latter uses the
accepted modern symbols, but in referring to the Eyak
place names he sent me I have changed these to cor-
respond to the system used here: for example, Krauss'
c (my ts), s (my c), 6 (tc), X (tl), G (g),? (glottal stop,'),
and -? (nasalization, n).
Literal or accurate translations of native words and
expressions I indicate by single quotes ('??'); free trans-
lations or explanations offered by my informants, as
well as other remarks in English, are indicated, by
double quotation marks ("?").

The Land and its People
14 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 15
INTRODUCTION TO YAKUTAT
Yakutat, latitude 59?31' N., longitude 139?40' W.,
is a Tlingit community. This does not mean, however,
that it should be taken as a typical Tlingit town, for
indeed there is none. We are accustomed to think of
the Tlingit as people forming one tribe, in the ethno-
graphical sense, yet there are known differences among
the various Tlingit groups which would make it wiser
to recognize a number of tribes within the Tlingit
nation. There are, in general, four major groups of
Tlingit: Southern (coastal), Northern (coastal), Inland,
and Gulf Coast. Yakutat is the only settlement now
representing this last group. The character of each of
these divisions is largely determined by its particular
geographical and ecological environment, and their
differences are reflected in their manner of life and
habits of speech. In the minds of the natives, the dis-
tinctions between the particular matrilineal sibs that
make up these groups is of equal or greater importance,
even though each community is of necessity composed
of members of the two pan-Tlingit exogamous moieties,
Raven and Wolf-Eagle.
To identify the Yakutat people we must sketch the
important features of their homeland in relation to the
whole Tlingit world.
The Tlingit World
Southeastern Alaska, or the "panhandle," where may
be found most of the Tlingit as well as the northern
Haida (Kaigani) and the Tsimshian community of
New Metlakatla, is, according to the Coast Pilot (vol. 8,
1962, p. 17) "a 30-mile-wide strip of mainland bordered
by an 80-mile-wide compact chain of islands [Alexander
Archipelago]. Most of the islands are mountainous,
rough, and broken, and are covered with dense growths
of spruce, hemlock, and cedar except on the higher
summits. The mountains of the mainland are higher,
less wooded, and usually snowcapped." In midsummer
the snowline stands at 2,000-3,000 feet, with glaciers
snaking down to tidewater. The coast line is intricate,
measuring only 250 nautical miles along the ocean front,
but convoluted and broken into a tidal shoreline of
some 11,000 miles. There is little level land except at
the mouths of streams. Rather, the land rises abruptly
from the salt water and its steep slopes plunge below
sea level to form the system of deep narrow channels,
known as the Inside Passage, which extends over 1,000
miles from Cape Spencer to Puget Sound. Many native
canoemen, watchful of tidal currents and kelp-covered
reefs, have made lengthy voyages without the necessity
of venturing into the open ocean. In this way the Tlingit
have come to know their southern neighbors: the
Tsimshian of the northern British Columbia mainland,
the Haida of Queen Charlotte Islands, the Kwakiutl
farther south, and the still more distant Coast Salish.
From southeastern Alaska, access to the interior
beyond the mountains is possible only along such rivers
as the Stikine and Taku, or from the head of Lynn
Canal in the northwest over the White, Chilkoot, and
Chilkat Passes. These inland routes, or "grease trails,"
were formerly controlled by local Tlingit sibs who mo-
nopolized the trade with the Athabaskan bands in the
interior. Down these valleys in ancient days, according
to Tlingit tradition, had come adventurous groups who
lost their original identities and became Tlingit sibs.
In reverse direction have also moved small groups of
coastal Tlingit who went to find inland homes. In
southern Yukon Territory, at the headwaters of the
Yukon and Taku, live the Inland Tlingit, named for
Lakes Teslin and Atlin, and the Tagish, their terri-
tories protruding like a wedge between that of the
Tahltan Athabaskans to the southest and that of the
Southern Tutchone Athabaskans on the northwest.
These Inland Tlingit live a life which is largely indis-
tinguishable from that of their Athabaskan neighbors,
based as it must be upon the hunting of moose and
(formerly) caribou, trapping fur bearers to trade, and
catching fish in inland lakes or at the headwaters of
the rivers. The climate is continental, with great ex-
tremes in temperature, but is much drier than on the
coast. It is a harsh land, of scattered food resources
and consequently of relatively small, wandering bands.
Its wealth was in its furs. (See McClellan, 1953.)
In southeastern Alaska, on the other hand, the cli-
mate is "largely dominated by winds which have come
off a part of the Pacific Ocean that has been warmed
by the Japanese Current." On the mainland and inner
islands it is more continental in character, and while
there are considerable variations in temperature and
precipitation in the more mountainous areas, in general
"high humidity, fogs, heavy cloud cover, small tem-
perature range, and abundant precipitation are char-
acteristic of the maritime zone" {Coast Pilot 8, 1962,
p. 18). If the land seems to have relatively little to
offer, other than materials for manufactures including
clothing, the sea and its shores are rich in food. Even
the salmon caught in the streams have not long left
the sea, and still retain their fine flavor and firm flesh.
The region could probably have supported a larger
aboriginal population than it is known to have possessed.
16 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Within the southern panhandle, we must recognize
a distinction between the Northern and Southern
Tlingit, the boundary being roughly marked by Fred-
erick Sound and the southern reaches of Chatham
Strait between Baranof and Kuiu Islands. South and
east of this line live the Southern Tlingit: (from south
to north) the Sanya (Cape Fox), Tongass, and Stikine
(Wrangell) along the mainland and more sheltered
waters; and the Henya (and Klawak), Kuiu, and
Kake on the islands. The Northern Tlingit include the
Sumdum, Taku, Auk, and Chilkat-Chilkoot along
the mainland; and the Angoon, Sitka, and Hoonah
of the outer islands and coasts. There are slight dif-
ferences in pronunciation between the quick-speaking
southerners and the more drawling, louder northerners.
The former could get red cedar for canoe building
and red cedar bark for mats and baskets, and they
were naturally more influenced by the Tsimshian and
Haida. In contrast, the northern groups were restricted
to spruce wood (or yellow cedar and, sometimes,
cottonwood) for canoes, and made decorated spruce
root baskets. The mainland tribes in both divisions
had closer contacts with the interior peoples, whom
they used to visit regularly to procure furs, becoming
skillful in handling canoes on swift rivers and trained
to carry heavy packs over the passes. In contrast,
those living on the more exposed coasts were of neces-
sity seamen and hunters of sea mammals, even though
their territories also offered many sheltered bays and
lagoons.
The Gulf Coast of Alaska
When, however, one leaves the shelter of Cross
Sound, running through the tidal rapids of Inian Pass
and rounding Cape Spencer, one enters the open sea,
stretching unbroken from Alaska to Antarctica. The
Alaskan coast trends in a generally northwesterly
direction to Ocean Cape at the mouth of Yakutat
Bay, a distance of some 130 nautical miles from Cape
Spencer, and westerly for an equal distance beyond
this to Cape Saint Elias and Controller Bay. Along
this great regular arc of the Gulf Coast there is no
chain of sizable offshore islands, and the surf beats
on exposed beaches. Beyond Controller Bay and the
Copper River Delta, the coast again becomes irregular
as one enters Prince William Sound, the home of
the Chugach Eskimo, deadly enemies of the Yakutat
people. About midway in this nearly unbroken 300-
mile coastline, lies Yakutat Bay. To the southeast
are only two significant indentations; Lituya Bay,
40 nautical miles northwest of Cape Spencer, and Dry
Bay or the mud-filled delta of the Alsek River, some
40 nautical miles farther northwest. About 50 nautical
miles west of Yakutat, a retreating arm of the Mala-
spina-Bering icefield has only recently exposed Icy Bay.
From here to Controller Bay, about 80 or 90 nautical
miles beyond, there are only a few landing places
where boats may be taken through, the breakers into
the mouths of the larger streams. Local knowledge
as well as skill is demanded in handling small craft
if one is to navigate this shore, penetrate the tidal
mudflats in the bays, or enter the shelter of streams
and rivers.
This is the Gulf Coast of Alaska, a ribbon of low-
lying land between the open Pacific and the snow-
capped mountams of the Fairweather, Saint Elias,
and Chugach Ranges. Great icefields descend from
these heights, in many areas joined and linked together
to form great plateau or "through" glaciers (Tarr and
Butler, 1909, p. 36) that are among the wonders of
the world. These are "ice-flooded valleys," described
by Russell (1892, p. 47) as "vast, smooth snow sur-
faces without crevasses [that] stretched away to
limitless distances, broken only by jagged angular
mountain peaks." Vancouver (1801, vol. 5, pp. 358-
359) likened them to "a plain composed of a solid
mass of ice or frozen snow," as if an inland sea had
turned to ice. In many areas these "through" glaciers
offered routes for early native travel and, later, for
prospectors. The most important links are between
Lituya Bay and the Alsek River, between Glacier
Bay on Cross Sound and the upper Alsek, and between
the Alsek and the head of Yakutat Bay. Farther west,
the awesome piedmont lobes of the Malaspina and
Bering Glaciers spread down from the mountains be-
tween Yakutat Bay and Bering River on Controller
Bay, reminding us of the continental ice sheets of
the Pleistocene. This ice also served as a route between
the coast and the Copper River valley. Some glaciers
from the mountains or from interior fields still plunge
into tidewater to discharge their bergs, despite the
general retreat which they have suffered since first
seen by White men almost 200 years ago. Others
thrust their snouts into the turgid waters of the two
great rivers, the Alsek and the Copper, that cut through
the mountains to the sea. Most glaciers have shrunk
back up into their valleys, leaving behind a desolate
jumble of boulder-clay, and the giant Malaspina hides
the greater part of its 80-mile long seaward margin
under a forest-covered moraine.
Below the curiously straight seaward face of the
mountain arc, the land is narrow, perhaps only 15
miles wide at its maximum, and is, geologically speak-
ing, new, formed by detritus brought down by the
glacial streams, by the moraines abandoned by ice
fronts that once reached the sea, or by formerly sub-
merged beach deposits lifted above the waves. In
many places the trees have not yet established them-
3 v^ti^; w Vfewc-?^
^ ^ M ' % ^
MAP 2.?The Gulf Coast of Alaska. Redrawn by Richard A. Gould from U.S.G.S. Topographic series,
"Alaska, Map B."

IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 17
selves on the grassy flats and swamplands, or grow
only in narrow bands of dark forest along old moraines
and beach ridges. Many lakes dot the flats or lie at
the feet of the glaciers. Because so many streams
enter the sea laden with silt and the ocean currents
in general set northwestward along the shore, bars
form at the stream mouths, often creating a maze of
shallow tidal lagoons and estuaries behind the beach,
and the streams may have to follow these for several
miles westward before they can empty into the sea.
The ocean far out in front of the major rivers is dis-
colored with glacial silt. Changes in sea level that often
accompany earthquakes, glacial advances and retreats
even within the Christian Era, winter storms, and
the never-ceasing deposition of the muddy burden of
the streams continually modify the pattern of the
shoreline.
Because the foreshore is low, vessels standing pru-
dently offshore may not descry it at all, but can mistake
gaps in the mountains behind for broad bays leading
inland, hence the confusion in "discovering" "Bering's
Bay" or "Admiralty Bay" in various localities southeast
of what we now call Yakutat Bay. Frequently the land
is obscured by clouds and fog, the open Gulf lashed by
rain or snowstorms, and seasick passengers (on those
days when passenger steamers still crossed the Gulf) had
no conception of the glory hidden from their eyes. Or, a
rare miracle might sweep clear the sky, leaving only the
dazzling white of the peaks and that clear blue seen
only in Alaska, and the Pacific Ocean subside into the
mirrorlike calm of a pond. I have been fortunate to
see it so, when the Gulf was filled with small boats,
tugs, ponderous piledrivers, and other unseaworthy
craft, hastening at their best snail's pace to cross
while the fair weather endured. It was in such weather
that Malaspina came to Yakutat Bay and found it a
land of enchantment; for Dixon and Colnett before
him it was only "Foggy Harbour." Some of those ex-
plorers or traders who came under less pleasant cir-
cumstances have perhaps allowed foul weather to
color all of their impressions of the country and its
inhabitants.
In my eyes, with the possible exception of Greenland,
the Gulf Coast of Alaska is the most beautiful country
in the world, and its native inhabitants also see it as
beautiful, mentioning this among the principal attrac-
tions leading to its settlement.
But it is not an easy country in which to live. En-
durance, skill, courage, and expert knowledge are de-
manded for survival. The local natives and the voyagers
who visited this region were perforce truly mariners,
paddling almost out of sight of land to pursue the sea
otter or sailing for days at a time on long trading
voyages without a safe harbor. Only in Yakutat Bay
can protection be sought in time of storm; other places
265-&17?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 1
grant shelter for boats already inside, but cannot be
safely entered in rough weather. The region about
Yakutat Bay and extending eastward to Dry Bay is
also the only area extensive enough to support more
than a sparse permanent population. On this narrow
foreshore, behind the breakers and under the snowy
pyramid of Mount Saint Elias, live the people who are
the subject of this study.
The Gulf Coast Tribes
The story of Yakutat is in many respects that of the
whole Gulf of Alaska from Cross Sound to the edge of
Prince William Sound. This is not because the inhab-
itants of this narrow coastal strip were alike in speech
and culture, or had a common origin; indeed, they
spoke at least three or four different languages, and
traced their origins to different homelands. But they
became united through trade, war, potlatches, and in-
termarriage; and in the last chapters of their history,
which is all that we at present can hope to recon-
struct, they came to share a common destiny. The
former settlements at Lituya Bay, at Dry Bay, on the
rivers between Dry Bay and Yakutat, as well as those
farther west at Icy Bay, at Cape Yakataga and Kaliakh
River, at Controller Bay, and about the Copper River
Delta, are now deserted. A few descendants of their
former inhabitants may be found in Cordova, in
Hoonah and Sitka, or in Juneau, but the greater number
live today at Yakutat. Aside from a handful of persons
at Cape Yakataga or at Katalla beyond Controller Bay,
or perhaps for a few isolated trappers or prospectors at
other spots, Yakutat is the only permanent community
left on the whole Alaskan Gulf Coast, and it still retains
cultural traces and traditions derived from the diverse
tribes whose shattered remnants have mingled to form
its present native population of 300 or less.
The history of Yakutat begins in pre-Russian days
with the migrations of interior tribes from behind the
mountains to the coast, and from the mouth of the
Copper River eastward along the shore. There was also
the northwestward expansion of Tlingit from what the
Yakutat people call "the Southeast of Alaska," some
coming on foot along the shore or over the glacier high-
ways, or going inland over the Chilkat Pass and down
the Alsek River to Dry Bay, while others paddled their
canoes up from Cross Sound or farther south. Then came
White men in the late 18th century: Russian agents of
the Shelikov Company commanding baidarka fleets of
Aleuts, Koniags, and Chugach; and English, Spanish,
and American traders and explorers. For 10 years the
Russians attempted to maintain an agricultural colony
and trading post at Yakutat, but this was destroyed by
the natives in 1805. Then followed a period of relative
18 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
isolation from Europeans, while Tlingit influences be-
came firmly established all the way to Controller Bay.
Before the middle of the century, smallpox wiped out
the inhabitants of many settlements. Other disasters
followed, and the population began to shrink back into
the present settlements, moving back to southeastern
Alaska or to Yakutat.
The Yakutat-Icy Bay area remained one of the best
sea otter hunting grounds in the final decades of the
19th century, and the Gulf Coast offered some of the
richest commercial salmon fishing regions for the first
decades of the 20th, so from about 1880 to 1920 Yaku-
tat enjoyed prosperity. It was early in this period that
traders came regularly, the Lutheran Evangelical
Mission was established, various expeditions recruited
porters in attempts to climb Mount Saint Elias, and
goldminers for a short time were attracted to the
black sands of the beaches. By the end of World War
I, however, the salmon streams had been largely fished
out, the sea otter, even though protected by law, could
hardly be found, and hard times came. Soon there
was no one living on all the coast southeast of Yakutat,
except for a few White fox farmers or prospectors,
although many abandoned regions are still visited in
the fishing season. But perhaps the cruelest stroke of
fate was the building of a large airfield 4 miles east of
Yakutat and the quartering of some thousands of
soldiers in the vicinity during World War II. Although
a number of Yakutat men served with distinction
during the war, we need not be surprised at the demor-
alization which these changes brought. With the ending
of wartime jobs, with the dwindling salmon runs which
forced the closing of the cannery in which native
women worked and for which the men fished, hard
times returned again. Many young people now find
that they must leave to seek a living elsewhere and
old people live for their pension checks.
Similar brief periods of prosperity, while salmon
fishing or fur trapping were profitable, or while there
was an oil boom in Controller Bay and the Copper
River Railway was being built, were also enjoyed by
the dwindling inhabitants of the western part of the
Gulf Coast. Here the periods of ephemeral wealth, of
disease and debauch, and of subsequent demoralization
and decline had run their course early in the present
century.
If we could go back to the latter part of the 18th
century, we should find the Gulf Coast Indians divided
into several groups, of which the following were the
main divisions:
The people of the Lituya Bay region, including the
coast from Cape Spencer to Cape Fairweather, a dis-
tance of 54 nautical miles. This territory recently has
been the hunting and fishing grounds of the Hoonah
Tlingit, whose most important settlements, however,
have always been in southeastern Alaska proper, on
both sides of Cross Sound, including Glacier Bay and
the north shore of Chichagof Island. Certainly the
Lituya Bay region is now claimed by Hoonah sibs, but
we cannot assume that this was so in the 18 th century,
since the Yakutat people also go to Lituya, and received
some of the Lituya people at the time when most
emigrated from this region to Hoonah and Sitka about
100 years ago.
The Dry Bay people, at the mouth of the Alsek River
and the nearby streams, the most important of which
was the Akwe River just to the northwest. Their ter-
ritory may be defined as running from Cape Fair-
weather to the Akwe, a distance of about 50-odd miles
along the shore, and running back above the glaciers
that nearly block the Alsek River. The original inhabit-
ants were Athabaskans, apparently related to the
Southern Tutchone on the headwaters of the Alsek,
but became mixed with Tlingit who had come from
Chilkat via the interior and from the southeastern
coast.
The Yakutat Bay people, including those on the
coastal plain from the Italio River, 25 miles to the
southeast. Their territory also embraced Icy Bay and
its western shore, some 65 miles west of Yakutat.
This area, as we shall see, once had an autochthonous
population, originally Eyak or perhaps Dry Bay
Athabaskan, but in prehistoric times submerged by
Eyak from the coast to the westward mixed with a
migration of Atna Athabaskans from the middle
Copper River. Later, it became Tlingit because of the
migrations from southeastern Alaska and the Dry Bay
area.
The Eyak-speaking people of the coast just west of
Icy Bay to Cape Martin at the eastern edge of the
Copper River delta. Their main settlements seem to
have been at Cape Yakataga, Kaliakh River, and
Bering River in Controller Bay. In the 18th century,
however, Controller Bay was claimed and was certainly
frequented by a branch of the Chugach Eskimo of
Prince William Sound. The Chugach were apparently
intruders into Controller Bay and its islands, but when
they first began to occupy it, and whether they ever
established more than seasonal hunting camps, we do
not know. At any event, they were driven back at the
end of the 18th century by the Tlingitized Eyak from
farther east.
The Eyak of the Copper River delta and of Cordova
just within Prince William Sound (Birket-Smith and
de Laguna, 1938).
No pronounced differences distinguished the last from
their Indian neighbors at Cape Martin, although there
was a sharp linguistic and a somewhat less clearly
marked cultural boundary between the Eyak and the
Chugach. The Copper River Eyak (or the handful who
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 19
live or lived until recently at Cordova) appeared more
distinct when Dr. Birket-Smith and I studied them in
1933 than they would have even in 1900, largely
because of the depopulation of the coast east of them,
and also because they preserved into the present cen-
tury the Eyak language once spoken along the coast
as far as the Ahrnklin or Italio Rivers beyond Yakutat
Bay. However, the intrusion of the Eskimo into
Controller Bay as well as difficulties of communication
may explain why there were two dialects of Eyak:
"Ugalentz" (Copper River Eyak-proper) and Yakutat.
As reported by Erman (1849, p. 126), based on Veni-
aminov: "Die Jakutat-Sprache spricht man am Jakutat
und weiter westlich. Sie zerfallt in zwei Dialekte: den
Jakutatisehen und den Ugalenschen. Seelenzahl: nicht
iiber 300."
Dr. Michael E. Krauss in recent letters (December
20, 27, 1966, and January 9, 1967) has questioned my
interpretation of this passage and a similar one in
Radlov (Radloff, 1859, pp. 468-469). According to
Radlov: "Weniaminov endlisch lasst in seiner Einthei-
lung der Sprache des russischen Amerikas [Zamecha-
niya . . .] die Sprache von Jakutat in zwei Mundarten
zerfallen, in das eigentliche Jakutat und in das Ugalen-
zische." Krauss translated the original Russian passage
in the Zamechaniya (1846, p. 7) as: "The Yakutat
language is spoken by the inhabitatants of Yakutat
and further west. It is divided into two dialects: Yaku-
tat and Ugalents; the number of speakers of both
dialects [taken together ?] is not more than 300 souls."
Dr. Krauss interprets this to mean that "the Yakutat
language" was Tlingit, while "Ugalenz" or Eyak was
the second language spoken at Yakutat. He further
points out that Veniaminov seems to have had no
firsthand knowledge of Eyak (already largely obsolete
at Yakutat in his day), and probably none of the
Tlingit which had replaced it at Yakutat. Although he
is still working on this problem and has not yet come
to a definite conclusion, his study of early Eyak word-
lists has failed to reveal evidence of dialectical differ-
ences within that language, even though he believes it
more likely than not that one of these vocabularies
(RezanoVs) comes from Yakutat.
While the linguistic evidence which originally sug-
gested to me that there might be two dialects of Eyak
(Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, p. 535) was evi-
dently quite inadequate, I find it difficult to interpret
"the Yakutat language" of Veniaminov, Radlov and
Erman as Tlingit, a Tlingit so different from that of
Sitka that it rated as a separate dialect. However, the
statement is not clear, and these writers may have been
overly impressed by very slight differences hi speech
between the Tlingit spoken at Yakutat and at Sitka
(cf. Swanton, 1909, p. 347 n.). However, if we are to
understand the phrase not as "the Yakutat language,"
but as "that which is spoken at Yakutat," then we can
follow Dr. Krauss' interpretation of the passage. Only
an adequate knowledge of the Eyak formerly spoken
at Yakutat can resolve the problem of how much or
how little it may have exhibited local peculiarities.
I would further believe that 300 was a fairly correct
figure for the inhabitants of the Yakutat Bay area
alone, and that the Eyak-speakers farther west once
equalled or almost equalled that number. The figures
given may, however, reflect the terrible smallpox
epidemic of 1838^0 (p. 177), and so apply to the whole
Gulf Coast from Yakutat to Copper River.
Dr. Krauss also indicates to me his belief that the
proportion of Chugach, Eyak and Tlingit place names
(see pp. 102-106) suggest that a center of Eyak settle-
ment was on the mainland of Controller Bay, with
fewer and smaller sites on the coast to the west. The
Eyak probably remained on the mainland shores of Con-
troller Bay while the Chugach frequented the islands.
He further suggests that it was probably somewhat be-
fore the Chugach had been driven westward by the
Tlingit or Tlingitized Eyak of the mainland that the
Eyak were able to consolidate their hold on the Copper
River delta.
In the recent past, at least hi the 19 th century, the
Copper River Eyak formed merely a fifth unit in the
chain of peoples who intermarried, visited each other
for purposes of trade, or who entertained each other at
potlatches, and who felt themselves to be interrelated,
even though the eastern tribes had adopted Tlingit
speech and more of Tlingit ways. This process of
becoming Tlingit was already far advanced at Dry
Bay and Yakutat by the late 18th century, according
to native traditions and the reports of explorers. Even
a century later, however, we should have found people
at Kaliakh River and Controller Bay who still spoke
Eyak, and individuals in all communities from Dry
Bay to Cordova were apt to be either bilingual from
childhood, or prided themselves on a knowledge of
foreign languages acquired during then- travels.
These five divisions of Gulf Coast tribes have been
outlined mainly according to the understanding of
Yakutat informants. We should not think, however, of
these five areas as tribally owned territories, nor of their
occupants as "tribes" in the sense of cohesive social or
organized political units. Rather, the real units of
Tlingit society are the matrilineal sibs (na). It is their
localized, intermarrying branches which make up the
geographical communities which we call "tribes"
(qwan). (See McClellan, 1954, pp. 76-77; de Laguna,
1952, pp. 1-4.) The five regions enumerated above
comprise, therefore, the traditional territories (or
blocks of contiguous lands) that belong to certain of
the matrilineal sibs that compose the five groups. While
I later attempt to define these Gulf Coast sibs more
20 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
precisely and to trace more accurately the boundaries
of sib lands, it may be helpful now simply to list the
sibs which are acknowledged to have established resi-
dence in the five major regions by building named
houses in the settlements, or who are considered as
autochthonous. Sibs claiming territorial rights in each
area are indicated by asterisks (*).
In the Dry Bay area, the TlukwaxAdi and the
Kosliedi(?) were the original Athabaskan occupants;
the other sibs are Tlingit from southeastern Alaska.
The original residents of the Yakutat area were evi-
dently Eyak-speakers. From southeastern Alaska, via
Dry Bay, came the later residents, except for the
Kwac]sqwan who were Atna Athabaskans from the
Copper River, and the Qaiyix-Kagwantan who were
Eyak-speakers of the western Gulf Coast.
Area Raven Moiety Wolf-Eagle Moiety
LituyaBay Tl'uknaxAdi TcukAnedi(?)
(Cape Spencer to Cape Fairweather) Later divided into
^atkA'ayi and CAnkuqedi(?)
DAqdentan*
Dry Bay TlukwaxAdi* CANkuqedi *
(Cape Fairweather to Akwe River) Tl'uknaxAdi* Kagwantan
Koskedi(?)
Yakutat Earlier residents and owners
(Italio River to Dry Bay) Hinyedi YEnyedi
Kosledi L'u?edi
StaxAdi Tlaxayik-Teqwedi
"GanAxtedi"(?) or
"GanAXAdi"(?)
Later residents
Kwackqwan* Teqwedi*
Tl'uknaxAdi CAnkuqedi
TlukwaxAdi Galyix-Kagwantan
Controller Bay "GanAxtedi" Galyix-Kagwantan*
(Cape Yakataga to Cape Martin) Kwackqwan Tcicqedi*
Copper River Delta "GanAXAdi" Tcicqedi*
(See Birket-Smith and de Laguna, "Koskedi" or (Possibly others)
1938) Qus&edi*
TlukwaxAdi
Thus, the composition of these populations has
shifted so that, in the distant past before the known
migrations had occurred, the major regional divisions
may have been different. Since, however, these areas
correspond roughly to the geographical and physio-
graphic districts on the Gulf Coast, it will be useful to
refer to them.
Our interest will obviously center at Yakutat, and
our information will be largely derived from persons
born there or in the vicinity. Traditions about Lituya
Bay could perhaps be best studied now at Hoonah,
since the present owning sib lives at Hoonah. I shall,
however, make use of the excellent observations of
LaPe'rouse at Lituya Bay in 1786, especially since the
people that he met may be taken as typical of the
Tlingit groups that were moving westward. Of the
populations once living between Icy Bay and Cape
Martin, I have less knowledge, and I have never
visited their country. An informant who was born
either at Katalla or Cordova in 1892 hazarded that
there were still about 15 natives living at Cape Yaka-
taga and at Katalla, but he had not visited these
villages for many years. The Copper River Eyak have
been described, and at this time it is possible to add
only a few notes to the account published by Birket-
Smith and myself in 1938.
Even in the past, when the scattered settlements
along the Gulf Coast were occupied, the Yakutat and
their neighbors were relatively isolated from the
Tlingit of southeastern Alaska. This isolation is shown
in the character of their Tlingit idiom, recognized both
by the linguist (Swanton, 1909, note to Tale 105,
p. 347) and by the Yakutat themselves. The Dry
Bay people, they say, speak more like the panhandle
Tlingit, which I can verify, obviously due to the
settlement of immigrants from southeastern Alaska
IN THREE PARTS LAKD AND ITS PEOPLE 21
earlier in this area than at Yakutat. There are also
peculiarities of Yakutat culture due to the particular
limitations and advantages of the terrain, to the
heritage of the past, and to contacts with the Atha-
baskans and the Chugach. The Yakutat became tire-
less walkers, and skillful hunters of mountain goats,
as well as adroit sealers among the icefloes. In hunting
the sea otter on the open sea they utilized much of the
specialized equipment and techniques of the Chugach.
Access to native copper made them wealthy, then-
women were noted as skilled basketmakers, and they
felt that they lived in a beautiful and bountiful land.
ECOLOGY OF THE YAKUTAT BAY AREA
To understand the customs and history of any people
we must study the environment in which they live and
which has helped to shape their destinies. We must
try to see it not only in the impersonal, accurately
scientific terms of the geographer, geologist, zoologist,
and meteorologist, but also attempt to capture, if we
can, something of what the country means to its
inhabitants, because its role in determining their lives
has been mediated by what they understand it to be
and by what they have made of it. The environment
is not for the Tlingit simply the land and sea with
natural resources to be exploited. It is, as we shall see,
much more a community of living beings, where the
lines which we would draw between man and beast or
between the animate and the inanimate are blurred or
do not exist. The Tlingit shares his world with his
nonhuman relatives and fellow creatures just as he
shares it with other tribes.
Geography and Geology
Yakutat Bay is a great arm of the sea that cuts in
a northerly or northeasterly direction through the low
forelands and foothills to the very foot of the Saint
Elias Range. The foothills are low mountains, between
3,000 and 5,000 feet high, with a few peaks of slightly
greater elevation. Immediately behind them tower the
true giants. Visible from Yakutat Bay and marking the
International Boundary are Mount Seattle (10,000),
Mount Hubbard (15,000), Mount Vancouver (15,700),
and Mount Cook (13,700), as well as many others.
Dominating these from the western end of the mountain
wall is the great pyramid of Mount Saint Elias, just
over 18,000 feet high, "one of the most imposing moun-
tain peaks in the world" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 12).
Mount Logan behind it in Canada actually rises to
19,850 feet, and is the second highest mountain in
North America, surpassed only by Mount McKinley,
but it is less impressive from Yakutat because it is
farther away. To the southeast, also on the Alaska-
Canada boundary, is Mount Fairweather, 15,320 feet
high, visible from the open flats just east of the town
of Yakutat, but not from the bay itself.
The "heart" of Yakutat Bay, as the natives call it,
is blocked by extensive glaciers descending from the
high mountains: Turner or "First" Glacier on the west,
and the huge Hubbard or "Second" Glacier on the
north and northeast. Here, about 32 nautical or 37
statute miles from its mouth, the bay turns sharply
east and south, and cuts back again through the foothill
mountains and into the coastal plain, reaching to
within 12 or 15 miles of the sea.
Several names have been applied to the various
parts of the bay. Thus, "Yakutat Bay," used in a
narrow sense, refers to the lower, wider part below
Point Latouche, about 23 nautical miles above the
mouth. Above this to the glacier walls lies Disenchant-
ment Bay. From this, the great arm stretching south
and roughly parallel to Yakutat Bay is Russell Fiord,
about 30 nautical or 34.5 statute miles long. From about
midway along it, Nunatak Fiord branches out to the
east for a distance of some 8 or 9 miles, to end at the
now rapidly retreating face of Nunatak or "Third"
Glacier. The very head of Russell Fiord, known locally
as Mud Bay, is only 13 or 14 statute miles by air from
Yakutat, although it is 75 statute or over 65 nautical
miles by water.
Between Ocean Cape on the southeast and Point
Manby on the northwest, the mouth of Yakutat Bay
is 15 nautical miles wide, and as far up as Knight Island
the shores are approximately parallel. Here they begin
to converge, so that at Blizhni Point, some 15 nautical
miles above Point Manby, the bay has narrowed to a
width of 7 miles, and at Point Latouche on the east,
where it merges with Disenchantment Bay, it is less
than 3 miles wide.
From Point Manby up to just below Bancas Point,
the western shore of the bay is all lowland, composed of
moraines and of the outwash plain of the Malaspina
Glacier and its smaller relatives. A number of streams
22 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
FIGURE 1.?Mount Saint Blias N. by W. 43 miles. (After Dall, 1874, in Dall and Baker, 1883.)
drain these icefields, the largest of which are the Manby,
Oscar, Kame, and Kwik. These bring down so much
sediment that the coastline is rapidly growing outward.
"It is a remarkably straight coast, with long, offshore
bars, bluntly cusp shaped opposite the stream mouths
and inclosing lagoons with shallow openings, difficult to
enter by boat because of the surf which constantly beats
on this coast" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 13). Blizhni
Point is actually on the bar at the mouth of Kwik
Stream. At the northern end of this sandy, gravelly
lowland, the mountains come down to the sea to form
the rocky sides of Bancas Point which marks the west-
ern side of the entrance to Disenchantment Bay.
There is more diversity of terrain along the eastern
shore of the bay, which falls into two divisions of almost
equal length: the foreland, and the mountainous penin-
sula. "The foreland section, nowhere rising more than
250 feet above sea level, is low and timber covered, the
dense Alaskan forest of spruce and hemlock descending
to the very sea. This part of the coastline is exceedingly
irregular and is faced by a series of islands, the largest
two of which are Khantaak, the southernmost, and
Knight Island, the northernmost" vTarr and Butler,
1909, p. 14). Between the south end of Khantaak Island
and the westward-jutting Phipps Peninsula at the
southeastern corner of Yakutat Bay, Monti Bay leads
into the site of the present town of Yakutat, to the
Ankau lagoons that drain Phipps Peninsula, and to the
channels that run northeastward behind Khantaak
Island (Yakutat Roads and Johnstone Passage), as well
as to many smaller passes, and to the famous harbors of
Port Mulgrave and Rurik Harbor on Khantaak Island
and Puget Cove on the mainland. "This archipelago of
islands and reefs gives rise to an intricate maze of narrow
straits and broad, lake-like expansions, protected from
the ocean surf that elsewhere beats incessantly on the
shores of Yakutat Bay" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 14).
These islands and the adj acent mainland as far north
as Eleanor Cove near Knight Island are formed of
morainic deposits, left by the great glacier which once
filled Yakutat Bay to its mouth. Along part of the shore
the waves have cut this into gravel bluffs, notably at
the town of Yakutat and at other places on Monti Bay.
On both the islands and the mainland foreshore there
are many lakes and ponds in kettleholes; the water
supply for Yakutat comes from such a source. Reefs and
boulders along the beaches are not outcroppings of bed-
rock, despite the size of some of the stones, but are
simply rocks left behind by the glacier.
Apparently no one has lived on the smaller islands,
probably because of lack of fresh water, although
the natives might camp there when getting herring,
clams, or crabs. It is easy to see that all this shore
was elevated a few feet by the earthquake of 1898,
because all the island and mainland shores are fringed
with raised beaches on which only brush and young
trees are growing.
In contrast to the lowland section, the northern
part of the east coast above Eleanor Cove is rocky
and relatively straight, except for small flats at the
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 23
>\
Mfc. Fairweather bearing ENE, distant 24 miles
FIGURE 2.?Mount Fairweather, sketched by W. H. Dall in 1874.
mouths of the larger streams. "There are no harbors,
and, above Knight Island, no landing places except
at times of greatest calm" (Tarr and Butler, 1909,
p. 14). The mountains rise steeply from the water,
reaching elevations of 3,000-4,000 feet in a few miles.
The most conspicuous peaks on this peninsula between
Yakutat Bay and Russell Fiord are Mount Tebenkof,
Mount Hoorts (i.e., 'brown bear,' xuts), and Mount
Hendrickson (for the missionary), as well as unnamed
peaks. On their slopes are a few small glaciers, since
the permanent snowline is at 3,000 feet. From these
icefields, streams drain into Yakutat Bay, Disenchant-
ment Bay, and Russell Fiord. "This eastern, moun-
tainous shore of Yakutat Bay, with truncated spurs,
has distinctly the appearance of fault origin, as in-
dicated by Russell" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 14).
Similar mountains, over 5,000 feet high, face Mount
Tebenkof from the eastern side of Russell Fiord, among
these being Mount Pinta (for the U.S. revenue cutter),
Mount Ruhamah (for Miss Scidmore), and Mount
Unana. Close to the eastern side of Disenchantment
Bay lies the rounded, ice-scoured knob of Haenke
Island, rising 250 feet above sea level. It marks the
entrance to the true "heart" of Yakutat Bay. The
much smaller Osier Island stands at the point between
Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord.
Except for the shallow expanded head of Russell
Fiord, "Mud Bay" south of Cape Stoss and Beasley
Creek, all of Russell and Nunatak Fiords are deep,
narrow canyons cut between rocky walls. From Seal
Bay, just south of Nunatak Fiord, up into Disenchant-
ment Bay, the eastern and northern side is formed by
flanks of the Saint Elias Range.
As one might judge from some of the passages
quoted above, canoe travel and landing were not easy
in all parts of Yakutat Bay. Thus, it is natural that
most camps and settlements should be located in the
more protected southeastern portion, and that today
even sturdy gasboats bound up the bay should keep
to the channels behind the islands as long as possible,
for ocean swells are apt to be felt between Knight
Island and Point Latouche. During storms, Eleanor
Cove may be lashed white, and two small boats with
several men were lost recently in this area, one in
attempting a landing on the coast above Knight
Island, and another within yards of its southern shore.
Although more quiet water is usually found within
Disenchantment Bay, the south shore of Haenke Island
is sometimes pounded by waves. Here, however, the
principal danger to navigation comes from the masses
of ice that continually fall from the glaciers with
rolling thunder like an artillery barrage. Not only
does ice frequently block progress by boat above
Haenke Island, especially in spring and early summer,
but even when winds have cleared a passage along the
eastern shore, there is danger from the waves thrown
up by calving bergs. "In place of ocean surf are waves
formed by the discharge of icebergs from the cliffs of
Hubbard and Turner glaciers, and the waves thus
generated break all along the shore of Disenchantment
Bay, but with special intensity near its head. From
Haenke Island to Osier Island iceberg waves are almost
constantly breaking upon the shore" (Tarr and Butler,
1909, p. 16).
The west shore of Yakutat Bay is particularly
exposed for, in addition to the usual surf, the ebb
24 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
tide which follows the western shore carries down a
procession of bergs "forming a barrier of drifting
ice . . . which interferes with navigation as far as
Blizhni Point" (Tarr and Bulter, 1909, p. 15). In
June I have also seen ice cakes floating down on the
east side as far as Knight Island, and "occasional
drifts find their way as far south as Ocean Cape and
Point Manby" (Coast Pilot 9, 1955, p. 87). However, it
is among the icefloes in Disenchantment Bay that the
harbor seals bear and rear their young, an important
source of food and skins for the Yakutat people.
This varied terrain along the shores of Yakutat
Bay reflects, of course, the complexities of the under-
lying geological structure. It is important to know
something about this, not simply because it deter-
mines the patterns of the landscape, but because it
affects the kinds of rocks made available for tool
materials. In addition to the gravels, silts, and boulder-
clays of the lowlands, the hard rocks of the upper part
of Yakutat Bay fall into four groups. The following
brief summary of their characters is based upon Tarr
and Butler (1909).
The most southern formations, composing the
rocky peninsula between Yakutat Bay and Russell
Fiord, have been called the "Yakutat group," prob-
ably of Mesozoic age. These are the bedrocks of the
northern part of Yakutat Bay, not only on the eastern
side from Eleanor Cove to Osier Island, but also on
the western shore, stretching inland northwestward
from Bancas Point. They occur all along the western
side of Russell Fiord and on its eastern shore below
Seal Bay. These are composed of conglomerates,
graywacke, sandstone, shales, and limestone, very
much folded and faulted. The sandstone would, of
course, be useful for whetstones and the limestone
for lamps, while hard cobbles eroded from the con-
glomerates could be used as hammerstones. Otherwise,
these rocks seem to offer little to the native crafts-
man. In a few places, however, one near the shore a
short distance above Point Latouche and another
on Russell Fiord about a mile south of Cape Enchant-
ment (opposite Nunatak Fiord), the limestone contains
blue, green, and black flint.
The formations of the Yakutat group rest uncon-
formably upon what have been designated as "base-
ment crystalline rocks," mainly greenstone and mar-
ble, and probably at least of Paleozoic age. The latter
are obviously of far more value, greenstone being the
best material for adz blades, and marble superior to
limestone. These rocks are to be found largely along
the western shore of Russell Fiord between its junction
with Disenchantment Bay at Osier Island to just
south of Cape Enchantment.
In a few spots on the slopes of Amphitheater Knob,
above Esker Creek near Bancas Point, there are
younger rocks, perhaps Pliocene in age, to judge by
the fossil leaves which they contain. These consist of
crossbedded sandstones, shales, clays, and lignite.'
The white clays were used for paint, the fine-grained
shales for whetstones, and the coal for beads. Our
informants also reported lignite on the mountainside
above Eleanor Cove. These Tertiary beds are separated
from the older Yakutat formation by a fault along
which there was pronounced movement during the
earthquake of 1899.
A much greater fault runs down the axis of the
northern part of Russell Fiord, and has been traced
from Hidden Glacier on Seal Bay, across the mouth
of Nunatak Fiord, in a northwesterly direction towards
Hubbard Glacier. An extension of this line to the
southeast would run directly along the T-shaped head
of Lituya Bay, where a severe earthquake occurred in
the summer of 1958. North and east of this fault, the
shores of Nunatak Fiord and the eastern side of Russell
Fiord from Seal Bay to Hubbard Glacier are composed
of ancient metamorphic and crystalline rocks. These
include slate beds, with a "remarkably perfect"
cleavage, so that "the rock splits like a roofing slate"
(Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 149), obviously an ideal
material for blades. There are also hornblende gneisses
and schists, quartz veins, metamorphosed conglomer-
ates and sandstones, and granite dikes. Some of the
glaciers carry these and many other metamorphosed
materials, a number of which were evidently sought by
the Yakutat Indians for manufactures.
It should be noted that aside from what could be
found in morainic deposits, all of the better tool
materials were to be obtained in situ only in the
northern part of the bay, in areas repeatedly blocked
oft' by glacial advances.
Tlingit vocabulary reflects geographical and geolo-
gical features probably much more fully than my
records indicate, since no very systematic attempt was
made to obtain a comprehensive list. In addition,
there are a number of locative nouns or expressions
(Boas, 1917, pp. 103-111) that refer to such features
as downstream, downhill, to the beach, towards the sea,
inland, upriver, on the summit, and so forth. Many of
these appear in place names-
Geological Changes
One must not suppose that the topography of the
Yakutat Bay area has always been as it is now. In
1
 Dr. George Plafker informs me that these coal-bearing rocks
are most probably the stratigraphic equivalent of the Kulthieth
Formation farther -west, and are probably of Eocene age.
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 25
Nby E " NE byN"" " KE by E
Lituya Mt.
FIGURE 3.?Lituya Bay, sketched by W. H. Dall in 1874.
fact, what is striking is the magnitude and recency
of the changes which have occurred in this region
and which must have profoundly affected the lives
of the aboriginal population. I have already summar-
ized (de Laguna et al, 1964, pp. 15-20) the conclusions
of a number of geologists who have studied these
phenomena, but it seems advisable to discuss them
more fully so that the geological evidence may be
compared with native traditions and observations
(see pp. 286-288).
In the Middle Ages a huge glacier filled Yakutat
Bay, its terminal moraine forming a narrow submarine
ridge which curves between Ocean Cape and Point
Manby, and where today there are depths of only
8%-16 fathoms. "During very heavy weather," warns
the Coast Pilot (vol. 9, 1955, p. 86), "it has been ob-
served that breakers or pronounced increase in height
of swell occur across the entire entrance to Yakutat
Bay; at such times entrance is dangerous." This mass
of ice may he thought of as an enormously enlarged
Hubbard Glacier, to which all the minor glaciers
of Yakutat Bay added their contributions. As already
mentioned, its lateral moraines may be traced along
the west shore as far up as Blizhni Point, and on the
east from Ocean Cape to Eleanor Cove. Many white
boulders of granite and marble, of the same kinds
of rocks that outcrop in Disenchantment Bay and
Russell Fiord were evidently carried south by the ice,
and today can be found along the beaches from above
Knight Island to Yakutat (Tarr and Butler, 1909,
p. 100). Moraines and ice-worn marks high on the
mountainsides and the ice-scoured depths of the
bottom off Point Latouche indicate that this glacier
must have had a maximum thickness of 3,000 feet
(Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 102).
The great Malaspina was also expanded, reaching the
sea from Icy Cape, west of Icy Bay, to Point Manby
where it joined the Yakutat Bay Glacier, forming a
continuous wall of ice along the sea for a distance of
75 statute miles or more. Its weight thrust the Yakutat
Bay Glacier against the eastern side of the bay, piling
up morainic deposits upon the lowland below Knight
Island (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 108).
Farther east, another glacier rilled Russell Fiord, its
expanded snout protruding beyond the confines of the
narrow canyon onto the lowland where it scoured out
the basin now filled by Mud Bay. Between this and
Yakutat Bay, other minor icefields descended a short
distance onto the foreland, but the low terrain was un-
glaciated except for a fringe along the eastern shore of
Yakutat Bay and along the southern face of the foot-
hill range facing the sea.
Moraines extend inland about 3 or 4 miles near
Eleanor Cove and about 1 mile at Yakutat. Their
hummocky irregular surface supports the dense forest,
but as one goes eastward the land becomes smooth and
the forest is left behind. The airfield, some 4 miles
southeast of Yakutat, belongs to another world that,
open and almost treeless, stretches to Dry Bay and
affords a splendid view of Mount Fan-weather beyond.
"This plain is made of gravel and sand, becoming
steadily finer toward the Situk [River, about 9 miles
east of Yakutat], evidently a perfect example of an
outwash plain grading into the moraine of the Yakutat
Bay Glacier. It is so level that streams flow across it
with sluggish current, and its surface is too damp for
tree growth except in small insular patches on slightly
higher ground. This outwash gravel plain . . . is ap-
parently the dominant feature in the Yakutat foreland"
(Tarr and Butler 1909. p. 97).
26 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
140'
fa ^ %p--
?*"" Position of Ice fronts,
dashed where inferred
...---Inferred former codst
line
..-?.,... Present coast line
MALASfilNA
GLACIER
* " * r * * x ***{ ??**
i
/ p
MAP 3.?Position of ice fronts and coast line at the culmination
of the older advance, between A.D. 600 and 1290. a, Wood in
end moraine dated A.D. 756?160. 6, Wood in end moraine
dated A.D. 1127?160. (Plafker and Miller, 1957.)
The two small lakes at the present head of Situk
River seem to lie within the terminal moraines of the
glaciers that flowed down Mount Tebenkof. A short
distance below the larger, rounder lake, which Tarr
calls Miller Lake ("Situk Lake" of the natives and
of the most recent charts), the outwash plain begins.
Sometime before A.D. 1400, judging by the age of
living trees at Yakutat, these great glaciers began to
retreat, receding far behind their present fronts, which
permitted the growth of forests that were later either
overridden or isolated by a second glacial advance
(Plafker and Miller, 1958). Some of these forested
areas were in the Icy Bay region, above the present
front of Guyot Glacier (the arm of the Malaspina on
the west side of Icy Bay), others were 5 miles north
of Point Manby, and on gravel ridges along Esker
Stream and along the nunataks (isolated rocky hills
within the ice) that stretch northwestward to Floral
Hills and Blossom Island, 15 miles from the bay.
"Huge spruce logs, far larger in size than anything
now growing in that vicinity, occur plentifully in these
gravels" northwest of Bancas Point (Tarr and Butler,
1909, p. 131). Evidently the mature spruce trees still
growing on the northern slope of Blossom Island, as
well as scattered stands on the Floral Hills, Terrace
Point, and Amphitheater Knob close to Bancas Point,
are the remnants of great forests, all but destroyed
by the later glacial advance. Today, the modern forest
is spreading up into Disenchantment Bay to join them.
During the recession, forests also clothed the now
barren sides of Russell Fiord, for wood has been found
below glacial gravels just southeast of Osier Island
Position of ice fronts
dashed where in-
ferred
Inferred former coast
line
MAP 4.?Position of ice fronts and coast line at the culmination
of the younger advance, between A.D. 1700 and 1791. (Plafker
and Miller, 1957.)
(Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 130, fig. 10). "On the beach
near the very head of Russell Fiord [Mud Bay], as
pointed out by Russell [1892, p. 89], and on other
beaches near by, a submerged forest proves that there
was a forested land area fringing the mountain front
before the deposition of these moraines and the sub-
sidence that has since occurred in this region" (Tarr
and Butler, 1909, p. 99). Some of the stumps were
still standing in 1906.
The glacial recession which permitted this forest
growth is probably associated with similar retreats
in other parts of the Saint Elias and Fairweather
Ranges, witness the "resurrected forest" of sheared-off
stumps uncovered by the retreat of the Muir Glacier
in Glacier Bay (Fernow, 1902, pi. opp. p. 250). The
retreat of the ice in Yakutat Bay seems to have oc-
curred in stages, for Tarr (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 99)
cites a morainic terrace, 150-200 feet above sea level
on the mainland near Knight Island, as evidence of
a pause in the recession. According to native historical
tradition, the ancestors of the Kwackqwan, coming
from the Copper River, crossed to the east side of
Yakutat Bay on the ice which then extended from
Point Manby to the vicinity of Eleanor Cove, even
though the ice was then already beginning to melt
back because they had killed a dog and thrown it
down a crevasse. (See p. 239). Perhaps this was
during the same recessional stage as that inferred by
Tarr {in Tarr and Butler, 1909).
After the ice had retreated, some settlements were
established which tradition reports were later over-
whelmed by a second advance. One of these was in Icy
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 27
4 0 ' 20 '
marking recent
great advance (?)
MAP 5.?Hypothetical former extension of glaciers during ice-flood stage, based on observations of the height reached by the glaciers
at a number of points. (Tarr and Butler, 1909, fig. 9.)
Bay (Topham, 1889 a, pp. 432-433; 1899 b, p. 350,
cited on pp. 286-287), and another was somewhere on
the coast south of Dry Bay, where the Kagwantan had
built Shadow House with wealth obtained by trading
with the Dry Bay Athabaskans (Swanton, 1909, Tale
104, pp. 335-338,).
The second advance of the glaciers culminated in the
18th century. Since presumably the Icy Bay, Mala-
spina, Yakutat Bay, and Kussell Fiord Glaciers ad-
vanced at about the same time, a date of less than 300
years may apply to their growth. This date is indicated
by carbon-14 analyses of trees destroyed by the Mala-
spina, as well as by the age of living trees on its moraine
(Plafker and Miller, 1958). Icy Bay was again covered
with ice, but the Malaspina Glacier itself did not
advance much beyond its present limit. The Yakutat
Bay Glacier (i.e., Hubbard, Turner, and other glaciers
in Disenchantment Bay) apparently advanced as far as
Blizhni Point, where a submarine ridge represents the
terminal moraine. Glaciers in Russell Fiord were again
swollen. Nunatak Glacier, for example, not only filled
its own narrow canyon but extended out into Russell
Fiord, one arm moving northwestward to Disenchant-
ment Bay, the other joined Hidden Glacier and other
28 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
smaller icefields and turned southward, overriding the
morainic gravels left by the previous advance to a
height of 500 feet above sea level, and crushing the
extensive forests that grew on the old moraine. Farther
south, Fourth Glacier, now a shrunken remnant far up
Beasley Creek, was also part of the ice mass in Russell
Fiord and extended across to Cape Stoss on the west,
damming up a fresh-water lake in Mud Bay. Beach
gravels and old wave-cut terraces up to 115 or 140 feet
above sea level surround the edge of this former lake,
which then drained south into the Situk River. In the
lake wTaters were carried logs from the forests destroyed
by the glacier, to be eventually deposited in the beach
gravels. The moraine left by the earlier advance lies
outside the lake beach and now supports a mature
spruce forest, while slowly advancing across it towards
the present water's edge is a new growth of alders,
willows, and cottonwoods (Tarr and Butler, 1909, pp.
133-134).
These glaciers were again already in retreat by the
latter part of the 18th century, for Malaspina (1885,
p. 163) on July 2, 1791, was, as we know, blocked by
ice at Haenke Island, and Lieutenant Puget of Van-
couver's expedition in July, 1794, was also stopped
here. The latter noted, however, that "at the back
of the ice a small inlet" extended to the northeast
about a league, presumably between Haenke Island
and the mainland (Vancouver, 1801, vol. 5, p. 389;
Tarr and ButJer, 1909, pp. 21-22), and one of Malas-
pina's sailors, according to Suria (Wagner, 1936, p.
251), also claims to have seen a "river" of open water
in what would appear to have been Russell Fiord,
some distance above the line of ice. It is uncertain
whether the barrier was the actual face of the solid
glacier itself, which would then have been some 4 or
5 miles in front of the present end of Hubbard Glacier
(as indicated on the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
chart 8455, 1945 and 1962), or whether there was
simply a mass of solidly packed icebergs behind Haenke
Island, such as still forms early in the season. (See
the discussion in Tarr and Butler, 1909, pp. 21-22;
Russell, 1892, p. 172; Tarr and Martin, 1914, pp.
108-109; Plafker and Miller, 1958.) In any case, the
glacial front could not have been far distant from
the island. Even Tebenkov's map 7, apparently based
upon explorations in 1807 and 1823, shows the head
of Disenchantment Bay ringed by ice a short distance
above Haenke Island, Russell Fiord does not exist
(or was not known), and Situk River still drains the
lake at Mud Bay. These ice barriers apparently dis-
appeared shortly after the middle of the century,
according to native accounts (see p. 287) supported
by the age of new growth on the old lake beach at the
head of Russell Fiord (Tarr and Martin, 1914, p. 230).
Farther west, the lobe of ice continued to fill Icy Bay
until the present century, and the "Icy Bay" of the
Russians, of Captain Belcher in 1837, and of the various
expeditions attempting to climb Mount Saint Elias be-
tween 1886 and 1891, was actually the former mouth
of the Yahtse River, east of the true Icy Bay of today
(Plafker and Miller, 1958). However, according to
Filippi (1900, p. 72), by 1897 the delta of the Yahtse
River had completely filled the estuary at its mouth
"that existed in Malaspina's and Vancouver's time, and
of which the record is preserved in a legend of the
Yakutat Indians."
Retreat at Icy Bay is believed to have begun about
1904, and has since proceeded very rapidly, so that a
large proportion of Icy Bay is now open. My informants
(see pp. 285-286) have their own explanation as to why
this happened. The bergs from Guyot Glacier at the
head of Icy Bay make this, like Disenchantment Bay,
an attractive breeding ground for harbor seals.
Malaspina Glacier, on the other hand, has become
fairly stagnant, receding only about 3 miles at one
point (Plafker and Miller, 1958).
A brief revitalization of some glaciers, noticeable in
1906, was apparently caused by the earthquake of
September, 1899, which dumped avalanches of snow
down the mountains onto the neves from which the
glaciers take their origin. Since then almost all the
icefields in the Yakutat Bay region have been in re-
treat, except for a recent advance of the Hubbard Glacier.
The earthquake of 1899 (see summary in de Laguna
et al., 1964, pp. 18-19) produced giant waves that
destroyed forests up to 40 feet above sea level on the
mainland north of Knight Island, washed away the
graveyard on the southern tip of Khantaak Island,
and resulted in changes of sea level, ranging from a
subsidence of 7 feet at the western end of Phipps
Peninsula to a maximum elevation of 47 feet on the
west side of Disenchantment Bay. The axis of tilt ran
squarely through the middle of the site of Old Town,
on the south shore of Knight Island. The earthquake
of July, 1958, resulted in the submergence of the
southeastern point of Khantaak Island, with the loss
of several lives, and produced other topographic
changes all along the coast between Yakutat and
Lituya Bay. (See Tocher, 1960.)
Less dramatic, but clearly important in the long run,
is the building out of the land along the surf-fringed
western shore of Yakutat Bay and the ocean front of
the lowlands from Controller Bay to Icy Point below
Lituya Bay. This is not done through continuous
deposition of sediments, but proceeds in spurts, "by
successive steps, or leaps, as offshore bars develop"
(Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 144). Thus, the ocean
currents build up alluvial deposits into beaches and
bars which are thrown up 5 or 6 feet above normal
high water by storms. Outside these again, new bars
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 29
form during calm weather, while grass, flowers, and
strawberries claim the older, protected, inner ridges.
Swampy depressions between are filled with silt; later
with vegetation (Russell, 1893, p. 13). Usually there
is an outer barrier beach sheltering a line of shallow la-
goons through which canoes can be taken at high water.
Low tide exposes sticky mud or patches of quicksand.
Behind this, again, are older beaches and shallow ponds
or swamplands, the oldest ridges perhaps 2 or 3 miles
from the shore and already clothed with forest (Tarr
and Butler, 1909, p. 124). "Altogether there are three
beaches in different stages of dissection and vegetation
growth. In time the inner beach will become dry land;
the barrier beach will become what the inner now is;
the bar will become a barrier beach; and a new bar
will develop out in the ocean" (Tarr and Butler, 1909,
p. 144).
It is this process that has created the lagoon system
used by the natives in traveling between Yakutat and
Dry Bay, and that has raised a number of sandhills
on which native settlements and the Russian post at
Yakutat were built. The rivers and streams discharg-
ing into salt water frequently cut new channels through
the bars, abandoning the old, the shift being usually
to the west. These changes are, of course, noted by the
Indians who today fish near the stream mouths and
who have expressed concern that these shifts would
confuse the salmon seeking their own birth-waters in
which to spawn.
Climate
The U.S. Coast Pilot (vol. 9, pp. 77-80, 575, 578, 599)
contains an excellent summary of climatic conditions
along the Gulf Coast of Alaska, from which the follow-
ing information has been drawn.
The high mountains, up to 18,000 feet in height,
which back the Gulf Coast of Alaska all the way from
Cape Spencer to Prince William Sound have important
effects upon the local weather. Here southeasterly or
easterly winds are most prevalent, especially in winter,
with westerly winds common in summer, but the partic-
ular winds that predominate in any given locality seem
to be conditioned by the lay of the land. The local
nature of these winds is recognized by the TJingit in the
place names which they give to them. Winds in the
Controller Bay area, for example, are especially vari-
able, as they are at Cordova just within the eastern edge
of Prince William Sound. Sudden squalls or williwaws
that blow in quick succession from different points of
the compass occur near the mountainous parts of the
coast and are particularly dangerous. In general, gales
are most common in fall and winter, while July is the
calmest month. "At Yakutat, east winds prevail in all
seasons, occurring 40 percent of the time in autumn and
winter, but only 22 percent in summer; northeast winds
are also frequent in autumn and winter, and southeast
and west winds in summer" (p. 77). While east winds
of 16 knots or less are most common at all seasons, gales
of 40 knots are all from the southeast and may also occur
at any time of year, but have reached a record of 50
knots in winter. From October through March, gales
average 3-5 days a month.
By contrast, Cape Spencer is more stormy, experi-
encing autumn gales up to 74 knots from the northeast,
but Cordova had a maximum wind of only 43 knots
from the southeast.
Precipitation is very heavy, occurring on about 220
days a year, with average annual totals of 109 inches
at Cape Spencer, 132 inches at Yakutat, 110 inches at
Cape Saint Elias, and 94 inches at Cordova. Fall and
winter, the most stormy months, are also the wettest,
but much of the precipitation is in the form of snow.
Thus, there is an average annual total snowfall of 34
inches at Cape Spencer, 179 inches at Yakutat, 71
inches at Cape Saint Elias, and 117 inches at Cordova.
While spindrift or falling snow borne by winter gales
may cause low visibility, fogs are frequent in summer.
This is a country of relatively little sunshine, for the
number of cloudy days in a year is generally greater
than the sum of clear and partly cloudy days.
Records for 30 years show that the wettest month
at Yakutat is usually October, or at least the fall and
winter months through January. The driest month is
June, whether one measures the mean precipitation per
month (4.8 inches in June to 19.3 inches in October),
the mean number of rainy days (13 in June to 23 in
November and January), or the maximum precipitation
recorded within any 24-hour period (13.11 inches in
June to 36.4 in August). However, precipitation varies
a great deal, and in some years October may have only
6.8 inches of rain, and January, April, and June less
than 1 inch. Mean snowfall records for the last 8 years
range from a minimum of 2 inches in October, 9.8 in
April, and a trace in May, up to 41.6 inches in January,
with falls almost as heavy in December and March.
Only June through September have been snow free,
although this, of course, does not hold for the moun-
tains. In March, 1954, it snowed almost continuously
for about 10 days, usually 12 inches a day, according
to my observations, and although the light snow packed
down, I was told that it reached a depth of 4 feet at the
airfield, setting a record. Drifts 6 feet or more in height
pile up in the forests and do not melt until well into
June.
The climate also varies considerably within Yakutat
Bay itself. "It was frequently cloudy and rainy on
the foreland when it was clear in Disenchantment
30 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Bay; and fog was often present on Malaspina Glacier
when the weather was clear in Yakutat Bay. It was,
of course, also true that the mountains were frequently
clouded when the sky was clear along the shores of
the fiord" (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 30). A man who
lives near the head of Dry Bay reports that there is
much more sunshine at his home than at Yakutat.
In the Gulf Coast area temperatures at sea level
are relatively mild for the latitude and are not extreme.
Thus, mean annual temperatures range from 40? F
at Cape Spencer, 42? F at Yakutat, to 38? F at Cor-
dova, with greater fluctuations as one goes westward,
from a range of 4? F to 75? F at Cape Spencer, to a
low of ?33? F and a high of 84? F recorded at Cordova.
At Yakutat the months with means of freezing or
below are December through March, with record
lows of ?23? F in January, and subzero temperatures
are also recorded for November through March. Only
July and August have been without frost. Conversely,
the warmest records are 81? F. for August, and 71? F.
to 79? F. for May to September. But even in the coldest
winter months there may be some days with highs
of 50? F.
Thunderstorms are rare, but may come with snow
and cold, as well as with summer rains. The aurora
borealis is also present when nights are clear, except
in midsummer, but Yakutat lacks the brilliant and
extensive displays characteristic of the interior.
One important climatic feature that has not been
brought out in these statistics is that the air frequently
has a low humidity, so that between showers wet
things begin immediately to dry. It is only when
there is a fog, or when the snow melts during sunny
days in spring that the air itself feels damp.
This relatively cool wet climate, with heavy snows
and periods of bitter cold and storm in winter, and
brilliant sunshine for short stretches in summer, has
demanded particular adaptations of the human in-
habitants. These consisted aboriginally of rigorous
hardening exercises begun in childhood to develop
endurance of winter cold and summer damp, warm
and waterproof clothing and snowshoes for winter,
waterproof clothing or scanty garments for the rainy
summer, face paint as a protection against sunburn
and voracious mosquitoes, sweatbaths to relieve
rheumatic stiffness, snug houses with strong roofs to
withstand the heavy loads of snow and with entrances
above snow level, elaborate and efficient techniques
of storing food against the weeks in "winter when hunt-
ing and fishing might be impossible, and lastly, a diet
rich in the necessary fats, proteins, and antiscorbutics.
The vocabulary naturally reflects the meteorologi-
cal phenomena. These were often personified or believed
to be controlled by beings and were thought to be
affected by the actions of men, especially by breaches
of taboo. Not only were there almost professional
weather forecasters whose expert advice was consulted
before voyages were undertaken, but most persons
were observant of weather signs to be read in the look
of the mountains, and both shamans and laymen knew
magic to control the weather.
I was told that there was no word for blue sky, but
many words for bad weather were recorded.
The names for particular winds are discussed on
pages 804-805.
At latitude 59?53' N. the seasonal variations in the
amount of daylight are marked. Thus, on midsummer's
day, the sun rises at 2:35 a.m. and sets only at 9:28
p.m., making almost 19 hours of daylight. At the
winter solstice, however, the sun will not rise until
9:02 a.m., and will set at 2:55 p.m., bringing just less
than 6 hours of daylight. It is obvious that summer
and winter occupations must differ greatly, if only due
to this factor. Of great importance in the winter are
fires and lamps for light indoors, and moonlight on the
snow helps to extend the hours when men can work or
travel out of doors.
Tides were a matter of concern, since these regulated
canoe travel in shallow sloughs, streams, and salt
water lagoons, and also made possible or prevented the
gathering of shellfish and seaweed. In Yakutat Bay,
mean higher high water is 10 feet, although the maxi-
mum at spring tides may reach almost 13 feet. The
lowest tide to be expected is ?4 feet, all measurements
being referred to mean lower low water. Almost the
same range of tides is found along the Gulf Coast, with
a diurnal range of 9 feet at Lituya Bay, and 10.8 feet at
the entrances to the Copper River and the Eyak River.
Flora2
The Yakutat Bay area for the most part falls within
Nelson's "Sitkan," or Merriam's "Canadian" biological
zone (Gabrielson and Lincoln, 1959, pp. 41-49). This
is an area that stretches from the forested part of
Kodiak Island in southwestern Alaska, around the
Gulf of Alaska, through the southeastern panhandle
to merge gradually in British Columbia or northern
2
 I have taken Anderson, 1959, as a guide to the scientific
botanical terms in modern use, and have translated the plant
names from Coville, 1895, according to Anderson's system.
Sharpless, 1958, has been very useful for popular names. I have
also consulted Fernow, 1902, and Stair and Pennell, 1946, but
am not attempting to list all of the plants of the Yakutat area.
Those items starred (*) are represented in the 1952 collection
made by my field associate, Dr. Catharine McCellan.
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 31
Washington with a largely similar zone of closely re-
lated but more southern species and races. The Sitkan
biotic community is characterized by the dense Pacific
rain forests and their denizens, including the birds that
regularly return to nest or to visit during their non-
breeding seasons, and also including the fish that come
to spawn in these waters. Because the interior world,
Merriam's "Hudsonian" zone, is just across the moun-
tains, most of its birds and mammals and many of its
plants are also to be found on the coast, especially in
areas of open grassland and muskeg, on higher and
drier foothills, or where the great valleys have been cut
through the barrier range. Furthermore, wherever the
mountains rise above timberline (about 2,500 feet),
or where recent glaciation has denuded their lower
slopes, we can find permanent or temporary island areas
characterized by the flora and some of the fauna of the
Arctic-Alpine zone, or of the treeless Aleutian zone.
Offshore are to be found the creatures of the open
sea, the pelagic fishes, birds, and whales, or those sea
mammals and northern-breeding birds that cross the
Gulf of Alaska without need to rest on land. These can
hardly be said to be within the Yakutat world, though
they belong to its fringes, to the world beyond the
supposed barrier of the horizon, where the sky touches
the sea. Voyagers bound for Sitka or Nuchek, or ven-
turesome sea otter hunters, have often seen the great
sea birds and whales, and not infrequently some of
these, as well as occasional deep sea fishes, are thrown
upon the shore by storms or may seek shelter within
Yakutat Bay.
More conspicuous than such chance visitors are the
myriads of migrating birds that regularly pass through
Yakutat on their way to more northern nesting places
or on their return to warmer winter quarters. Among
these are species of great importance to the natives.
Within the Yakutat area, therefore, all three Alaskan
biotic zones may be found within relatively short dis-
tances. The North Pacific lies just beyond the breakers,
and for brief seasons in spring and fall the migrants of
the Pacific flyway provide still greater diversity. Yet
because glacial barriers have so recently isolated the
Yakutat region from the rest of Alaska, or even cut off
one part of the Gulf Coast from another, there are
curious breaks in the distribution of mammals, resulting
in absences of kinds found elsewhere in the Sitkan and
interior zones, or in the development of a few special
subspecies.
According to Frederick Funston, who made a botan-
ical study in Yakutat Bay in 1892 (Coville, 1895,
p. 328): "The plant life of the region about Yakutat
Bay is characterized by the dense and vigorous growth
of a comparatively small number of species, giving the
forests an appearance of great sameness." However, he
was referring chiefly to the area near Yakutak, for
there are clearly differentiated zones: The dense mature
forests of lower Yakutat Bay that are confined to the
slopes below 2,200 feet and to the older moraines and
raised beaches south of Bancas Point and Point La-
touche; the Arctic flora of the higher slopes and also of
the fiords so recently denuded of vegetation; the
grasses and flowers of the swampy outwash plains;
and lastly the plants of the new sandy beaches.
The forests are dark, dense and almost impenetrable.
This is because the trees are thinly rooted in the
shallow topsoil and in consequence there are many
windfalls; tangled underbrush fills every available
opening. "Even the Indians, who have lived here many
years, have never penetrated the forests of the main-
land for a mile from their own village" (Coville, 1895,
p. 328). It is perhaps not irrelevant to note that the
openness of the interior valleys is admired, or that the
natives picture the afterworld of those who have died
gloriously by violence as a grassy heaven.
The Yakutat forest is composed chiefly of Sitka
spruce, Picea sitchensis, Western coast hemlock, Tsuga
heterophylla, and mountain hemlock, T. mertensiana,
the proportions apparently varying according to the
age of the stands and the amount of moisture in the
soil. There are a few Alaskan yellow cedar, Chamaecy-
paris nootkatensis, the western limit of which is reached
in Prince William Sound. For the native, the spruce
(sit) is "the" tree ('as) in Tlingit, furnishing wood for
houses, canoes, boxes and other manufactures, and
roots for baskets. Its inner bark, as well as that of the
hemlock (yAn), is eaten, while the outer bark of the
hemlock is used for such purposes as roofing. The
yellow cedar (Boas, 1917, p. 155, xay; Harrington,
xaa) is considered the best for carving, and its bark is
preferred for the inside of blanket warps (Emmons,
1907, p. 237).
I The branches of these trees are hung with festoons
of moss, of which the natives distinguish several vari-
eties. Moss in general is sixqa (Boas, 1917, p. 161,
siqga; Harrington, sixkaa); the useless long hanging
white moss is SA?; that used for diapers is 'as djiwAn
sixqayi, 'moss under the limb of the tree,' or 'asyik
sExoni. Lichens and fungus also grow on the trunks
and stumps. The natives recognize the tiny cup-shaped
fungus as 'tree crackers' ('as daqath"), and tiny toad-
stools in the moss as 'moss rain hats' (sixqa siu duwet
saxw). The ground underfoot is spongy with mosses,
including club moss or ground pine, Lycopodiwm annoti-
nurn, interspersed with flowers.3
3
 In Boas' Tlingit vocabulary of 1S91, as rendered into more
modern orthography, runningpine, Lycopodium clavatum,% is
'deer's belt/ qo'kan si'gi [quwa&an sigi]; fern is tsats; moss,
Parmelia, is Se'xone; moss, Cychrus longicollis, is "woman in the
wood," asq toyik ca ('as# tuyik ca]; shelf fungus, Polyporus, is
"tree biscuit," or astaqa'di ['as taqadi].
32 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Among the more important shrubs in the forest or
along its edge is the skunkbush or false azalea, Men-
ziesia ferruginea, tall as a man with handsome bluish-
green leaves and bell-shaped coral-pink blossoms in
June. Also within the forest, growing up to 10 feet in
height, is the terrible devil club, Oplopanax Korridus
(tsAxt; Boas, 1917, p. 125, sAxt'; Harrington, saxt'),
with its branching stems and wide leaves all armed
with sharp spikes that break off in the flesh like the
quills of the porcupine. Its sweet white flowers bloom
in May and June, and although the red berries that
ripen in late August are inedible, its stems and bark
are supposed to be valuable for counteracting disease.
A tall plant growing at the edge of the woods, with
flowers in July and red berries later in the summer
was said to be good "T.B. medicine" and was called
kAtltCAnEt. Boas (1891, p. 181) gives what is evidently
this name to a species of Sorbus, perhaps S. sitchensis
or mountain ash.
Smaller forest plants include several kinds of wood
ferns Dryopteris, rock ferns Polypodium, fragile ferns
Cysopteris, sword ferns Polystichum, and lady fern
Athyrium, some of which furnish edible roots (qwAlx;
Boas, 1917, p. 157, KwAfac; Harrington, kVaix). For
example, the lady fern, Athyrium filix-femina,* was
identified as "native sweetpotato" (sate). The dwarf
dogwood or bunchberry, Cornus canadensis, with
its four white floral bracts and orange-red berries
carpets the ground. The similar deerberry, Maian-
themum dilitatum,* (qekAxitlk) is reputed to have
many medicinal virtues, especially as a poultice (qet
kayani).4 There are also the small white starflower,
Trientalis europea arctica,* the root of which was used
as a love medicine (wutc sixAni nakw); Alaskan golden-
thread, Coptis trifoliata, with three white petals and
bitter tonic root; the foamflower, Tiarella trifoliata,*
with dainty white blossoms lifted high; the single
delight or wax flower, Moneses unifiora,* with a single
drooping white flower; the coral-root, Corallorrhiza
mertensiana*; the cut-leaf anemone, Anemone multi-
Jida*; and the one-sided wintergreen, Pyrola secunda,*
with its line of drooping bells. Among these plants, as
well as among those of the damp glades (see below),
are a number that were used as medicines or amulets.
The tall clasping twisted-stalk, Streptopus amplexi-
folius,* a lily with creamy bells, is known as 'dead
person's berries' (sege qawu tl'egu) because of its rich,
inedible fruit.
At the edge of the forest, or in glades within, grow
the important berry bushes; the red-berried elder,
Sambucus racemosa, (yeiJ) with white flowers in May
and tart red berries in September; the salmonberry,
Rubus spectabilis,* (wAsian tl'egu) with red to yellow
fruit ripening in August; the delicious early blueberry,
Vaccinium ovalifolium (kanat&), to be gathered in late
August or September; the 'up-river blueberry' (nana
kana??yi), possibly the red huckleberry, V. parvifolium,
but identified by Emmons (1903, p. 438) as the thin-
leafed blueberry, V. membranaceum, and by Harrington
as the Alaska blueberry, V. alaskensis; the trailing red
raspberry or five-leafed bramble, Rubus pedatus,*
and the cloudberry, R. chamaemorus,* both called
'dog's earrings' (ketl gukw kAdjacI); the trailing black
currant, Ribes laxiflorum,* and fetid currant, R. gland-
ulosum,* both known as "lowbush currant" (kAnEltsuk;
Harrington, khaneeltsukw); and the highbush cran-
berry, Viburnum edule,* (kAXwex) with its tasty red
berries available from late August through the fall.
On more open moist soil is the low lagoon berry,
Rubus stellatus (Harrington, neekuun, from 'lagoon').
The "wild currant" (cax, cax; Harrington, caax) is
probably the blue currant or skunk bush, Ribes bracteo-
sum, (according to Swanton, 1909, p. 19, cax); the
"lowbush cranberry" may be Vaccinium vitis-idea.
The thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus (Harrington,
tciix),* was believed to have medicinal virtue.3
Growing on the edge of the forest and on the slopes
above it are the matted clumps of the red alder, Alnus
oregona (kesis; Boas 127, k6cic; Harrington, khiicfc),
found up to an altitude of 3,000 feet, where it forms
"such dense jungles as to be almost impenetrable,
constituting one of the most serious obstacles to moun-
tain climbing in this region" (Coville, 1895, p. 328).
Its wood and springy branches were, however, used for
a number of manufactures and its bark for red dye.
The willow Salix ssp. (teal', teal') grows on the lowland,
and its thickets are important as "the favorite resort
of the ptarmigan" (Coville, 1895, p. 329), especially in
Disenchantment Bay. These two shrubs and the cotton-
wood, Populus tricocarpa and P. tacamahacca(?), (duq;
Boas 156, duq) form the advance guard of the forest
that is slowly reoccupying Disenchantment Bay and
Russell Fiord. Swanton reports (1909, p. 60) that the
"smelly things" growing on top of the cottonwood
trees are called doxkwa'nk!
On stream banks or in swampy glades grow several
species of saxifrage, Saxifraga punctata, S. mertensiana,
4
 According to Harrington, the dwarf dogwood is k'aykhaxe'tl'kh
while the deerberry is tlhe'et, 'circular.'
5
 Boas (1891) lists the following berries, as rendered into more
modern orthography: early blueberry, Vaccinium ovalifolium,
kanaka'; bog blueberry, V. uliginosum, tsika'xk"; mountain cran-
berry, V. vitis-idea, negu'n; crowberry, Empetrum niqrum,
xitlewutse. The latter, of course, is found only on higher slopes.
Highbush cranberry, Viburnum acerifolium, k'Aswe'x. This last
is probably V. edule.
Harrington calls the highbush cranberry (V. pauciflorum i.e.,
V. edule) the "white currant" (cwax); and also mentions the
swamp cranberry, Occycoccus microcarpus (c6tck khatlhe'ekuu).
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 33
and S. stellarisC?); the tall yellow wild snapdraggon or
monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus formerly langsdorfii;
delicate-blossomed alum-root, Heuchera glabra; and the
Siberian springbeauty. Claytonia sibirica.* "The last-
named plant is eaten both raw and cooked by the
Indians" (Coville, 1895, p. 330). My informants iden-
tified this, however, as "money dope" (duwuwEt
kayi kayani) or 'medicine for being called by the
village' ('ante 'uxux nakw). An important source of
food is the root of the Kamchatka lily or "wild rice"
(kux), Fritillaria camtchatcensis,* with its purply-
brown flowers and an odor offensive to our noses.
Here too is found the "wild rhubarb" (tl'a]iwAtc), a
dock or sorrel Bumex, possibly fenestraius,* the reddish
leaves and stems of which are eaten in the spring and
early summer.6 Most welcome in the early spring are
the fresh raw stalks of the "wild celery" or cowparsnip,
Heradeum lanaium, (yana'?t; Boas 155, yXnAEt') which
later in the summer toughen and carry their umbrellas
of white flowerlets to a height of 4 or 5 feet. The dried
stalks have given their name (ku?) to the basketry
rings on chiefs' woven hats. The wild celery often
grows in the open with the similar, but later blooming,
Angelica. The horsetail, Equisitum variegatum and E.
arvense, is also found along the banks of streams and
in muskegs. My informants called it 'sea lion's whiskers'
(tan ?adadz?yi), and said it was "good for nothing,"
although Emmons (1903, p. 238) reported that the
marsh horsetail, E. palustre, called "at the edge of the
water, heeney money" (i.e., hin WAHI) was used for
basket decoration, especially at Yakutat. E. arvense
(thaan k'utaa tzaalii) was used as sandpaper for
smoothing woodwork, according to Harrington.
Two important medicinal plants from the woodland
swamps are the skunk cabbage, Lysichitum americanum,
C&atl') especially good as medicine for cuts (sel nakw),
and the American white hellebore or "skookum root,"
Veratrum eschscholtzii* (sikc) useful for wounds, as
hair medicine (cAxawu nakw) and, according to Swan-
ton (1909, p. 143, s!tkc), for protection against land
otters. The tall white-spired goatsbeard, Aruneus
vulgaris,* also furnished an effective medicine (qa
kakdusex nakw). We should not forget the deadly
waterhemlock, Cicuta douglasii or virosa(l), although
this was not used by the Yakutat, as far as I know.
The open tundralike flats, as for example, between
the Situk and Lost Rivers, are described by Shortt
(1939, p. 2) as "for the most part covered with sedges,
deer cabbage, heather and Carex. Some of these clear-
ings between Yakutat and the Situk are very swampy
and are covered with a film of oil. There is also a
heavy bacterial deposit of iron-oxide in these swamps
6
 According to Harrington, the leaves of both Rumex fenesiratus
and R. occidentalis (tl'aak'wat#) were boiled and eaten.
which gives the vegetation and the many stagnant
pools a rust-red colour." These flats are dotted with the
white tufts of the Alaska cotton-grass Eriophorum,
especially E. scheuchzeri. Here also grows the Arctic
iris, Iris setosa, of which the "Indians are said to use the
rootstock as a medicinal charm" (Coville, 1895, p. 346).
The white bog-orchid or wild hyacinth, Limnorchis
dilitata leueostachys,* a variety of Habenaria or
Platanthera, is the "need medicine," or "looking at the
sun medicine" (gAgan 'Ahtin nakw), effective in bringing
extra gifts at a potlatch.
The useful Hudson's Bay tea, Ledum groenlandiea,
(sikcAltin or sikcaltfn) grows on some of the flats by the
airfield and near the Situk River. In shallow pools are
two plants, reported to possess great medicinal virtues.
These are the yellow pond lily, Nymphaea polysepala,
or 'the thing that grows on the bottom of the lake'
('atugwexi; Harrington, 'aa thuke'e?ii), and its 'child'
('atugweii yAtii), the buckbean, Menyanthes trifoliata,*
with lavender flowers. Pondweeds, Potamogeton per-
joliatus and P. pusillus, grow in the creeks.
Other flowers of the damp open glades are: the yellow
marsh-marigold, Caltha palustris; Alaska violet, Viola
langsdorfii; red baneberry, Actaea arguta; large-leafed
avens, Geum macrophyllum (Harrington, 'aan khanaa-
kuu); the daisylike fleabane, Erigeron sp.; lamb lily or
asphodel, Tqfieldia glutinosa{!); yellow willow-herb,
Epilobium luteum; a slender join tweed or bistort,
Polygonum viviparum; sea lovage with broad leaves and
aromatic roots, Ligusticum hultenii, formerly scoticum;
wild pea, Lathyrus palustris; a broad-leafed yellow
composite, Arnica latifolia; the tall blue Greek-valerian,
Polemonium acutiflorum (or caeruleum)*; the creeping
spearwort, a buttercup or crowfoot, Ranunculus
flammula; marsh cinquefoil, PotentiUa palustris;* an
aster with narrow purple petals, Aster subspicatus;
Alpine aster, A. alpinus;* mud sedge, Carex limosa
stygia; spikerush, Eleocharis watsoni(J); and sickle-
leaved rush, Juncus falcatus. The grasses in the drier
open lands are tufted hair-grass, Deschampsia caespitosa,
and sweet-grass Hierochloe, formerly Savastana odorata.
At old sites the nettles, Urtica, lyallii (Harrington,
Mukw), grow thick and are used for reddish basket
dyes according to Emmons (1903, p. 238).
The grassy dunes and open gravel flats are often
carpeted with masses of those wild strawberries,
Fragaria chiloensis, (cukw or cAkw; Harrington,
cukw), for which Yakutat is famous. They ripen in
different places from early July to mid-August. Of
value to the natives in decorating baskets and also
as "mattresses" under fur robes are the stalks of the
beach rye-grass, Elymus mollis, formerly arenarius
(Harrington, lakh), which grows on the dunes. My
informants gave me only one word for 'grass' (xatl' or
xal'),7 which apparently grows in streams, although
34 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
they doubtless distinguished between varieties useful
to them. Small burrs found on some of the grass
stems are known as 'slave's louse nests, or snarls'
(guxw CA#si).
Emmons (1903, p. 236) reported the following grasses
as used for ornamentation of baskets, and presumably
many of these were available at Yakutat where the
best baskets were once made: fowl manna-grass,
Panicularia nervata, now Glyeeria striata; blue-joint,
Calarnagrostis canadensis langsdorfii; tufted hair-grass,
Deschampsia caespitosa; slender reed-grass, Cinna
latijolia (Harrington, caak); Alaska brome-grass,
Bromus sitchensis; and beach rye-grass, Elyraus mollis.
Perhaps the most showy plant of the gravels is the
blue and white lupin, Lupinus nootkatensis (kantAk",
gEntAkw, or kantXqw; Harrington, kanthakw or
gantagw), the roots of which were eaten. I am not
sure whether the natives distinguished between two
varieties or colors of lupin, or also ate a similar plant
(gi&us or gE^us). The latter may have been the beach
pea, Lathyrus maritimus, with rose and purple flowers,
since the roots of a plant with pink flowers were called
"sweetpotatoes" (sate or tsatc). (Possibly this was the
related Hedysarum alpinum, called "bear root," or
"Indian potatoes" on the Copper River.) Coville
(1895, p. 332) notes that the hairy rock-cress, Arabis
hirsuta, which thrives in the gravelly soil of the dunes,
is "sometimes eaten raw by the Indians."
Identification of the root plants eaten at Yakutat is
very difficult, since our informants could not describe
them, and the roots would normally be gathered when
the plants were not in bloom. Swanton (1909, pp. 18,
159, 180, 182) mentions three different edible roots
eaten by the Tlingit: ts'et, sin, and fern root (klwAlx).
I was given the names sate, sAtc, tsats, tsats for "sweet-
potatoes," and also set. One informant called fern
leaves sate and fern roots qwAby. The yellow vetch,
"mule's ear," was not eaten but was called 'Raven's
garden' (yei tayi).
On the dunes and gravel flats there are both the
Arctic fireweed, Epilobium latifolium, and the ordinary
taller variety, E. angustifolium; one or both were used
for medicine (lul). Yarrow, Achillea millefolium,
called 'mouse tail' (kagak tl'idi; Harrington, khakaak
tl'iitii), was also of medicinal value. In this area there
also grows the northern willow-herb, Epilobium an-
denocaulon*; the scarlet Indian paint-brush, Oastilleja
miniata and C. chrymactis*; the yellow to magenta
lousewort, Pedicularis palustrisC!); yellow rattlebox,
Rhinanthus minor, formerly crista-galli; the blunt-
leaved and sea-beach sandworts, Arenaria lateriflora
i Thia word sounds suspiciously like the name for skunk
cabbage (iatl'}. Harrington recorded tchuukhan for 'grass' in
general. Boas (1917, p. 126, from Swanton) gives tcukAn for
'brush' and for 'grass.'
and A, peploides; blue gentians, Gentiana amarella(?);
many-flowered woodrush, Luzula multifiora, formerly
Juncoides campestris suedicum; succulent sea milkwort
Glaux maritima; the alakali-grass of the sea shore,
Puccinellia maritima(?); and spear-grass, Poa eminens,
formerly glumaris.
Above the upper limit of the forests, the mountain-
sides have a heavy growth of grass, Deschampsia,
caespitosa longifiora, and of blue monkshood or aconite,
Aconitum delphinifolium. Above 2,500 feet, however,
there are chiefly spotted saxifrage, Saxvfraga bronchialis;
a ground willow, Salix arctica; the showy blue northern
geranium or crane's bill, Geraniumer ianthum; and two
creeping mountain shrubs: the Alaska heather, Cassiope
stelleriana, and Luetkea pectinata.
Still higher grow mostly small arctic plants, the most
important of which may be the Kamchatka rock-cress,
Arabis lyrata kamchatica, since it is "eaten raw by the
natives" (Coville, 1895, p. 332). There are doubtless
other plants, the roots of which are valued for magical
or medicinal purposes, since we were told that many
of these had to be sought on the mountainside. Since the
plants were carefully guarded professional secrets,
unknown to our informants, we were unable to identify
them. Emmons (1903, p. 238; 1907, p. 336, saxoti)
reports that the lichen, Everina vulpina, was used for
yellow dye for basket straws and goat wool. This, I
believe, grows on the mountains.
Among the plants growing at high elevations, Boas
(1891) identifies as medicines or amulets the composite
Arnica cordijolia or 'town-on medicine' (an ka na' gu,
i.e., 'ankA nagu), and wild heliotrope, Valeriana sp.,
(tltcanis la'kw, i.e., Itcanis nakw or, rather, itcAni nakw).
In the same area, or in Disenchantment Bay, grow two
medicines which we were unable to identify. These are
"no-strength-inside" (Iqatu lAtsin), useful for hunters
of dangerous animals, and "glare" (kAUk or kAhk) to
blind the eyes of rivals. Emmons (1903, p. 238) reports
that the stems of the maidenhair fern, Adiantum
pedatum(?), "on the side of the mountain or shar-ah-
thlee-tee" (possible ca 'Atl'idi or 'mountain its-tail'?),
were used for basketry decoration. This name, however,
suggests that of a vine called "mountain eel" (cayall'tlt,
Swanton, 1909, p. 98).
Funston (Coville, 1895) collected the following
plants high above the tree line above Disenchantment
Bay: chickweed, Cerastium alpinumij); the rose-
tinted lesser wintergreen of the snowline, Pyrola
minor; the white-blossomed wild heliotrope, Valeriana
sitchensis; hairy cinquefoil and a related species,
PotentUla villosa and P. procumbenstf); fringed grass-
of-Parnassus, Parnassia fimhriaia; a woodworm or
sagebrush, Artemesia normgia{l); winter cress or
yellow rocket, Barbarea barbarea(?); buttercup or
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 35
crowfoot, Ranunculus cooleyae; harebell or Alaskan
bluebell, Campanula rotundifolia alaskana; coltsfoot,
Tussilago frigida(?); wooly hawkweed, Hieracium
triste; the long-bracted orchid, Habenaria bracteata or
Coeloglossum viride; Anemone narcissiflora; wooly ever-
lasting, or cat's ears, Antennaria alpinaij); rattlesnake
root, Prenanthes alata; western columbine, AquUegia
formosa; a yellow daisy-like composite, Arnica latifolia;
Sitka mistmaid, Romanzoffia sitehensis; drug eyebright,
Euphrasia qfficinalis(?); a yellow-blossomed avens,
Geum calthifolium; parsley-fern or rockbrake, Crypto-
gramrna acrostichoides; the common fragile-fern, Orysto-
pteris fragiiis; spike redtop grass, Agrostis exarata;
mountain timothy, Phleum alpinum; and alpine blue-
grass, Poa alpina. The alpine clubmoss, Lycopodium
alpinum, with long trailing roots, may be what the
Tlingit call "mountain eel" (Swanton, 1909, p. 98,
cayali't!!).
As indicated already, the true forest does not extend
farther up Yakutat Bay than just below Point Latouche
on the east and Bancas Point on the west. Beyond, in
Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord, grows the
advance guard of alders and willows, with a few cotton-
woods following. Spruce is not found again until the
end of Russell Fiord, south of Shelter Cove opposite
Mount Tebenkof. Nor can the forest grow on the
swampy forelands east of Yakutat. The sides of Nun-
atak Fiord appear almost bare, although some arctic
and mountain plants are beginning to find a foothold,
but near the head the glacier is still today in rapid
retreat and the rocks are lifeless. In contrast, however,
are the alders, cottonwoods, and spruces that grow
luxuriantly on the debris-laden ends of the Malaspina
Glacier on the west side of Yakutat Bay.
In addition to the plants listed above, the Yakutat
natives were also familiar with the western red cedar,
Thuja plicata, (lax) of southernmost Tlingit country
and British Columbia, since it was used for canoes im-
ported from the Haida. They also knew the paper birch
of the interior, Betula papyrifera, because they some-
times received containers oi its bark (Boas, 1917, p. 154,
'It dayi, 'its bark'); they had names for the "black
pine" or black spruce of the interior, Picea mariana,
(Swanton 1909, p. 92, IAI), and also for the fir, Abies
sp. (Harrington, leeyfs; Boas, 1917, p. 157, leyfs). The
Douglas maple, Acer glabrum douglasii, (Boas, 1917, p.
160, xalie) and the Oregon crabapple, Malus diver si-
folia, (Boas, 1917, p. 156, xax), like the Pacific yew,
Taxus bredfolia, a hardwood used by the Tlingit in
making bows, hence called 'bow' (Boas, 1917, p. 160,
slqs), were to be seen in southeastern Alaska. My
informants also mentioned a variety of currant with
prickles (xahe'ywu), probably Ribes lacustre, which
they said grew only in southeastern Alaska. Doubtless
they also knew the rosebush (Boas, 1917, p. 163,
qonyel). Those who went up the Alsek River could
gather bearberries or kinnikinnick, Arctostaphylos uva-
wrsi, (tmx) and soapberries, Shepherdia canadensis
(hoktl'i; Harrington, xukwti'ii; cf. Swanton, 1909,
p. 252, qokli't!). The latter was esteemed a delicacy,
and one informant reported in 1952 that some had been
found on a mountain "on this side" of Hubbard Glacier.
A more complete list of plants was collected in 1945
in the virgin forest near Yakutat, on the muskeg, on
creek banks, on cleared ground, and along the ocean
beach, and has been published by Stair and Pennell
(1946). These add about 50 new species to the list
published by Coville (1895) upon which the preceding
account is based. These additional plants were largely
from the flat coastal lowland east of Yakutat or from
the denser parts of the forest which had been made
accessible by roads bulldozed around the airfield.
About 11 plants were undoubtedly introduced through
the activities of the Army Air Corps. Of the flowering
plants known from Yakutat, about half are circum-
boreal; the others belong to the western part of the
continent, in some cases only to the Pacific coast. It is
interesting that the ranges of a few plants, character-
istic of northern Asia, and of others more at home in
southeastern Alaska, should overlap at Yakutat (Stair
and Pennell, 1946, pp. 13-14).
The cultivated red currant, which seems to be
spreading from the mission garden, is called kwek.
The only plant cultivated in aboriginal times at
Yakutat was tobacco (gAntc), also known as "native
tobacco" (Imgit gAntci). Beresford (1789, p. 175) with
Dixon in 1787 observed the Yakutat natives chewing
"a plant, which appears to be a species of tobacco,"
and Malaspina (1885, p. 164) in 1791 mentions "culti-
vated ground" on the islands and mainland in the
southeastern part of the bay. According to Heizer
(1940) the tobacco was a species of Nicotiana, similar
to N. multivalvis.
Mammals8
As might be expected, the diversity of ecological
zones and the barriers created by glacial advances
have had a pronounced effect upon the fauna of the
Gulf Coast of Alaska, especially in the Yakutat area.
Thus, Tarr (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 141) found in
8
 This section is based on Dufresne, 1946; Rhode and Barker,
1953; Logier and Toner, 1961; and above all upon Hall and
Kelson, 1959, whose classifications and distributions have been
followed as closely as possible.
36 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
1905 and 1906 that the northern shore between Nuna-
tak and Hubbard Glaciers was still practically in-
accessible to the larger predators. No tracks of wolves,
foxes, or bears were seen, while ptarmigan were par-
ticularly numerous and gulls could breed in safety on
the moraine, whereas in other parts of the bay they
had to nest on cliffs. The same conditions prevail
today. Although the foreland is good country for
deer, they had apparently been cut off by water and
by glacial barriers and were not found north of Cross
Sound until introduced into the Yakutat area and
Prince William Sound by the U.S. Government. The
glacial barriers on the Alsek have also until recently
been effective in excluding many animals of the in-
terior. Thus, for example, moose, coyote, and rabbit
are relatively recent newcomers to the Yakutat and
Dry Bay region; there are still no porcupines, and as
far as we know, there were never any caribou.
In the case of other animals with wide distribution,
Yakutat Bay and the Malaspina Glacier seem to mark
a boundary between different subspecies or races, so
that the forms found on the southeastern shore are
not necessarily the same as those to the north and
west. For a number of species, unfortunately, detailed
information is lacking and we know only the con-
trast between forms in southeastern Alaska and those
of Prince William Sound or the Alaska Peninsula.
We may not know whether the animal is present in
the intervening area, or, if reported, we do not know
what sub-species is represented. Other faunal barriers
on the mainland seem to be Cape Spencer, the western
edge of Prince William Sound, and perhaps Lituya
Bay or possibly the Grand Plateau Glacier which now
reaches the beach. The islands in southeastern Alaska,
like those of the Aleutian chain, may lack certain
common animals of the adjacent mainland, or possess
their own bewildering array of local races. Detailed
investigations, such as those devoted to the fauna of
the Alexander and Aleutian Archipelagos, have not
been made at strategic localities along the coast be-
tween Cape Spencer and the Copper River, where we
might expect to find local variations between animal
populations that had been separated by glacial bar-
riers. Such problems are obviously the concern of the
biologist, yet their solutions might help the anthro-
pologist to understand more fully the history of the
area and the varying ecological possibilities to which
the aboriginal human inhabitants have adjusted.
Unfortunately, none of the early explorers of the
Yakutat area made as accurate observations as did
LaPerouse at Lituya Bay, so we can get little informa-
tion from them about the fauna of the 18th century and
often find it difficult to identify the animals they saw.
Thus, Beresford with Dixon in 1786 (Dixon 1789, p.
169) noted that the expedition purchased cloaks of sea
otter, beaver, earless marmot, and "racoon." Surfa
with Malaspina in 1791 (Wagner, 1936, p. 247) noted
the natives wearing robes, the skins of which "seem to
be of bears [black bear], tigers [lynx?], lions [Alaska
brown bear, according to Wagner], and some of deer-
skins [from southeastern Alaska? caribou from the in-
terior?], and of marmots, with the hair outside." He also
noted marten skins for the women, and black bear robes
for the men (p. 255). "Deer grease" (p. 247) smeared on
the hair is probably mountain goat tallow. Malaspina's
own account (1885, pp. 157, 159, 345, 347) mentions
that the Yakutat natives had clothing of bear, wolf,
"sea-wolf" obtained only in deep water, "nutria,"
"otter," and "little fox" (zorilla). The "sea-wolf" is the
sea otter, while "nutria" and "otter" are probably the
same, to judge by the native name recorded, or may be
land otter. If the last, this would suggest that at that
period the natives resembled the Chugach and the
Atna Athabaskans in having no horror of the land otter,
unlike the modern Eyak, Yakutat, and Tlingit. "Little
fox" or zorilla (also applied to the skunk) and "racoon"
remain unidentified unless they refer to the odorous mink
and to the pretty marten.
LaPerouse's observations are much more full and
accurate, yet we cannot be sure from what animal were
obtained the "tanned elkskins" seen at Lituya Bay
(1799, vol. 1, p. 395).
LAND MAMMALS
The Yakutat people face a variety of large brown
bears and grizzlies. These have never been classified to
the satisfaction of biologists, but for the native all
these large species are "the Bear" (xuts; Boas, 1917,
p. 158, xiits), the prize of the intrepid hunter and an
important sib crest. The very large, dark grizzled Dall
brown bear, Ursus dalli, lives northwest of Yakutat
Bay, especially along the Malaspina Glacier. The for-
ester, Jay Williams (1952, p. 138), reports this huge
bear at Lituya Bay; it may be another variety, or there
may be a break in its distribution between Yakutat
and Lituya Bays. Apparently confined to the south-
eastern side of Yakutat Bay is the Yakutat grizzly,
U. nortoni, a large true grizzly, with yellowish or golden
brown head and dark brown rump and legs, the whole
looking whitish from a distance. It seems to range as
far south as Lituya Bay (Williams, 1952, p. 138). Also
known at Yakutat is the giant brown bear of Kodiak,
the Alaska Peninsula, and Prince William Sound, U.
middendorffi. The Alsek grizzly, U. orgiloides, a cream-
colored medium sized bear with long narrow skull,
ranges the foreland east of Yakutat, especially along
the Ahrnklin, Italio, and Alsek Rivers. It is not known
whether this bear, or the closely related Glacier Bay
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 37
grizzly, U. orgttos, is the form found at Lituya Bay.
Between Cross Sound and the Alsek delta is the large
Townsend grizzly, U. townsendi, the exact range of
which is undefined.
The black bear (sik), found along the coastal glaciers
from Lituya Bay (or Cross Sound) northward to the
eastern edge of Prince William Sound or Cape Saint
Elias, is very much smaller than the ordinary American
black bear. Furthermore, in addition to the usual black
and brownish colors, many from the same litter are
blue-gray or maltese. These are called glacier bears,
U. americanus emmonsii, formerly Euarctos emmonsii
or Ursus glacialis. The Indians make no distinctions,
as far as I know, between the color varients, unless
what Boas (1891, p. 174) recorded as a "polar bear"
(caq, i.e., cax) is really the blueish glacier bear. A few
bones of the black bear were found in the site on Knight
Island.
Although the Tlingit recognize the distinction be-
tween the large brown bears and the smaller black
bears there is one term which can be used to cover both
(tsfnist, sinst).
There are wolves (gutc) at Yakutat, often driven
by hunger in winter to the very edge of the town.
Some of these may be the large interior Alaska wolf,
Canis Iwpus pambasiLeus, gray to coal-black in color,
the southwestern limit of whose range is reported at
Yakutat. A very large black wolf, repeatedly seen
near the road just east of the town during March and
early April, 1954, was probably this form. The smaller
Alexander Archipelago gray wolf, C. I. Ugoni, that
ranges south of Yakutat along the mainland and on
the islands south of Frederick Sound, has actually
been taken at Eleanor Cove on the southeastern side
of Yakutat Bay. As far as I know, the Tlingit make
no formal distinction between these two races. The
Wolf is, of course, an important moiety and sib crest.
Although Hall and Kelson (1959, map 447, p. 856)
would indicate that the red fox, Vulpes fulva, is absent
on the coast from Oregon north to Kenai Peninsula,
although common in the interior as V. f. alascensis or
V. alascensis alascensis, nevertheless the Yakutat
natives reported them at Yakutat and at Dry Bay.
Mertie (1931, p. 121) saw both the red and the cross
varient at Lituya Bay, and LaPerouse there purchased
red fox furs from the natives (1799, vol. 1, p. 395).
Foxes have been taken to some of the islands in Yakutat
Bay both by natives and Whites for fur-farming
ventures (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 76), yet
the fox must be much older here than these imported
animals. Our informants spoke of trapping and snaring
them at Dry Bay and at Yakutat, and described the
aboriginal devices used to take them, mentioning
clothing made of the pelts and robes of fox paws.
There was even a taboo against giving the tails to
dogs, suggesting an ancient acquaintance with the fox.
Israel Russell (1893, p. 26) noticed the tracks of foxes,
as well as of bears, wolves, and mountain goats, on
the Malaspina Glacier. Natives told Goldschmidt and
Haas (1946, pp. 74, 83, 85) about trapping foxes near
Dry Bay, Italio River, Point Manby, and Katalla.
George Johnson, who was familiar with the coast west
of Yakutat, said that two White men had taken 122
"mixed" [i.e., cross] foxes at Yakataga with poison,
so that there were no more in that area. The Tlingit
name for fox (nagasE) is an unusual word, and is
reported by Boas (1891, p. 177) as "borrowed." We
should note that the "highest name" for the fox on the
Copper River, where special respect words are used
by hunters, is very similar (na'qMzi' or natAdzi'),
which suggests an interior origin for both the animal
and its name. Quite possibly it has not been very long
on the coast, for it is not a sib crest.
Although lynx furs were used as robes at Yakutat,
and although LaPerouse purchased some skins at
Lituya Bay (1899, vol. 1, p. 395), I am not sure whether
the Canadian lynx, Lynx canadensis, (gaq; Boas, 1917,
p. 160, gaq) is actually found at Yakutat, although
it was trapped in the Dry Bay area. None of my in-
formants nor those who discussed territorial rights
and resources with Goldschmidt and Haas (1946, pp.
84, 85) specifically mentioned trapping lynx nearer
than Dry Bay. The name has a good Tlingit sound
and has also been recorded by Swanton (1909, p. 125,
gak) at Wrangell.
The coyote, Canis latrans incolatus, like the moose
and rabbit, is reported to have arrived "just lately,"
"about 1925," or "just a few years ago," according to
Yakutat informants. One old man thought that the
building of the Alaska Highway might have driven
them down to the coast. The coyote is absent from
southeastern Alaska, but was previously known from
the upper Alsek River and from the Copper River
flats. We know that coyotes have increased their
range during the present century, for according to the
"Report of the Governor of Alaska on the Alaska Game
Law, 1919" (Riggs, 1920, pp. 11-12), "Coyotes are
increasing along the White River and at the head of the
Chitina" behind the Saint Elias Range, having ". . .
gradually worked their way up from British Colum-
bia. . . ." The coyote is so new to the Yakutat Tlingit
that they have no proper name for it other than
'upstream wolf (nagutc) or "way-back dog" (hada
ketli).
The northern wolverine Gullo luscus luscus (nuskw;
Boas, 1917, p. 166, nusku(), is found on the coast as well
as in the interior, is recorded for Yakutat, and is
specifically mentioned by the natives as being encoun-
tered in the Dry Bay area. The skin, like that of the
38 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
wolf, was valued for making the hammock for a baby
boy.
The most valued fur-bearer on land was the small
arboreal marten, Maries arnericana kenaiensis or
M. a. actuosa, (tux; Boas, 1917, p. 160, Kuxu). It was
trapped at Dry Day and at Yakutat. The weasel or
ermine (da; Boas, 1917, p. 166, da) was probably
Mustela erminea arctica, the variety found along the
coast north of Glacier Bay, and also in the interior,
but not in southeastern Alaska, although the prolifera-
tion of local forms and the difficulties of classifying
these makes an exact determination impossible. Similar
uncertainties apply to the Yakutat mink (lukciyan;
Boas, 1917, p. 160, Itikciyan) since these may be the
larger interior mink, M. vison ingens, the Kenai
Peninsula form, M. v. melampeplus, which is found
also in Prince William Sound, or the type found farther
south and in the interior, M. v. energumenos. The mink
was never highly regarded in aboriginal times, being
associated with the evil land otter, or appearing as
Raven's servant in one story (Swanton, 1909, Tale 1,
pp. 9-10), and in general considered smelly. The
ermine, however, was used for trimming ceremonial
dress. Our informants spoke of catching weasels and
minks at Yakutat and Dry Bay for sale (cf., also
Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 80).
The Pacific land otter, Lutra canadensis pacifica,
(kiieda) ranges along the coast from the northern
part of southeastern Alaska to Controller Bay(?),
is larger than the interior Canadian form, L. c. cana-
densis. The land otter was not hunted or used for fur
in aboriginal times because the Tlingit and Eyak
believed that lost or drowned persons were turned
into Land Otter Men (kucdaqa). Many persons today
are still afraid of it. Two land otter bones were, how-
ever, found in the midden at the site on Knight Island
in Yakutat Bay, and Malaspina's observations may
indicate that the Yakutat in former times had a dif-
ferent attitude towards the animal.
The beaver, Castor canadensis belugae, (segedi;
Harrington, sikkeedii; Boas, 1917, p. 154, sAgedi)
has a wide distribution all over coastal and interior
Alaska, except for the Alaska Peninsula and Arctic
Coast, or in the southeast where it is replaced by the
Pacific beaver, C. c. pacificus. However, the beaver
is now extinct at Yakutat, although its bones and
teeth were found on Knight Island. We were told that
there were still some animals on the Ahrnklin River,
where trapping rights have been carefully guarded
by the owning sib. There were once beaver at Dry
Bay, but they are all gone now. LaPerouse (1799,
vol. 1, p. 395) bought beaver skins at Lituya Bay,
but, of course, we do not know where they had been
trapped. The Garyrx-Kagwantan lands west of Icy
Bay were traditionally rich in beaver, and Yakutat
Indians visiting their relatives at Kaliakh River or
Controller Bay might trap them. The Yakutat also
used to buy beaver pelts at settlements near the
mouth of the Copper River or at Nuchek in Prince
William Sound to sell to then- southern relatives or
to the fur traders. It is probably significant that it
was the Galyix-Kagwantan who had the Beaver as
a crest.
The Yakutat people were also familiar with the
muskrat (tsfn), some bones of which were found at the
site on Knight Island. Again, Yakutat Bay seems to be
the boundary between two varieties, Ondantra zibethicus
zalophus to the west and O. z. spatulatus to the south-
east. The latter was actually taken on the Ahrnklin
River, but the distribution of the western form is not
very clear. LaPe'rouse noted "water rat" (muskrat?) at
Lituya Bay (1799, vol 1, p. 395). It is interesting that
only one informant mentioned the muskrat:
"They say there used to be lots around here, but when
they started to trade, they trade for rifle. They pile
them [the skins] up even with the rifle", that is, even
with the top of the muzzle as the rifle (musket?) was
stood vertically on its butt. This was the price exacted
by the Chilkat in trading with the interior Athabaskans
and it is possible that the Tlingit had the same custom
in their early dealings with the Dry Bay Athabaskans
and the Yakutat Eyak. At that time, however, only
sea otter furs were sought, and muskrat pelts had no
value, so the remarks of our informant should not be
accepted without some reservation. It may be signifi-
cant that no other person mentioned trapping muskrats
to Goldschmidt and Haas (1946). Now they are evi-
dently of no importance.
The rabbit, probably the snowshoe rabbit, Lepus
americanus macfarlani, found all over Alaska except
for the Alexander Archipelago, is a newcomer to the
Yakutat area. The Dry Bay people were certainly
familiar with the rabbit (gax) on their journeys up the
Alsek, and among them "Big Rabbit" (Gax-tlen) was
the name of a famous ThikwaxAdi shaman, and also
of his nephew, the father of one of our informants.
Rabbits are apparently not trapped, although tanned
rabbi tsMns are purchased for use in trimming moccasins
made for sale.
There are still no porcupines, Erethizon epixanthum
epixanthum, in the Yakutat or Dry Bay areas, although
the Tlingit name refers to its 'sharp-pointed' quills
(xatlagAts; Boas, 1917, p. 144, xllAlsAt's; Swanton,
1909, p. 220, kklA'tc). The Dry Bay people obtained
quills or quilled garments on their trips up the Alsek.
Other animals whose skins were prized but had to
be obtained from the interior were the striped Arctic
groundsquirrel, Spermophilius undulatus plesius (tsAlk)
and the woodchuck or "gopher," Marmota monax ochra-
cea (Boas, 1917, p. 158, tsilk). LaP6rouse (1799, vol. 1,
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 39
p. 395) purchased some skins of the "Canadian marmot
(monax)" at Lituya Bay, but his identification may be
incorrect. Apparently the "groundhog" or hoary
marmot, M. caligata caligata (sax; Boas, 1917, p. 125,
lax), has been collected at Yakutat as well as in the
interior, and its bones were represented in the site on
Knight Island. One of my informants denied that there
were any "groundhogs" on the coast; there were only
a big one and a little one in the interior. However,
an older woman spoke of seeing them at Dry Bay,
and Minnie Johnson remembered how she had been
frightened as a child by their "fuzzy hair." Yet they
cannot be very common, for when one recently entered
a fish camp on the Ahrnklin River, (a portentous omen
in itself, when a wild animal approaches human beings),
people were puzzled as to how such an upland animal
had come to the shore country. Israel Russell (1891 b,
p. 877) noted many marmots breeding among the
nunataks near Marvine Glacier on the west side of
Yakutat Bay.
Other rodents in the Yakutat area are the Alaskan
red squirrel, Tamiaseiurus hudsonicus petulans, dis-
tributed from Lynn Canal to the northern limit of the
spruce forest. Although Hall and Kelson (1959, map
257, p. 400) indicate an area on the Gulf Coast from
Yakutat through Prince William Sound without squir-
rels, the animal is now certainly common in and about
the town. Informants mentioned them at the head of
the Ahrnklin River and around Summit. Lake, east of
Yakutat. Like small birds and other little animals of no
economic value, they seem to be protected by taboo
from molestation. The northern flying squirrel, Glau-
comys sabrinus, seems to be absent from the Gulf Coast
of Alaska, though found elsewhere in the spruce forests.
Since it is nocturnal it may have escaped notice. Boas
(1891, p. 181) recorded two words for squirrel: kan-
atltsg'k (i.e., kAnaltltsak), and for the "small species"
tlk-oqwe'tsa (i.e., tlqoxwetsA).
Possibly the deer mouse or white-footed mouse,
Peromyscus maniculatus, may occur at Yakutat, since
varieties are found in the adjacent interior and in parts
of southeastern Alaska. The Alaskan meadow jumping
mouse, Zapus hudsonius alascensis, has actually been
recorded from Yakutat and from Lynn Canal, but not
from the Alexander Archipelago. The northern red-
backed mouse, Clethrionomys rutilus, is of wide dis-
tribution in Alaska and seems to be the common mouse
at Yakutat where it is represented by C. r. dawsoni.
Different races are found in southeastern Alaska, and
C. r. watsoni is known only from Yakataga. A specially
dark variety of the meadow mouse or vole, a species of
wide distribution and many forms, is the tundra vole
or Yakutat meadow mouse, Microtus oeconomus yakuta-
tensis, found from Cross Sound to Cook Inlet, and
recorded from the north shore of Yakutat Bay. The
Olympic meadow mouse, M. mordax macrurus, a much
larger variety, reaches the northern limit of its dis-
tribution at Yakutat (Dufresne, 1946, p. 147). The
long-tailed vole, M. longicaudus littoralis, has a similar
distribution from Yakutat down the mainland of
southeastern Alaska.
True lemmings are absent, but the bog lemming or
lemming mouse, Synaptomys borealis, seems to be found
at Yakutat, although we cannot be sure whether it is
the northern S. b. dalli or the southeastern Alaskan
form, S. b. wrangeli, that is represented. Streator's
masked shrew, Sorex cinereus streatori, has been taken
at Yakutat, as has the Alaskan dusky shrew or vagrant
shrew, S. vagrans alascensis. The widely distributed
water shrew, S. palustris, and the singing vole, Microtus
miurus, are among the forms absent from the Gulf
Coast area.
I do not know to what extent the Yakutat natives
distinguish between these various species of small
rodents. I was given two words for "mice": kutsin, the
little animal whose whiter store of roots is taken when-
ever these are found, and kagak. Swanton (1909, 134,
163, 277) gives the name kutsll'n or k!uts!i'n to the
"mouse" and to a "rat" that seems to live in a hole
under the water. Boas (1917, p. 162) renders "rat" as
kutsin. Swanton (1909, p. 19) also gives the form
kule'ltAlnl for "mouse," but I suspect that this is an
adopted Athabaskan word meaning 'mouse-people,' the
part meaning "mouse" being kulel. Swanton (1909, pp.
96, 282) translates kAga'q and kkgAk as "mouse"
and "mole"; Boas (1917, p. 161) renders "mouse" as
kagak. In 1891 (p. 179) Boas included "mouse" and
"shrew" under the same two terms which we recorded.
A summer migrant to the Yakutat area is the little
brown bat, Myotis ludjugus alascensis, that lives in
the dark forests. The Tlingit call it 'beaver-sea lion'
(segeditan; Boas, 1917, p. 154, sAgedifan). One woman
said that they fly around "when it's kind of dark . . .
when it's going to be bad weather," but there seems
to be no fear of them, except among those who have
adopted this attitude from the Whites.
One of the most important land animals for the
natives along the Gulf Coast is the Alaska mountain
goat, Oreamnos americanus, (djinuwu; Boas, 1917, p.
161, djAnwu). This is not a true goat, but a relative
of the Asiatic goat-antelope and the European chamois
and, like the latter, makes its home on the high crags
and mountain slopes. It is a daring climber, can sit
back on its haunches like a bear, and is rarely en-
countered on the lowlands except in search of salt.
Its flesh and fat are esteemed for food, its fat also
serving as a cosmetic. Its wool is woven into blankets,
and its horns shaped into spoons. A Mountain Goat
Head was the crest of a Wolf sib of Wrangeli (Swanton,
1908, pp. 415-416), but otherwise it does not appear in
40 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Tlingit heraldry. While the mountain goat is hunted
all along the coastal slopes of the Fairweather, Saint
Elias, and Chugach Ranges, I am not sure of the exact
boundary between the more northern race 0. a. ken-
nedeyi and that of the southern O.a. columbiae. Bones
from the site on Knight Island were not identified as
to race. The mountain sheep, Ovis dalli (Boas, ]917,
p. 161, ikwii), is not found on the coast, although
Dall's sheep, O.d, dalli, together with its more southern,
darker variety, 0. d. stonei, live along the interior slopes
of the mountains from Cook Inlet to British Columbia,
and some of the Yakutat and Dry Bay people who
have gone into the interior are familiar with it.
The moose, Alces alces gigas (tsisl;w; Harrington,
tzfskw; Boas, 1917, p. 161, tsiskw) sometimes called
'large animal' (lAwan), has appeared only within the
past few years on the coast. Moose were formerly
hunted up the Alsek River by the Dry Bay people,
but most natives at Yakutat are more afraid of the
moose, even when not rutting, than they are of the
huge bears. There seem to be quite a few of them around
Situk and Lost Rivers.
Although the caribou, Rangifer osborni, has never
been found on the coast, it is known to the Tlingit and
the skins are valued trade goods. It is called watsix
(Boas, 1917, p. 155, wltsix).
The black-tailed or mule deer, Dama hemionus
siikensis, was introduced into Yakutat from south-
eastern Alaska by the U.S. Government. However,
the deer (kuwakan, usually pronounced gowakan;
Boas, 1917, p. 156, q'uwakan) has been for the Tlingit
the symbol of peaceful, unaggressive behavior, so that
the hostage-ambassadors exchanged in peace ceremo-
nies are called 'deer' by all the Tlingit. The Yakutat
natives were therefore familiar with this word long
before many of them had ever seen the animal.
The domestic cow is now called xas, and Swanton
(1908, pp. 400, 407, xas, xas!) translates this as 'moose'
or 'cow,' "probably moose originally." One cannot but
wonder whether the Tlingit ever had heard of the wood-
land buffalo, since representations of the animal in
Chilkat-blanket weaving (Emmons, 1908) resemble a
bovine, not the moose, the horns being unmistakable.
The only domesticated animal known to the Tlingit
and Eyak in former days was the dog (ketl). Although
fine, well-trained hunting dogs were prized, they were
not pets, despite the affection which children might
lavish upon puppies. An Athabaskan type dog (dzi,
Swanton, 1909, p. 22) is mentioned in one story recorded
by Swanton at Sitka; perhaps this is the small, agile
"bear dog," but it may be a large pack-carrying animal.
Long-eared dogs like spaniels are known as SAwak, but
I believe that these were not known in early days. Dog
bones of unidentified breed were found in the midden
at Knight Island. Vancouver (1801, vol. 5, p. 396)
mentions a deserted village near the mouth of the
Ankau, where "about fifty dogs [that had been left
behind] were making a most dreadful howling."
While children often had young animals as pets or
playthings, perhaps the first true pets were cats (due).
These were probably introduced by the first American
traders in the 1880's. At any rate, one girl is remembered
to have obtained a cat in this way. Boas (1891, p. 175)
reports that due is a Chinook jargon word.
Other domesticated animals, such as cows, pigs, and
chickens, if not briefly imported by the Russians, were
introduced by the Mission. None of these now survive,
perhaps because the cows and pigs were feared by the
natives.
SEA MAMMALS
The northern sea otter, Enhydra lutris lutris, (yuxtc;
Boas, 1917, p. 123, yAxutc) was the most important
fur-bearing mammal in Alaskan waters. Long after it
had become extinct in southeastern Alaska, and was
hardly to be found along the Aleutian Islands, it was
still hunted at Lituya Bay, Icy Bay, and off Cape
Yakataga, until protected in 1911 by Federal legislation
and international treaty. Its bones were represented in
the site on Knight Island, and until harrassed by
hunters it used to frequent Yakutat Bay. In historic
times the natives sold the pelts and sometimes ate the
flesh. One was seen in Monti Bay in February, 1954.
The fur seal, Oallorhinus ursinus alsacensis, (xun;
Boas, 1917, p. 163, iun), which is also protected by
law, is occasionally seen at Yakutat. The herds gen-
erally winter in more southern waters, coming north
from mid-February to March, yet several lone individuals
are said to have lived in Yakutat Bay throughout the
winter of 1953-54, sleeping under the cannery dock.
The natives believed that this was because of the
quantities of smelt or smelt-like fish which first ap-
peared in Monti Bay in 1952, and again returned the
following winter.
Related to the fur seal is the large northern sea lion,
Eumentopias jubata, (tan) with thick hide useful for
lines, and stiff whiskers. Some males are over 10 feet
long and may weigh a ton, although the females are
half the size. Although some natives are afraid of the
huge beasts, especially since they are supposed to
throw stones at people, the Yakutat natives formerly
hunted them. Occasionally one will haul out of the
water on a rock near the town, as we saw a young
animal do in mid-September, 1952. Sea lions figure in
the Tlingit story of Black Skin (Swanton, 1909, Tale
31, pp. 145-150; Tale 93) not so much as characters,
but as animals to be killed, and in connection with
this myth appear in crest carvings of some Raven
sibs (Swanton, 1908, p. 418).
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 41
The most common and most important sea mammal
in Yakutat waters is the Pacific harbor seal, Phoca
vitulina richardii, (tsa). This animal was the best
represented of any species in the middens at the site
on Knight Island. Seals breed particularly on the
floating ice in Disenchantment and Icy Bays. It is
uncertain whether the seal was the crest of any sib
(Swanton, 1908, p. 416); it was certainly not so
featured at Yakutat.
The Pacific harbor porpoise or "puffing pig,"
Phocoena vomerina, (tcitc) also prefers the quiet waters
near glaciers. Its bones appeared in the Knight Island
site, and it was hunted by the Yakutat particularly
for its sinew, for its strong-tasting flesh was regarded
as poor-man's fare. It is the crest of a sib at Sitka.
The larger, playful Dall's porpoise, Phocoenoides dalli,
is the familiar porpoise often encountered in large
schools leaping in front of a ship. This is probably
the kind described to Swanton (1908, p. 458) as the
largest kind, with a white dorsal fin and a white belly.
It is called Igllwu' (Swanton, 1908, p. 458). There is
also supposed to be a dark red porpoise (q'.an; i.e.,
?an), but this has not been identified, if indeed, it is
not mythological.
Other members of the porpoise and dolphin family
with which the Gulf Coast natives were probably
familiar are Gray's porpoise, Stenella, styx; the northern
right-whale dolphin, Lissodelphis borealis; and the
Pacific white-sided dolphin, Lagenorhynchus obliquidens,
all of which may reach lengths of 7 or 8 feet.
The much larger Pacific blackfish, Globicephala
scammonii usually travels in groups and may attain
lengths of 16 feet. This was described as a whale like
the kOlerwhale, but called sit! (Swanton, 1908, p. 416,
slit!) and claimed as a crest by a southern Tlingit sib.
The most important of all the porpoise family is the
Pacific killerwhale or orca, Grampus rectipinna, the
most savage and the largest. These ferocious predators,
reaching lengths of up to 30 feet, and hunting in packs,
are rightly feared and avoided by the Tlingit, at the
same time forming an important crest. The natives
distinguish between the ordinary killerwhale (kit) and
three special varieties: the largest "heraldic" form
which supposedly has a hole through the high dorsal
fin (Swanton, 1908, p. 458, kit ylyagu'), a white killer-
whale (kit wu), and a red killerwhale that always leads
the pack and is called the killerwhale's spear (kit
wusani; Swanton, 1908, p. 458, kit wusa'nt, kit caq!).
At Yakutat the killerwhale as a crest was represented
with the hole through the fin, and the small leader was
mentioned. There are also many stories in which the
animal appears.
The Yakutat people know about the walrus, Odobenus
divigens, ('adatsaq) and describe it as having two
spears on the mouth. Olson (1936, p. 214) reported that
265^-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 5
the Yakutat used to obtain walrus hides which were
traded to the Chilkoot Tlingit who used them for
boats like umiaks which they kept on Lake Bennet for
use when going to trade with the Tagish. One wonders,
however, whether the hides were not those of sea lions.
As far as I know the walrus is almost never seen south
of the Alaska Peninsula.
In the Gulf of Alaska are a number of whales, the fat
and flesh of which were utilized when a carcass drifted
ashore. They were not hunted. I do not know whether
the natives distinguished between different species or
called all by the single name (yay at Yakutat, yay at Dry
Bay and farther south). References to Raven flying
down the blowhole of the whale, and of a whale being
killed when a stone lamp was thrown into the blowhole
suggest that the Tlingit referred especially to the
toothed, single-blowhole whale. This seems to be the
kind painted as a crest on a house at Ketchikan (Gar-
field and Forrest, 1948, fig. 29). The Whale is a crest of
a sib represented at Yakutat and at Sitka. Among the
toothed whales there is the sperm whale, Physeter
catodon, essentially tropical, although the males may
wander as far north as the Aleutians in summer, and
sometimes attain a length of 60 feet. From 20 to 28 feet
long are the related beaked whales, Mesoplodon stejnegeri,
Ziphius cavirostris, and Berardius bairdii. These are
apparently more rare than the sperm whale, and are
seldom stranded on the shore. Baleen whales, charac-
terized by double blowholes and the greater size of the
female, are represented by the Pacific right whale,
Eubalaena sieboldii, about 60-70 feet in maximum
length, and once very numerous on the Fairweather
Grounds; the enormous blue or sulphur-bottomed
whale, Sibbaldus musculus, of which the giant female
might attain a length of 100 feet; and the playful hump-
backed whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, only half that
size. There are also the fin-backed whale, Balaenoptera
physalus, often encountered in groups; the migratory
sei whale or lesser rorqual, B. borealis; and the solitary
little piked whale or least rorqual, B. acutorostrata, with
females ranging up to 80, 60, and 33 feet respectively.
The gray whale, Eschrichtius gibbosus, which migrates
from California to the Bering Sea and is now all but
extinct, once was probably well known at Yakutat be-
cause of its habit of following the shoreline and congre-
gating in shallow bays.
Amphibia
Alaska has few amphibia and no reptiles (except for
a few garter snakes which I believe have been recently
42 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
imported). At Yakutat are found the wood frog, Rana
sylvatica, and the larger boreal toad, Bufo boreas boreas.
I do not know whether the natives distinguish between
them, but the latter is probably "the Frog" (xixt6;
Boas, 1917, p. 149, xrxte), an important sib crest at
Yakutat and at Sitka. It should be noted that many
Tlingit, men as well as women, have a horror of being
touched by or even of seeing a frog. "The slime exuding
from a frog's skin was thought to be very poisonous
and fatal to smaller creatures" (Swanton, 1908, p. 457).
Emmons (1903, p. 271) records "tadpole" as "kluck-
kish" (tl'ukic??).
Birds '?
Yakutat is a land of many birds. These include the
year-round residents, those that come only in summer
to nest, that fly through to and from more northern or
interior breeding grounds, that seek shelter in winter,
and finally those birds that simply visit Yakutat as non-
breeders. Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959), our authorities
on Alaskan birds, estimate that some 321 species (or
414 races) have been found in the forty-ninth State, of
which 162 species (233 races) are land birds, and 159
(181 races) are water birds, a very high proportion of
the latter. Because Yakutat is on the Pacific Flyway
we shall expect to find the majority of these waterfowl
represented. Moreover, the varied terrain and the geo-
graphical position of the Yakutat Bay area means that
among both migrants and summer nesters there will be
not only land birds characteristic of the Sitka spruce
forest zone, but also some more familiar in the interior,
as well as others that are particularly characteristic of
open tundra or brushy swamplands.
Obviously not all of the many birds seen by the
Yakutat people are of interest to them, yet a number
are sought for their flesh and for their feathers; others
are believed to foretell the future or report bad news.
Birds are among the most important sib crests, and
may even be more important than mammals or fish in
Tlingit mythology. As one of my informants put it:
"The Creator was a bird" and "People came from
birds" (pp. 857, 858). In general, the small songsters
and young fledglings are protected by taboos. Unfor-
tunately, it was not possible to secure information or
native names for many of the common forms, since
most of our informants found it very difficult to identify
the pictures in Roger Tory Peterson's "Field Guide"
(1941), which was the only handbook we had in the
field, or could not give adequate descriptions of the
birds which they named. Since no one has made any
winter observations in the area, I shall include my own
notes, beginning in mid-February 1954, well aware that
this information is incomplete and may be inaccurate.
The common loon, Gavia imrner, seems not only to
breed but also to winter in the Yakutat area, while
other members of the species fly through in May
enroute to interior lakes. They like the clear sheltered
waters of Monti Bay, Russell Fiord, and Situk Lake,
but not silt-laden waters where they cannot see to fish.
The red-throated loon, G. stellata, has much the same
range and habits, although perhaps it does not winter
north of Glacier Bay. The Pacific Arctic loon, G.
arctica pacifica, also seems to breed in the area, but is
more commonly seen when migrating north in April
to early June or south again in September and October,
to winter south of Cape Spencer. The yellow-billed
loon, G. adamsi, nests in the Arctic, winters in south-
eastern Alaska, and has been seen in Lituya and
Yakutat Bays when migrating. The skin of the loon
with its black feathers, if worn as a cap by an adolescent
girl, would keep her hair from turning gray in old age.
I was told that loons were called Ml, tlA&, and qaqit
(kAgit?), but I do not know which species were so
designated, nor whether any of the names applied to
grebes.10 Perhaps it was loons that were described
as "ducks called Always-crying-around-[the-bay]
(YlkAga'xe)" (Swanton, 1909, pp. 39-40).
Three grebes may be seen migrating through Yaku-
tat. Holboell's red-necked grebe, Podiceps grisegena
holboelli, flies north along the coast to breed from
Kodiak to the Arctic Ocean. Since a few winter on
Kodiak and the Aleutians, instead of southeastern
Alaska, one might expect to see a few at Yakutat.
The eared grebe, Colymbus nigricollis, is also a common
migrant in May. The American horned grebe, Podiceps
auritus cornutus, nests on interior lakes and winters in
southeastern Alaska and farther south, so should also
be seen passing in late April and May, and again from
September to early November. Grebes, like loons, go
to fresh water for nesting, but rest and fish on the
sheltered waters of Monti Bay.
Two species of cormorant (yuqw; Swanton, 1909, p.
129, yuq) breed at Cape Enchantment in Russell
Fiord and at a place called "Cormorants' Cliff" in
Nunatak Fiord. They roost at Point Latouche, and at
9
 This section is based primarily upon Gabrielson and Lincoln,
1959, plus the observations published by Shortt, 1939. Peterson,
1941, was consulted in the field, and valuable information was
secured later from Rhode and Barker, 1953, and Lincoln, 1950.
10
 Boas, (1917, p. 129) renders the heron as IXi; and (1891)
the loon as cuwa'n, and "Colymbus qlacialis," evidently a grebe,
Podiceps sp., as qAge'it (to modernize the orthography).
Naish and Story (1963, p. 21) give the words kugeet (kAglt)
and yeekugaxee (yikAgaxi) for the loon, and chax (tea*) for
grebe or "diving bird."
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 43
Logan Bluff south of it, and dry their wings on the
reef off Knight and Fitzgerald Islands in Yakutat
Bay. On May 10, 1954, hundreds were resting o n the
reef at the southern end of Khantaak Island. The
Northern pelagic cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus
pelagicus, is a year-round resident, breeding from the
Aleutians to British Columbia. The northwestern
double-crested cormorant, P. auritus cincinatus, also
breeds as far north as the Aleutians and is a common
winter visitor in southeastern Alaska. The Cormorant
figures in the story of how Kaven killed the Bears,
which was localized by Swanton's Sitkan informant as
near Mount Saint Elias (Swanton 1909, Tale 1, pp. 6-8).
Swans (goqtl or gtrql; Swanton, 1909, p. 112, goql)
were once common at Yakutat, and were shot for their
meat and for their soft skins. I doubt that the bird was
the whistling swan, Olor columbianus, which breeds in the
north but winters in southeastern Alaska and on the
Aleutians, for it generally takes an inland route and is
not common on the coast. It was probably the larger
trumpeter swan, 0. buccinator, which breeds behind the
Saint Elias Range or on the lower Copper River and
winters in southeastern Alaska. One of the Coast
Guardsmen at the Loran Station near Yakutat reported
in mid-February, 1954, that there were many trumpeter
swans on the Ankau lagoons. Swanton (1908, pi. LIII
&> e>J> P- 417) reports the Swan as a crest of two sibs
represented at Dry Bay and Yakutat. Swans (Swanton,
1909, p. 112) are also mentioned casually in a myth.
The Canada goose, Branta canadensis, (t'awAq;
Swanton, 1909, p. 112, t!awA'q) has been reported
nesting at Situk Lake. In addition, large flocks of this
species, especially B. c. occidentalis, that breed on the
Copper River flats and in Prince William Sound, are
seen in Yakutat Bay on their spring migration, as are
probably the lesser snow goose, Chen hyperborea hyper-
borea, and the Pacific white-fronted goose, Anser
albifronsfrontalis, both of which nest far north. Indeed,
a snow goose was reported on the Ankau lagoons from
early December to late February, 1953-54. The Canada
Goose is the crest of a Sitka sib (Swanton, 1908, p. 417),
and Swanton (1909, p. 405) reports that a "wild goose"
was called yaduste? (yadusteq!). Emmons (1903, p.
275) gives the name "khin" (i.e., qin) to "the gray
goose, Anser albifrons gambeli," evidently the white-
fronted goose, A. a.jrontalis. However, Swanton (1909,
p. 112, qen), assigns what is evidently the same word
to the black brant; Branta nigricans. Although the latter
normally crosses the open Gulf and so is probably not
often seen at Yakutat, it is known in southeastern
Alaska. On the other hand, Boas (1917, p. 128) gives
the name q'm to the shoveler.11 At Yakutat, both
fresh and saltwater ducks were eaten.
? Naiah and Story (1963, p. 21) identify kin (qin) simply as
"brant (small grouse)."
The dabbling ducks are represented by the mallard,
Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos, the green-winged
common teal, A. crecca carolinensis, and pintail, A.
acuta, all of which seem to be fairly common at Yakutat,
probably breeding and wintering here. All three were at
the Ankau lagoons in March, 1954, and were said to be
around "most of the time." The mallard is the most
numerous, and is known as 'upward arrow' (kmde
tcunEt) from its manner of taking off. The American
widgeon or baldpate, Mareca americana, also nests at
Yakutat but winters farther south. When at Yakutat
in 1837, Belcher (1843, vol. 1, p. 85) purchased a goose
and a "small blue-winged duck," possibly a blue-winged
teal, Anas discors, or a shoveler, Spatula clypeata, both
of which occur in southeastern Alaska. The latter
certainly breeds on the Copper River flats and probably
also at Yakutat, although it has not actually been
reported there.
Among the diving ducks is Barrow's golden eye,
Bucephala islandica, that breeds on Situk River, Situk
Lake, Disenchantment Bay, as well as on the pond
behind Yakutat, where I saw two females with their
drakes and later with their young, as well as a female
mallard and her brood in the spring of 1954. The
golden eye is called 'fresh-water black duck' (hinyi
gAxu). There are also the bufflehead, Bucephala, albeola,
breeding and probably to some extent residing in
Yakutat; the harlequin duck, Histrionicus histrionicus,
(Boas, 1891, p. 174, tsutsk) a year-round resident; old
squaw, Clangula hyernalis, common during migration
and represented by a few non-breeders during the
summer; and the canvasback, Ayihya valisineria,
which migrates to the Copper River. The greater scaup,
A. marila nearctica, might also be seen during migra-
tion, and as a summer nonbreeder and winter resident.
The surf scoter, Melanitta perspicillata, seems to be the
most abundant scoter in early May, later reported
breeding in Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord,
although most go far inland to nest. The western white-
winged scoter, M. deglandi dixoni, apparently breeds in
the bay in summer and is perhaps resident in winter.
The American scoter, Oidemia nigra americana, is the
least common of the three, but some nonbreeders sum-
mer at Yakutat. Scoters, in particular the surf scoter
(cf. Boas, 1891, p. 180; 1917, p. 157, gA'xu), is the
'black duck' of our informants (gAxw, or fiitc gAxw;
Swanton, 1909, p. 208, gaxw). The white-winged scoter
must be what Boas' informants called 'white on wing'
(1891, p. 180, kite ka ru; i.e., kite kA yu).
The American merganser, Mergus merganser ameri-
canus, seems to be a very common year-round resident
from Prince William Sound southward, particularly
frequenting streams. The red-breasted merganser,
M. serrator serrator, has been observed in Yakutat only
44 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
in May, but winters in southeastern Alaska. Boas
(1891, p. 179) calls it 'water rim' (hin yikag-u'; i.e.,
hin yikagu. The merganser, Lophodytes cucul-
latus, although much rarer in Alaska, is perhaps the bird
described as having a white breast, a "white jigger on
each side of the head" (i.e., crest), and that "always
goes upstream." 12 This may serve to remind us of
Shortt's hilarious descent of the Situk, preceded by all
the squawking mergansers on the river (Shortt, 1939,
pp. 9-10). One of my informants identified the merganser
as a "saw bill," and gave it the name, qax (Naish and
Story, 1963, p. 21, kax (qax)).
The American osprey or fish hawk, Pandion haliaetus
carolinensis, (Swanton, 1909, p. 116, kunackAnye't)
is a rather uncommon nester along the Situk River, but
also breeds in southeastern Alaska.
Among the various wading birds, the northwestern
great blue heron, Ardea herodias fannini, (1A?, Boas,
1917, p. 159) is the largest. Although not very common,
it is a year-round resident from Cook Inlet to Wash-
ington, and has been reported nesting at Humpback
Creek on Yakutat Bay.
Another large wader, but found on the marshes and
tundra, is the lesser sandhill crane, or "little brown
crane", Grus canadensis canadensis, (dul; Boas 1917,
p. 156, dill). It breeds on the northern mainland and,
while rare in Tlingit country, figures both as a crest at
Yakutat and in mythology (Swanton, 1909, Tale 54,
Tale 100).
The black oystercatcher, Haematopus bachmani, a
striking black shore bird with red bill specialized for
eating mollusks is known to my informants as 'nose-fire'
(lugin). The men who showed them to me on the north-
ern shore of Haenke Island in early June, 1952, said that
they were found only on this island, although Shortt
had found them nesting on nearby Osier Island.
LaPerouse (1799, vol. 1, p. 395) saw them nesting in
Lituya Bay. They are year-round residents of south-
western and southeastern Alaska. Swanton's Wrangell
informant (1909, p. 85, higA'n) described the oyster-
catcher, or perhaps the horned puffin, as a bird that
lives far out at sea on lonely rocks.
The small waders of the shore and marshlands include
a number of snipes, sandpipers, and related species.
12
 My identification of this bird as the hooded merganser
proved wrong since Naish and Story (1963, p. 20) give the
name hinyik l'eixee (hmyik 1'exf) to the water ouzel.
Naish and Story (1963, p. 20) give the following terms for
ducks: the forms, as written in my orthography, are in paren-
theses. Duck, in general, is simply gaxw (gax"). Bufflehead is
hintuk x'wus'gee (hintAk ??As?i); flathead duck, s'elusheesh
(SEIACIC, or perhaps SEIAC-'JC) ; goldeneye, hinyik g&xoo (hinyik
gaxu); harlequin duck, s'6s' (&us); mallard, kinduchooneit
(kindA-teune't); old squaw, ya.a.oone'h (ya'a'un^); scoter,
wukkuls'6ox' g&xw (wAqkAlsui g?xw) orluk'eech'w6h (Ukitcwtr).
The largest of these are the greater and lesser yellowlegs,
Totanus melanoleucus and T. jlairipes, which both breed
in the Yakutat area, especially along the flats near the
mouth of the Situk and Lost Eivers, although they
winter far to the south. The wandering tatler, Hetero-
scelus incanus, migrates through Yakutat, going north
in May and returning in late July, as does the long-
billed dowitcher, Limnodromus scolopaceus. The some-
what smaller Alaskan short-billed dowitcher, L. griseus
caurinus, nests on the Situk muskegs as does Wilson's
common snipe, Capella gaUinago delicata. For the last
two, Yakutat seems to represent the southern boundary
of their summer home on the coast, although they occur
farther south in other regions. The European knot,
Calidris canutus canutus, breeds farther north and
presumably flies over Yakutat, although we do not
know whether it has one of its definite stopping places
in the Yakutat Bay area.
Such small birds with long bills are called 'nose-
spear' (lu-'ada),a term applied to "snipes"; to pictures
of the curlew and the avocet. The last was also called
'cloud-nose-poked' (gus-lu-gtrq), referring to the story
of how Raven escaped the Flood by donning the skin
of a bird with a long bill, by means of which he hung
from the sky (cf. Swanton, 1909, Tale 31, p. 120).
Here this is an unidentified "white bird with copper-
colored bill." In a popular Tlingit song, "snipes" are
the '[birds] that fly around the island' (iat! dayi djayi).
According to Boas (1891, p. 177) the 'heaven bird'
(gutsre totli, i.e. gusye totH; Swanton, 1909, pp. 86,
207, guslyaduh'; p. 214, gusliaduh', 'crane of the
cloud's surface'?) is Wilson's common snipe, seen only
when warm weather is coming, a robin-sized bird that
visits a rock far out at sea.
Most of the small sandpipers are seen at Yakutat
only as spring and late summer or fall migrants, often
appearing in mixed flocks together with turnstones and
surf birds, that gather, for example, along the shores of
Khantaak Island in Monti Bay. These migrants include
the red-backed dunlin, Erolia alpina pacifica; rock or
western purple sandpiper, E. ptilocnemis; pectoral
sandpiper, E. melanotus; western solitary sandpiper,
Tringa solitaria einnamonae; and the western sandpiper,
Ereunetes mauri. Of the last species, a few nonbreeders
may remain in the Situk area all summer. The little
spotted sandpiper, Actitis rnacularia, and the tiny least
sandpiper, Erolia minutilla, are fairly common breeders
on the coastal plain southeast of Yakutat, and many
also fly through to nesting areas farther north. The
solitary sandpiper (Boas, 1891, p. 182, ayahl'a; Swan-
ton, 1909, pp. 180, 140, ayahi'ya, ayAhiyiya') is "a
great dancer," "a solitary bird that continually flies
about the beach", "a lonely beach snipe . . . 'looking
for his wife.' ".
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 45
I suspect that among the sandpipers are included
some of the "birds that fly around the island." This
name was also given to a semipalmated plover, Cha-
radrius semipalmatus, that we saw on the road in Yaku-
tat in May, 1954. This bird apparently nests on the
sand dunes along the ocean beach southeast of Yakutat,
as well as on the edge of the Malaspina and nearby
glaciers, wintering in California. The black-bellied
plover, Sguatarola sguatarola, has been seen migrating
to and from its tundra nests. The kiUdeer, Charadrius
vociferus, is a nonbreeding straggler to the Situk flats.
Naish and Story (1963, p. 22) recorded the following
words for "sandpiper (shore bird)" at Angoon, but
seem to have had difficulties in establishing exact
designation of the species: Curlew, uyuheeyah ('A.J-
Ahiya); plover, x'ut'dah yeejeiyee (xAtida yidjeyi) or
x'ut'dah yeejuyee (yidJAyi); snipe, eek lokukees'ee
('iq lukAqisi); but all are "sandpipers."
The surf bird, Aphriza virgata, the European turn-
stone, Arenaria interpes interpes, and the black turn-
stone, A. melanocephala, (sus) are migrants through
Yakutat, often in company with sandpipers. The black
turnstone possibly nests in the area, since it breeds
from Seward Peninsula to Sitka and winters in south-
eastern Alaska. It has given its name to Khantaak
Island (suskA, 'on the turnstone'), where it is common
in May. We saw them on Knight Island in mid-August,
1952.
The northern phalarope, Lobipes lobatus, a small
shore bird like a sandpiper, also breeds on the Situk
marshes, but may feed in rough water among the
offshore kelp. Vast flocks can be seen flying north to
the Arctic in early May and returning again in July.
Among the most conspicuous water birds in the
Yakutat area are the gulls (ketlAdi; Boas 158, ke^adi,
i.e., ke'dladi). One of my informants thought that the
name was derived from 'puppy' (ketl yAdi) because of
their cries.
The most common species and a year-round resident
is the glaucous-winged gull, Laurus glaucescens. They
hang about the cannery dock and breed in Disenchant-
ment Bay, especially on Haenke Island and the moraine-
covered edge of Hubbard Glacier where the eggs are
gathered by the natives in May or early June. The
American herring gull, L. argentatus smithsonianus, also
breeds here, but winters farther south. It is, I believe,
the gull named for its colored wing-tip (kitc-A&a-nes).
The short-billed gull, L. canus brachyrhynchus, is a
common nester in the marshes near Yakutat, but
winters south of Cape Spencer. The little Bonaparte's
gull, L. Philadelphia, with red feet and black head
comes early in May to nest in low conifers and to feed
on shrimps near the glaciers in Disenchantment Bay.
This is probably the small gull called kekw, described
as having a black head and white body (Swanton 1909,
p. 116, kek!u). The large glaucous gull, L, hyperboreus,
and the very small sabine's gull, Xema sabini, both
breed in the north but fly across the Gulf, and a few
nonbreeding glaucous gulls may summer at Yakutat.
The Mttiwake, Rissa tridaetyla pollicaris, (I'e'q*).
seems to breed occasionally near Yakutat and may also
winter there, although really an oceanic bird.
The Arctic tern with red bill, Sterna paradisaea, is
very common at Yakutat, nesting on the sand dunes
near the mouth of the Situk or on the gravelly moraines
of the Malaspina. They are especially numerous in
late April or early May and again in late July when
the northern breeders are moving across the Gulf to
and from their winter homes in the Antarctic. Occasion-
ally the black-billed Aleutian tern, S. aleutica, may
shift from its Asiatic home to establish temporary
colonies on the Situk flats or at Dry Bay. Terns are
locally known as "sea pigeons," and are given a Tlingit
name which refers to their forked tail (kutl'itl; Swanton,
1908, p. 116, kuile'ta, i.e., kutl'Eta. We have seen them
nesting on the beaches of Khantaak and Knight Islands,
where the natives gather the eggs, despite the savage
dive-bombing attacks of the parent birds.
Auks, murres, and puffins, are represented by the
common pigeon guillemot, Cepphus columba columba,
that commonly breeds on the islands in Yakutat Bay.
They are conspicuous in summer with their black bills,
red feet, and black plumage except for the white area
at the base of the wings. They hide their eggs in caves
and crannies on sea cliffs and dive for marine worms
and mollusks. LaPerouse (1799, vol. 1, p. 395) noted
the red-footed guillemot in Lituya Bay. Possibly these
are the birds called "black ducks" (see scoters).
The American marbled murrelet, Brachyramphus
marrnoratum, and Kittlitz's murrelet, B. brevirostris,
are also common, often seen together in the sheltered
waters of Disenchantment Bay. The first is a year-
round resident, but no one knows where the second
spends the winter, probably far out at sea. The ancient
murrelet, Synthliaboramphus antiquum, breeds from the
Aleutians to the Queen Charlotte Islands, but apparently
moves during the night far out to sea as soon as the
young are hatched, and is rarely seen in the winter.
The winter plumage of all three species and the summer
dress as well of the ancient murrelet were identified
by our informants as that of the sea bird (t6it), a
crest of many Wolf sibs. In one of their songs at
Yakutat, the Raven is supposed to be afraid that it
will come ashore. Emmons (Swanton, 1909, p. 415)
identified this also as the murrelet, a small bird that
makes a whistling sound; Boas (1891, p. 172, t6it)
specifies that it is the marbled murrelet. The dull
speckled summer dress of the latter and of Kittlitz's
murrelet, however, seems to fit the bird described as a
"saltwater duck, like a grebe, like a loon," with a small
46 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
neck, spotted gray and white. It was specifically said
to lay eggs on Hazel and Coronation Islands in south-
eastern Alaska. It can dive like a merganser or "saw
bill." Eaven put his mother in its skin during the Flood,
and our informants called it tcax or tsax. This is
evidently the sea bird and great diver, cax, (Swanton,
1909, p. 119), which the Tlingit are said not to eat,
because "it was Raven's mother." The name, "they
just ruffle up the water" when they fly (hin xokatsitsi),
was also applied to the murrelets, but may (also?)
apply to the guillemot.
The rhinoceros auklet, Cerorhinca, monocerata, (xik,
i.e., xik, Naish and Story, 1963, p. 22) has been seen at
Yakutat Bay. Cassin's auklet Ptychoramphus aleutica,
possibly comes here also, but since auklets are nocturnal
these are not important. Puffins (xik; Swanton, 1909,
p. 50, xtk) seem to be a crest of two of the Raven sibs
(Swanton, 1908, p. 401, pi. LIII g). While the tufted
puffin, Lunda eirrhata, has been recorded fromYakutat
only in May and from the Gulf of Alaska during sum-
mer, those which I saw on Haenke Island, June 10,
1952, were the horned puffin or "sea parrot," Fratercula
corniculata, which includes southwestern and south-
eastern Alaska within its breeding and wintering range.
The name 'nose-fire' was also applied to this bird
because of its large red bill (see oyster-catcher), and at
Angoon to the tufted puffin (Naish and Story, 1963,
p. 22).
The parasitic jaeger, Stercorarius parasiticus,
breeds in Yakutat Bay, especially along the Malaspina
Glacier. The long-tailed and pomerine jaegers, S.
longicaudus and S. pomarinus, nest farther north but
are occasionally seen as migrants or as nonbreeding
summer visitors.
A bird that lives on the outer islands of southeastern
Alaska and is the puffin's slave is lAgwa'tc!; as is also
the sea gull, but these were not identified by my in-
formants (Swanton, 1909, pp. 57, 58). Nor do I know
what bird that lives far out at sea was called tsAgwa'n
(Swanton, 1909, p. 109), for this name was given by one
of my informants to the wren.
Among the pelagic birds, the black-footed albatross
or "goony," Diomedea nigripes, that nests on Midway
Island and on other islands of the central North Pacific,
may be seen on the Gulf of Alaska during the summer,
usually following vessels. Sometimes they come close
to shore and may even enter Icy Straits. The Yakutat
people undoubtedly knew them, and also the now all
but extinct Steller's short-tailed albatross, D. albatrus,
that visits the Gulf between March and October but
nests in the western North Pacific. The sooty sheer-
water or "whale bird," Puffinus griseus, also visits
Alaskan waters in the summer, usually coming closer
inshore than the albatross. It has been recorded at
Yakutat as well as farther south. The Pacific fulmar,
Fulmarus glacialis rodgersi, that breeds on the Aleutians
as well as on the Asiatic shores, has been regularly
seen off the coast of Yakutat. Some of these may
perhaps be the "sea birds whose voices can be heard
at a distance," or 'crying in the deep' (ikAga'xe,
Swanton, 1909, p. 135).
The stormy petrels are represented by the fork-tail
petrel, Oceanodroma furcata, and the smaller Leach's
petrel, O. leucorhoa, both of which have northern
races breeding in the Aleutians and which presumably
cross the Gulf of Alaska, and southern forms that
nest in southeastern Alaska, especially on the outer
islands. These are evidently the Petrel (ganuk), who
figures in the creation myths as older than Raven,
as guardian of fresh water, and as owner of the hat
that makes fog (cf. Swanton, 1909, pp. 10, 83). He
belongs to the opposite moiety from Raven. The
Yakutat people know this story, and have often seen
petrels on the Gulf of Alaska or found birds that have
been blown ashore by storms.
The most striking and conspicuous birds at Yakutat
are the resident crows and jays. First place should be
given to the northern Steller's jay, Cyanocitta stelleri
stdleri, if only because this bird revealed to Bering's
naturalist that he had indeed reached the New World
at Kayak Island in 1741. This "Bluejay" (?ECX; Boas,
1917, p. 129, &?cxu) is recognized as a "good talker,"
with "fine clothes," and furthermore gives his name to
the color purple or dark blue (Swanton, 1909, p. 86).
In native eyes, however, his big relative, the northern
raven, Corvus corax principalis, (yel) is certainly the
most important, since Raven is the Creator or Trickster-
transformer of mythology, and the major crest of one
moiety. Shortt (1939, p. 23) found the raven abundant
at Yakutat, probably because the cannery was then in
full operation and there was plenty of offal to eat.
Ravens were less numerous during my visits, although
they were about during the winter and spring of 1954,
and a flock of at least seven visited a garbage dump
beside our house on August 27, 1952, parading down
the main street. They nest either in the woods or on
the bare rocks of Disenchantment Bay. In June, 1954,
one Indian family brought home a young raven as a
pet, and during the winter of 1954 a tame adult lived
in the attic of a house, coming and going as he pleased
through the open window. His smaller relative, the
northwestern crow, Corvus caurinus, or possibly the
American crow, C. brachyrhyncho, is also a resident. It
is recognized as a noisy talker (Swanton 1909, p. 86),
and the Crow (tsAxw61) is a crest of a Yakutat Raven
sib. Crow eggs, found by children on Khantaak Island,
May 19, are said to have hatched in their pockets!
The American black-billed magpie, Pica pica hud-
sonia, (tse^ene; Swanton, 1909, pp. 6, 125, tslegenf,
tslintge'nl, or djegenl'k) was common about Yakutat
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 47
during the winter, coming with blue jays, crows,
varied thrushes, and fox sparrows to the feeder which
we established on our porch in early March, 1954. We
saw magpies flocking in the deep woods on March 14,
and shortly afterwards they disappeared, probably
moving up the bay or farther north to nest. The natives
say that they leave because they don't like salmon
milt, and therefore remain away while the salmon are
spawning. They are sometimes called "Raven's Arrow,"
and are recognized as a handsome bird.
The northern bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus
alascanus, is conspicuous and common, nesting in high
trees, but probably retires to southeastern Alaska
during the winter. The Eagle (teak) is a crest of the
Wolf moiety among the northern Tlingit. Rare, but
important as a sib crest, is the American golden eagle,
Aguila chrysaetos canadensis, (gidjuk; Boas, 1917, p.
157, gidjilk' "fish hawk"). It nests almost exclusively
in the interior, leaving for the south in September and
returning in March or April. Shortt (1939, p. 11) saw
a single pair nesting on the cliffs of Mount Tebenkof
and hunting marmots above 1,000 feet. The Golden
Eagle which became a totemic crest was originally met
on a mountainside above the Ahmklin River, and had
come from the other side of the Saint Elias Range to
hunt for "groundhogs" (sax). The name (gidjuk) does
not apply to a hawk.
Hawks of the Yakutat area are the northwestern
sharp-shinned hawk, Accipiter striatusperobscurus, which
comes to the wooded areas near Situk Lake and Mala-
spina Glacier to breed, and the eastern goshawk,
A. gentilis atricapillus, which also nests in the thick
woods of the Situk area, although it breeds primarily
in the interior. Both of these attack and eat other birds.
Less common but present are the Alaskan red-tailed
hawk, Buteo jamaicensis cdaskensis, and the American
rough-legged hawk, B. lagopus s. johannis, which eat
small rodents.
The peregrine falcon or duck hawk, Falco peregrinus,
and the pigeon hawk, F. columbarius, have both been
noted at Yakutat.
An informant told us that all hawks, gray and black,
as well as other kinds, were called kAkw This name
probably refers especially to the goshawk or "chicken
hawk" (Swanton, 1909, p. 11, k!Aku) that is said to
have procured fire. In another episode recorded by
Swanton (1909, p. 17, CAk!A'ku), Raven's companion
who throws him down the mountain in a box seems to
be a mountain hawk, although our Yakutat version
does not ascribe this role to such a bird. Boas (1891,
p. 175, qeq, i.e., xex) records a Tlingit name for the
rare but widely distributed American marsh hawk,
Circus cyeneus hudsonius, but I do not know whether
it ever comes to Yakutat.
The butcher bird or northwestern shrike, Lanius
excubitor invictus, an energetic predator that hangs its
victims on thorns or twigs, should be found in the
Yakutat area for this would seem to lie within its
breeding and wintering range. Is it the maneating bird
(kigit) that cries "ho-6, ho-6" in the Chilkat myth
explaining the origin of mosquitoes (Boas, 1917, p.
173), or is the latter a loon?
Several owls may be encountered in the Yakutat
area. There are the northwestern great horned owl,
Bubo virgininius lagophonus, that is resident all year
round, and the great grey owl, Strix nebulosa nebulosa,
probably also resident. It is the first of these that Boas
(1891, p. 175, tsiskw) identified as "the" owl (tiskw;
Boas, 1917, p. 126, tsuslsu; Swanton 1909, p. 300,
tse'sk!u), although perhaps this name can be given to
any species. Although the snowy owl, Nyctea sca/ndia,
(Boas, 1891, p. 180, kwakw), breeds on the northern
tundra, it may visit any part of Alaska during the fall
and winter. It was one of these, sometimes called
'interior owl' (dAqkA tiskw) that was around Yakutat
in February and March, 1954, "telling bad news,"
which all owls do. The screech owl, Otus asio kennicottii,
although ranging sometimes as far north as Yakutat
and resident south of Sitka, is rare in Alaska. Yet this
bird is believed to have been once a woman who was
mean to her mother-in-law (Swanton, 1909, Tale 37,
pp. 176-177). I was told that there was probably a
screech owl near the Ankau lagoons in March, 1954.
One or two of the larger owls were, I believe, the
two sisters transformed because they were greedy,
according to a Yakutat story. The Owl is a sib crest.
The northern short-eared owl, Asio flammeus jlammeus,
is a common summer nester on the Situk flats, coming
north in April and lingering until the end of September.
It is a daytime hunter of mice, itself attacked by other
birds. Probably the hawk owl, Surnia ulula, another
day-flying owl, may be found here, since Yakutat is
within its range. The coast pygmy owl, Glaucidium
gnoma grinnetti, that lives in holes in trees and hunts
small birds and insects in the daytime, has been heard
in the woods near Situk Lake.13
The Pacific varied thrush, Ixoreus naevius naevius'
with especially brilliant markings, is a characteristic
Yakutat bird. The first we saw was on March 3, 1954,
when they began to be regular visitors to our feeder.
Later in the spring, their whistled double note re-
sounded through the woods. Apparently they leave
in September or October, but may occasionally stay
in southeastern Alaska. I do not know if they winter
13
 Naish and Story (1963, pp. 21-22) _ call the "owl with ear
tufts" tBfskw (tsfs??) or dzlsk'w (dzfskr); the owl "without
ear tufts" k'ukw ?|?.kw); and a "small owl" tlenx' sh-x'uneit
(tlfini c-xAnet) or xgex (xfx). The first two names correspond
to those recorded bv Boas.
48 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
in Yakutat. An informant identified this bird from
a colored plate in Peterson (1941) as the 'bird on the
mountain' (cakA tsitskw), said to stay in the moun-
tains but to come around the beaches when there is
a strong north wind. This identification seems hardly
correct, but reminds me of the bird that is never seen
unless the north wind is going to blow (xunkAha',
i.e., 'moving on the north wind,' Swanton, 1909, p. 86).
Possibly this name applies to some other thrush, or
to the waxwing (see p. 49).
The little Alaska hermit thrush, Hylocichla guttata
guttata, also breeds abundantly at Yakutat, arriving
about the middle of May and remaining until Septem-
ber. The northern gray-cheeked thrush, H. minima
minima, comes still later in the season and leaves
earlier, nesting along the willows and alders fringing
streams from the Malaspina and other glaciers. Swain-
son's thrush, H. ustulata, may perhaps come to Yakutat,
since some races nest at Glacier Bay, in the interior,
and farther north.
The eastern robin, Turdus migratorius migratorius,
flies all the way from Florida and the Gulf States to
nest at Yakutat. The first were seen on April 4, 1954,
and they apparently remain until September or Oc-
tober. From Glacier Bay south, the western robin,
T. m. eaurinus, is found in summer and occasionally
in winter. According to one story (Swanton, 1909,
p. 85), it is the robin (cuxw) who scorched his breast,
and who makes people happy with his whistling.
Another bird that gladdens men (Swanton, 1909, p.
86) is the rufous hummingbird, Selaphorus rufus, that
comes from its Mexican home in April or early May to
remain until late in August. I saw the first on April 13,
and there were many in May, 1954. One informant
called them tcAkitkiya (Boas, 1917, p. 154, dAwltgiya),
and correctly noted the time of their arrival. Another
called them tSAgAtgiya and said that to find their nest
means riches.
The western belted kingfisher, Megaceryle alcyon
caurina, (ttixAnlss, Boas 155, laxln&s) is a common
nester about Yakutat and may possibly winter there.
On April 18, 1954, we saw a pair near the Old Village
of Yakutat, on the same tree where I had seen them in
the summers of 1949 and 1952. The behavior of the
kingfisher is said to foretell the acquisition of wealth.
More common along the mountain than the lowland
streams is the northern dipper or water ouzel, Cinclus
mexicanus unicolor. It seems to be resident in the
Yakutat area, perhaps up the bay. This may be the
bird called hinyik tl'ek. In one Yakutat myth (p. 878),
it guides the hero downstream from heaven. This bird
(hinyik tl'ek; Swanton, 1909, p. 117, hinyik le'xi) also
appears in another story as "an industrious bird . . .
a fishing bird living along the river," whom Raven
calls "brother-in-law."
The woodpecker, 'he strikes wood' (kfnda da guq;
Boas 1891, p. 183, 'picks around the bark,' gan da da
guq') may bring bad luck. The northern hairy wood-
pecker, Dendrocopos villosus septentrionalis, the small
Valdez downy woodpecker, D. pubescens glacialis, and
the northern three-toed woodpecker, Picoides tridadylus
jasciaius, are all apparently year-round residents of the
Yakutat area, although only the first is common. This
was probably the woodpecker reported in the woods
near the Ankau lagoons in March, and seen in the
village on April 4,1954. The woodpeckers I noted among
the alders and willows on Haenke Island, June 18,
1952, may possibly have been the three-toed species,
since it is more often seen in the interior, where such
brush is common, than on the coast.
The related boreal yellow-shafted flicker, Colaptes
auratus borealis, is common in the interior, but is also
known from Yakutat. The northwestern red-shafted
flicker, C. cajer cajer, is the species of southeastern
Alaska. The Flicker (kun) is valued for its beautiful
feathers, is associated in mythology with the wife of
the Controller of the Flood (cf. Swanton, 1909, p. 119),
is a house name for two Wolf sibs (Swanton, 1908,
pp. 400, 401), and is supposed to be the head of the
next to smallest birds, yet is very seldom seen (Swanton,
1909, p. 85).
The Rocky Mountain brown creeper, Certhia famili-
aris montana, is an apparently rather common resident
at Yakutat. It is a quiet bird that climbs trees looking
for insect food (see Bohemian waxwing, p. 49).
The western winter wren, Troglodytes troglodytes
padficus, is a common but elusive resident of south-
eastern Alaska and the Gulf Coast area. They probably
winter at Yakutat, although the first that I saw were
a pair on May 3, 1954. One of my informants called
the wren tsAgwan, although this was the name given
by a Wrangell man (Swanton, 1909, pp. 108-109) for
a bird that lives far out at sea. At Sitka the wren is
called the "bird that can go through a hole" (wu'lnAx-
wu'ckAq, Swanton, 1909, p. 17).
The elusive western flycatcher, Empidomax difficilis,
has been reported from Yakutat but is normally found
nesting in the interior or on the coast south of Cape
Spencer.
The eastern nighthawk, Chordeiles minor minor,
also breeds in the interior and perhaps in southeastern
Alaska, wintering in South America. Although only
one has been actually recorded from the Yakutat area,
it is worth mentioning since I believe this was the
'Sleep' Bird (ta) killed by a Hoonah Indian because it
kept him awake by flying around his head while he was
trying to rest in his canoe one night. The behavior is
characteristic. This story (cf. Swanton, 1909, Tales 32
and 104) is especially linked with the discovery of the
Dry Bay Athabaskans by the Tlingit, and explains
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 49
how a Raven sib obtained the Sleep Bird as a crest.
Among other insect-eaters we should mention the
Sitka ruby-crowned kinglet, Begulus calendula grinnelli,
as common in summer in the Yakutat forests, and the
northwestern golden-crowned kinglet, B. satrapa oliva-
ceus, which is a year-round resident here, as well as in
southeastern Alaska. These are both tiny birds, about
4 inches long, and may therefore be the "very respect-
able bird," "about the size of a butterfly," whose voice
is heard, but which is seen only when people are to have
good luck (ko!ai' Swanton, 1909, p. 86). This iden-
tification is not completely satisfying, for the little
kinglets are by no means inconspicuous in the fall and
winter, but then, of course, this is the season for
potlatches!
The northern chestnut-backed chickadee, Parus
rujescens rufescens, is a common resident of the east side
of Yakutat Bay, while the Yukon black-capped
chickadee, P. atricapillus turneri, lives on the west side
along the timbered moraine of the Malaspina. Other-
wise, it is essentially a bird of the interior. The chickadee
represents and is called 'someone's thoughts' (qatuwu).
The Bohemian waxwing, Bombycilla garrula pallidi-
ceps, breeds in the interior but may appear in south-
eastern Alaska in the late summer, fall, or winter,
sometimes in great numbers, so we should expect them
at Yakutat. One wonders if these are the small gre-
garious birds with greenish-yellow feathers that find
their food on the tops of trees and that are carved by
the Tlingit as one of the two main pieces in a set of
gambling sticks. Their name seems to mean 'flying-
among-the-treetops' (probably 'as-ianca-dji or 'as-xo-
ca-tci: Swanton, 1909, pp. 86, 136, 137, asqlacS'tcl,
anca'djt, asq!anca'dji).u
The western water pipit, Anihus spinoletta pacificus,
essentially a breeder on the Arctic tundras or the open
mountain tops, is found commonly on Osier Island in
Disenchantment Bay. It winters in Oregon and farther
south.
The rock ptarmigan, Lagopus mutus, lives high up
on the sides of Russell Fiord and Disenchantment Bay.
More common in this area, especially on Osier Island
and on the northern shore, is Alexander's willow
ptarmigan, Lagopus lagopus alexandrae. The (willow?)
ptarmigan is felt by the Tlingit to be particularly a
bird of the interior, from whom, in fact, the Atha-
baskans learned how to make snowshoes (Swanton,
1909, p. 85). Ptarmigan are called xesAwa (Swanton,
14
 Krause (1956, pp. 257, 259) gives this name (Sss-kantschad-
schi) to the brown creeper (see p. 48), and calls the waxwing
hunka, which is evidently the same name as 'moving on the
north wind,' and which I tentatively suggest might be the
name for thrush. Unfortunately, Naish and Story (1963, p. 23)
apply the name usx'an shdch'ee ('Asxan catci) to an unidentified
"green bird."
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 6
1909, p. 102, q!es!awa'; Naish and Story, 1963, p. 22,
x'eis'oowah or ?esuwa, and x'eis'-uwah or ?es-'Awa).
Ptarmigan were commonly snared at Dry Bay.
The southeastern Alaskan Tlingit also distinguished
between the dusky or blue grouse, that lives up high
where it is windy (Swanton, 1909, p. 85, nukt; Krause,
1956, p. 257, Dendragapus obscurus sitkensis, nuk't;
Naish and Story, 1963, p. 21, ndikt), and the Canada
spruce grouse, Canachites canadensis, (Krause, 1956, p.
257, kachk', kak'; Naish and Story, 1963, p. 21, kax').
It is interesting that these two words are also used to
distinguish between the male and the female grouse.
While neither species seems to be found at Yakutat,
the natives are familiar with the name for the second,
or "female," kAX, since a famous site in Icy Strait is
called Grouse Fort (de Laguna, 1960, pp. 142-143).
The rusty blackbird, Euphagus carolinus, breeds
farther north, migrating in spring by an interior route
but returning in fall along the coast. It has been seen
on the Ahrnklin River in mid-October. Krause (1956,
p. 257) recorded a Chilkat expression for this bird
meaning 'Athabaskans' raven.' I did not learn what the
Yakutat people call it.
Swallows come in summer to nest at Yakutat. The
American barn swallow, Hirundo rustica erythrogaster,
builds its mud nests around the cannery buildings. The
tree swallow, Iridoprocne bicolor, is probably more com-
mon, arriving, according to my notes, about May 9,
and by early June nesting in boxes and bird houses
which the Yakutat people put up for them. They are
accompanied by the northern violet-green swallow,
Tachycineta thalassina lepida, which will nest in boxes
or in holes in trees. All swallows fly south in August to
their winter homes. According to Krause (1956, p. 259),
the Chilkat Tlingit call the swallow kischelatetl;
Naish and Story (1963, p. 23) give the word seew
kooshduneit (siw kucdAnet), suggesting that this is the
bird that calls for rain (siu) in the summer (see below).
Little birds, which would certainly include warblers,
finches, linnets, sparrows, and probably many others
which we have already mentioned, are known at
Yakutat simply at tsitskw (Boas, 1917, p. 154, tsutsku').
Unfortunately I do not know which one calls for
'rain, rain,' (siu, siu) and so brings bad weather in
summer, nor have I been able to identify the "wild
canary," reported as a fine singer and said to be found
in Tlingit country all year round, although it keeps
away from people, and is the head of all the little birds
(Swanton, 1909, 85, 124-125, 185, s'.asl; Naish and
Story, 1963, p. 21, "goldfinch" or sas). Emmons
(1903, p. 238) reports a "wild canary, Astragalinus
tristis," called 'yellow' or "kut-thlark." He un-
doubtedly refers to the goldfinch, Spinus tristis, but
this is not an Alaskan bird and the Tlingit name is
given, at Yakutat at any rate, to the yellow warbler.
50 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
I do not know what is the very small bird of the interior
called "old person" (Swanton, 1909, p. 212, LAg?-
qa'k!u, or Laguqa'wu, i.e., tlagu qawu).
Among the warblers that visit Yakutat in the summer
are the lutescent oranged-crowned warbler, Vermivora
celata luteseens, the black-capped or northern pileolated
warbler, Wilsonia pusilla pileolata, and the Alaska
yellow warbler, Dendroica petechia rubiginosa. The
first was the bird I saw on May 24, and again on May
31. The yellow warbler appeared May 30, and was
called simply 'yellow' (tl'atl'). The black-capped
warbler was recognized by one informant who did
not know the name. Doubtless others, such as the
Alaska myrtle warbler or Townsend's warbler, Den-
droica coronata hooveri and D. townsendi, for example,
are seen at Yakutat, but of these we have no record.
Possibly it is a warbler, not the Bohemian waxwing,
that is the 'bird flying around the treetops,' or a
warbler, not a kinglet, may be the tiny "respectable
bird," whose voice is heard but who is seen only by
those destined for luck.
Of the sparrows, the most common at Yakutat in
the summer are the Yakutat song sparrow, Melospiza
melodia caurina, replaced in winter by the Kenai race,
M. m. kenaiensis, the northwestern Lincoln's sparrow,
M. lincolnii gracilis, the Yakutat fox sparrow, Passerella
iliaca annectens, the Alaskan savannah sparrow,
Passerculus sandwichensis or P. s. anthinus, and the
beautiful golden-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia atrica-
pilla. The western tree sparrow, Spizella arborea
ochracea, and Gambel's white-crowned sparrow, Zono-
trichia leucophrys, presumably migrate through Yaku-
tat. What I thought were fox sparrows, seen at Yakutat
from late February until early April, may have been
song sparrows. The Yakutat races of both species, as
well as of the savannah sparrow, are very dark. The
fox sparrow seems to be the 'dark bird' (tsitskw Uutc),
or 'frog's spear' (xixt6 wusani), while a sparrow that
is smaller and lighter on the belly and sides, but spotted
like a frog (Lincoln's sparrow ?) is 'frog's desire'
(xixt6 'usqax). The golden-crowned sparrow, called
appropriately 'copper on top of the head' (cAkide tinna)
sings in the woods around the village from early in
May until almost the end of the month, when it
apparently goes to nest in the willows of Disenchantment
Bay and the Malaspina Glacier.16
These songsters are apparently very vocal while
the people are at sealing camp in Disenchantment Bay
13
 I was able to make recordings, May 23-27, 1954, of the
varied thruah, song sparrow, yellow-crowned sparrow, yellow
warbler, and robin, after they had been silent during a spell
of rainy weather. The tape, 54 Reel 6, Side 1, is deposited in
the Folklore Division of the Library of Congress, as well as
in the American Philosophical Society Library.
in June and are believed to imitate Th'ngit songs,
especially the happy cries of children, and to tell when
their fathers are coming home from hunting.
The northern pine siskin, Spinus pinus pinus, a
forest finch, apparently breeds near Yakutat and may
winter in southeastern Alaska. The same is true of the
pine grosbeak, Pinicola enudeator fiammvla. The Amer-
ican white-winged crossbill, Lozia leucoptera leucoptera,
is a sporadic but probably permanent resident. The
common or mealy redpoll linnet, Acanihis ftammea
flammea, lives primarily farther north but has been
seen in late May and July among the willows of Osier
Island and Eussell Fiord. Hepburn's gray-crowned
rosy finch, Leucosticte tephrocotis littoralis, although
essentially an Arctic bird, does breed above timberline
and winter along the coast.
The Alaska longspur, Calcarius lapponicus alascensis,
while nesting in northern Alaska and the Aleutians,
apparently visits southern Alaska as a migrant, chiefly
in the fall, and should be seen at Yakutat.
Yakutat Bay seems to be the dividing line for two
species of junco. The northwestern Oregon junco,
Junco oreganus oreganus, nests from Yakutat Bay
south, and the northern slate-colored junco, J. hyemalis
hyernalis, breeds in the forests to the north. Apparently
neither winters in the area. However, the "snow bird"
at Yakutat and in southeastern Alaska seems to be
the snow bunting, Plectrophenax nivalis. which nests as
far south as Glacier Bay. My informants described it
as a small black and white bird, seen only in winter
and called "bird on the snow' (tledkA tsitskw). One
wonders whether this is the bird seen only when the
north wind is going to blow (xunkA ha).
On the whole, the birds of Yakutat form a conspic-
uous and significant part of the world in which the
native lives. Although far less important for food or
manufactures than land and sea mammals, and cer-
tainly less important than fish, birds seem to have as
great a role in TJingit thought. Perhaps the very
abundance and diversity of species has stimulated the
imagination.
Fish 16
Fish are the staff of life for the Tlingit, and of all
kinds the salmon (xat; Boas 129, x&i) is what is meant
when the Tlingit speaks of fish. The largest and earliest
to spawn is the king, spring, or chinook salmon, Oncho-
rhynchus tshawytscha, (t'a). Then come the red or sock-
eye, 0. nerka, (gat); humpback or pink, 0. gorbuscha
(t6as; Boas, 1917, p. 163, teas); coho or silver,
16
 Material in this section is based upon Clemens and Wilby
(1961), Rhode and Barker (1953), and Dufresne (1946).
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 51
0. kisuich, (tl'uk; Boas 130, l'iiku'; Swanton, 1909,
p. 247, Llu'k); and the chum or dog salmon, 0. Jceta
(titl'; Boas 156, t'i-1'). The last is relatively unimportant
to the Gulf Coast Indians, although the Tlingit of
southeastern Alaska regard it as the best to smoke for
the winter, and recognize the Dog Salmon as the crest
of a Raven sib. I was told that there were few dog
salmon in the Yakutat area, but that they could be
caught east of Dry Bay, where the Dohn River or a
tributary is called 'Dog Salmon Stream.' All of these
salmon ascend the rivers during the summer to spawn
and die; the young usually go down to salt water the
following spring or a year later to spend their adult
lives in the sea. Different races of the same species are
apparently distinguished by the varying number of
years they take to reach maturity, the oldest being the
largest, and some varieties live always in fresh water.
The males of most species undergo surprising trans-
formations in color and shape when they become ready
to spawn.
King salmon average 15-23 pounds, although many
reach 50 or 60 pounds, and a few giants of 100 pounds
have been noted. They live from 3-9 years, depending
on the race, although precocious males or "jacks"
mature in 2 or 3 years. King salmon usually breed only
in the larger rivers, such as the Alsek or Copper River,
although they have been seen in the Ankau, Situk,
Ahrnklin, Italio, and Ustay Rivers. Spawning runs
begin about the last of April and may continue until
the fall (when the king salmon are particularly fat),
which was when the natives formerly caught them.
While still in salt water the king salmon usually stays
close to shore and may be taken by trolling, but this
method was not employed until modern times. Some-
times king salmon appear in Yakutat Bay as early as
February, according to one informant. In 1954, the
first was taken on March 27, and by March 30 all the
men were out trolling. On April 16, the fish had retired
to the bottom because of the bitter cold, and by May 22
Eleanor Cove was said to be so full of herring and
smelt that trolling was unsuccessful. By that time,
however, the commercial fishing season was beginning
in Dry Bay.
The sockeye averages about 6 pounds but may
range up to 15. It spawns only in lakes or in streams
flowing from or into lakes, and the young fish may
spend from 1-3 years in fresh water. Some may remain
all their lives, 2-5 years, in the lake and are known as
"residuals" to the Whites, or as "old salmon" to the
natives (?akw; Swanton, 1908, p. 401, q!ak!u). Sockeye
that breed in a lake from which there is no escape
become dwarfed and are known as "Kennedy's salmon,"
"dwarf redfish," or "silver trout." Aside from preco-
cious 3-year-old "jacks," the salmon ascending the
rivers to spawn in May to August, and especially in
late June and July, are usually 4 or 5 years old, rarely
6 or 7.
Almost all of the streams southeast of Yakutat
have sockeyes, from the Ankau-Lost River system to
the Alsek, except for Dangerous River (Moser, 1901,
pp. 383-388). However, one of my informants who
had lived all his youth in the Situk area reported
that sockeye first appeared on Lost, Italio, and Akwe
Rivers, only after the Government fish weir was put
across the Situk and so drove away some of the fish.
Yet this weir as a counting station was not established
until many years after Moser's survey.
The humpback salmon, so called because of the
hump developed by breeding males, invariably
matures in 2 years, and most streams have two dis-
tinct populations, so that the run one year may be
heavy and the next light, or there may be a run only
every other year, as in the streams entering Russell
Fiord. The mature fish average 3-5 pounds, with a
few up to 10. Spawning runs last from late June to
September, with the most in July and early August.
Of all the streams in the Yakutat area, Humpback
Creek (kwack hini) is the most important for this
fish, and also for the Raven sib that owns this stream
and claims the Humpback Salmon as a crest. This
fish is known at Yakutat by its Eyak name (kwac!)
as much as by the Tlingit word (tfcas).
The coho is the favorite salmon for drying at Yakutat,
and is also the name crest of another Raven sib. The
runs come late in the year, from July or August through
October, and the natives prefer to cure the fish in the
cool fall weather. Most young fish remain in fresh
water for a year before going out to sea, and return at
the end of their third summer, although there are also
2-year-old "jacks" that look like spotted trout, and a
few 4-year-old fish. Practically all the streams in the
Yakutat area have cohos, although the Situk is espe-
cially rich (Rich and Bell, 1935, p. 441). Coho may
weigh from 6-12 pounds, and occasionally up to 30.
Swanton (1908, p. 406) gives the name, cadasf'ktc, for
the landlocked "king salmon," but I believe he refers
to a coho, or possibly to a sockeye.
Related to the Pacific salmon are several varieties of
salmon trout and char, also found in Yakutat waters,
although they are of much less value to the natives.
These are like the Atlantic salmon in that they do not
die when they spawn, but may return to salt water and
again ascend the streams to spawn. One of these is the
steelhead trout, Salrno gairdnerii, which usually remains
1 or 2 years in fresh water, and returns in the third to
fifth year for the first spawning. It has no regular season
for running. Small individuals that remain all their
lives hi fresh water are known as "rainbow trout."
Full-sized fish average 8-10 pounds, with records of
over 30. The coastal cutthroat trout, Salmo clarkii
52 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
clarkii, spawns early in the spring, February to May, or
even in mid-winter. Most individuals go to sea in the
spring of their second or third year, and ascend the
rivers in the autumn, when they are most easily taken.
They may weigh up to 17 pounds. These fish prefer
warmer waters, so are not as numerous along the Gulf
of Alaska as farther south. In contrast, the Dolly
Varden, Salvelinus malma, a char, is more common in
colder waters, spawning in autumn, although, like the
cutthroat, it frequents the mouths of streams. Some
may weigh up to 30 pounds.
The Yakutat Tlingit not only distinguish between
all five species of Pacific salmon, clearly recognizing
the dwarfed landlocked sockeye as a salmon, although
they call them 'baby cohoes' (tl'uk yAtxi), but they
have a separate name for the steelhead ('acAt), and for
other trout (xoti, xut!, Dolly Varden ?). They are well
aware that the steelheads are anadromous, saying that
the old ones go to the ocean, become rejuvenated, and
return as young again to the stream. They are caught
ascending the Situk or Humpback Creek in May. But no
one now living at Yakutat will ever have any conception
of the multitudes of salmon that crowded the streams
and lakes before the White man came to destroy the
"inexhaustible supply" (Grinnell, 1902; Rich and Bell,
1935, pp. 440-449).
According to the natives, there are three or four
small fish that spawn in Yakutat salt or fresh waters.
One of these is the eulachon, Thaleichthys pacificus,
(sak) from 8-12 inches long and famous for its rich oil.
These were running in the Situk early in March, 1954,
and were said to run at Dry Bay in February. Two
runs were reported there, "in the spring and in the
winter time." While the name "candlefish" is usually
a synonym for eulachon, my informants distinguished
between these two fish, specifying that the "candlefish"
(cat6) were smaller and came later. Possibly this was
the capelin, Mallotus villosus, which spawns on the
beaches in September or October. The surf smelt or
silver smelt, Hypomesus pretiosus, spawns on the
beaches from June to September and is probably the
"smelt" (t6Akwl) of my informants, although the surf
smelt is not believed to occur hi the Gulf of Alaska.
The Pacific herring, Clupea pallasii, (yaw, yaw; Boas
1917, p. 159, yaw) was once much more common than
it is at present, although it was spawning in Yakutat
Bay in May, 1954. Suria (Wagner, 1936, p. 257) noted
"smelt" being eaten in late June and early July. Herring
eggs are, of course, a delicacy sought by the Yakutat
people.
In mid-February, 1954, many small fish, like smelt
but smaller, were being caught with unbaited hooks
off the end of the cannery dock. I was told that they
had first appeared 2 years before and that no one knew
their correct name. It was surmised that they came
from California; "got lost from the California current."
There had been some at Hoonah, but when the cold
weather came they all died. These may have been the
young of some fish such as the pilchard, Sardinops
sagax. Conceivably it was the Pacific saury or "skip-
per," Cololabis saira, a slender, small leaping fish that
is common in schools from southern California to the
Gulf of Alaska. They belong in the open sea but may
possibly come closer to shore.
A fish that looks like a sardine or herring, with
spots on its back, is supposed to lay large eggs on or
under the rocks along the shore near Knight Island.
This is called the 'Thunderbird's fish' (xett yadi).
Possibly this is the capelin (see above), although the
latter has many black dots on the opercles, not on
the back. It may even be a sculpin (see below). The
shad, Alosa sapidissima, was introduced from the
Atlantic to the Columbia and Sacramento Rivers in
1871, and by 1896 had reached southeastern Alaska,
and is now found as far north as Cook Inlet. Although
it spawns in fresh water, it has pronounced black
spots on the sides. The pilchard (see above) is similarly
marked, but lays its eggs in the ocean.
Other anadromous fish, also with fresh water forms,
are the white and green sturgeon, Acipenser trans-
montanus and A. medirostris. The ranges of both in-
clude the Gulf of Alaska, and since they are enormous,
attaining lengths of 20 and 7 feet respectively, they
would surely have been noted and mentioned, if
common in the Yakutat area.
At Yakutat, Suria (Wagner, 1936, p. 257) saw a fish
like a "conger eel." This may have been the Pacific
lamprey, Entosphenus tridentatus, which is related to the
delicious European lamprey and is abundant from
California to the Gulf of Alaska. It spawns in fresh
water, and in adult form preys especially upon salmon
and steelhead trout in the sea, marking their silver sides.
The Tlingit interpret these wounds as the result of
being cut by the gates at the horizon's edge, through
which the fish pass. Possibly this is the "eel" (lu?) of
the Tlingit, not the blenny (see below).
Of flatfishes, the Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus steno-
lepis, ranks first. It is caught in the winter, spring, and
early summer with ingeniously devised hooks and long
lines. Halibut range in size from "chicken halibut,"
about 4 feet long (tcatl, teal) to a giant 9 feet long (nalx,
'riches'). Commercial fishermen seek them at depths of
10-150 fathoms. Males mature earlier than females, may
weigh up to 40 pounds, and live 25 years. Females ma-
ture at 12 years, may live for 35, and have been known
to weigh 470 pounds.
Flounders (tsAnti; Boas, 1917, p. 126, tsAnt6) are
also caught at Yakutat. These probably include such
species as the arrowtooth flounder or turbot (Ather-
esthes stomias), starry flounder {Platichihys stellatus),
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 53
brill (Eopsetta jordani), and sand sole (Psettichthys
melanostictus), all 2-3 feet long; and the smaller lemon
sole (Parophrys vetulus), rock sole (Lepidopsetta bilineata),
and yellowfm or northern sole (Limanda aspera),
reaching lengths from 15-22 inches. I do not know
whether the natives consider the flathead sole, Hip-
poglossus elassodon, a halibut or a flounder. It is not over
18 inches long. The slimy dover sole, Microstomus
pacificus, through a little over 2 feet long, lives below
30 fathoms, so is probably seldom caught.
Still smaller is the mottled or Pacific sanddab,
Githarichthys sordidus, which rarely exceeds 12 inches,
found from Bering Sea to California, and the speckled
sanddab, C. stigmaeus, not over 6 inches long, found
north of southeastern Alaska. Possibly one of the small
flatfish is known as the "child of the wind" (MltcayAdi),
described as like a flounder the size of one's hand,
which is sometimes washed ashore in storms. It is
taboo to handle them.
True cods include the Pacific or gray cod, Gadus
macrocephalus, which annually migrates into shallow
water in spring after its winter spawning in the ocean.
These fish may attain lengths of 3 feet. There is also
the whiting, known as the Alaska or walleyed pollack,
Theragra chakogrammus, found at moderate depths
along the coast. The smaller tomcod, Microgadus
prozimus, lives in deeper waters.
Closely related to the true cods, and very similar in
appearance, are the hakes. The Pacific hake, Merluccius
productus, common along the whole coast from southern
California to the Gulf of Alaska, may have been known
at Yakut at.
I am not sure whether any of the above are what
the Yakutat people call "cod," for the same native
name (sa&) given for "cod," was also used for the
"lingcod" which is really a variety of greenling.
The lingcod, Ophiodon elongates, is found on the
bottom from shallow water to depths of over 60 fathoms.
It is a very fat fish and may grow to lengths of 5 feet
and the female may weigh 80-100 pounds. Eggs in
large masses are laid in late winter to early spring just
below low tide line, where they are guarded by the male
until they hatch. The range is from southern California
to the Bering Sea. Also found in the Yakutat area are
the smaller but related rock greenling, Hexagrammos
superciliosus, up to 2 feet long, and the white-spotted
greenling, H. stelleri, not over 16 inches long. The last
is also known as "tommy cod" or "rock trout."
"Rock cod" or rockfish, of which there are many
species, some living along the rocky shores, others at
depths from tide water to over 800 fathoms, is a vivip-
arous fish that is not a cod at all. The black rockfish,
"Black Bass" or "Sea Bass," Sebastodes melanops, is
probably what the Tlingit call htistuk" ("black sea
bass/' htisdu'k, Swanton, 1908, pi. LV, a). Identification
is uncertain, however, because the same name was
given to a swordfish pin that I wore, and because on
another occasion the fish of this name was described as
having a prominent fin on the back and greenish hard
meat. The dorsal fin of the rockfish is conspicuous,
but the meat is described as "firm white flesh which is
very palatable and of excellent food value" (Clemens
and Wilby, 1961, p. 251). The black rockfish is common
in shallow waters and is often confused with the blue
rockfish, S. mystinus. Both reach lengths of about 20
inches and are found in the Gulf of Alaska, as is the
related red snapper or "red cod," S. ruberrimus, al-
though the latter lives at depths of over 30 fathoms
and may be 3 feet long. The last, according to Swanton
(1909, p. 297, le'q!), is called 'red,' i.e., lexw.
The so-called "black cod" or sablefish, Anoploma
jimbria, ('icqin) was caught at Yakutat. It grows up to
3 feet in length and is very oily. Swanton's informants
(1909, p. 45, icqe'n) identified the fish of this name as
a valuable deep water fish that lives in nests (suggesting
the lingcod), or (p. 84) as a kind of salmon caught with
a hook. My informant also believed that the "black
cod" was caught on a halibut hook. The sablefish
spawns in the open sea. The Angoon Tlingit regarded
the "black cod" as the best kind of "cod" (de Laguna,
1960, p. 92).
Swanton's Wrangell informant (1909, p. 136) gave
the name, tuq, to a small bright fish found in sand along
the shore. Possibly this is one of the sandfish, Trichodon
sp. or Arctoscopus sp.
Skates (t6itqa; Boas, 1917, p. 126, t6itgi.) were taken
at Yakutat and the "fins" eaten. These were probably
the big skate, Raja binoculata, which is abundant on
the muddy bottoms of cool waters and may grow to a
length of 8 feet. Its "wings" are marketed commercially
father south. Also present are the smaller species,
seldom exceeding 2-2 K feet: the black skate, R.
kincaidii, and starry skate R. stellulata, although the
last is found only in very deep water. The skate is the
canoe of the dreaded Land Otter Men, and in one
story is the slave of the wealth-bringing water monster
(Swanton, 1909, p. 51).
I was given three names for sharks and dogfish. The
most common word is tus, applied to "sharks" and
sometimes particularly to "mud sharks." The "mud
shark" was also called 'porpoise children' (tcitc yAtxi),
while the dogfish, appropriately enough, was known as
'shark's children' (tus yAtxi). These three words were
given on the same occasion by the same informants, so
presumably apply to three separate species, although it
is impossible to identify them accurately.
The Shark as a crest (Swanton, 1908, p. 416, fig. 103,
tus!) is represented with prominent dorsal and pectoral
fins and a wide heterocercal caudal fin. This suggests
either the salmon shark, Lamna ditropis, or, more
54 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
likely, the basking shark, Oetorhinus maximus. Both are
pelagic but often come close to shore. The former, up to
10 feet long, may be taken on light tackle; the latter,
up to 45 feet in length, is sluggish, frequently resting
with its large dorsal fin above water, is often gregarious,
and eats small Crustacea or other organisms, straining
them with its gill rakes. Its five gill slits are very long
and conspicuous, a feature emphasized in native repre-
sentations of the shark. It is a crest of a Yakutat sib.
Basking sharks often become entangled in salmon nets,
and in former days the Haida sometimes killed them
(Clemens and Wilby, 1961, pp. 75-77). What is evi-
dently a large shark of a different species is known to
the southern Tlingit, where a Wolf sib at Wrangell has
both a Shark House and a Shark's Intestines House
(qAtgu or ?Atgu; Swanton, 1908, p. 402, qLv'tgu hit
and qk'tgu na'sl hit).
There are also two other sharks with small dorsal
fins which may have been known to the Yakutat
Tlingit. These are the active, fish-eating, pelagic blue
shark, Prionace glauca, and the sluggish, bottom-
dwelling Pacific sleeper shark, Somniosus pacificus.
Both may attain lengths up to 25 feet.
The sixgill shark, Hexanchus corinum, often called
"mud shark" by White fishermen, is about the same
length as the last. It has been commercially used for
011 and fertilizer, and is caught by Whites with nets,
traps, and hooks. It is distinguished by a very slender,
high, asymmetric caudal fin. Although ranging as far
north as the Gulf of Alaska, it belongs to tbe family
of cow sharks, most of which live in warmer seas. There
are many fossil representatives in British Columbia,
which perhaps furnish the fossil teeth prized by the
Tlingit as ornaments (cAxdXq 'uxu). Emmons (1903,
p. 265, "shuh-tuck ou-hu'") also speaks of the "tooth
of the large tropical shark," found in the warmer
waters south of Alaska, the large teeth of which were
traded to the Tlingit for earrings. The name of this
shark figures in one Raven story as a tongue twister
(Swanton, 1909, Tale 1, p. 20; cf. Swanton, 1908,
pi. LV, j , for the earrings).
The Pacific dogfish, Squalus suckleyi, attains lengths
of about 5 feet, and produces a good deal of oil. It
is identified as a crest in southeastern Alaska by
Garfield and Forrest (1948, figs. 22, 23).
Pelagic fish which sometimes come close to shore
and may have been known to the Yakutat include
the pomphret or bream, Brarna rail, and bluefin tuna,
Thunnus saliens.
There are numerous deep sea fish with rows of glowing
photophores along their sides: anglemouths, dragon-
fish, lanternfish, and others; but these would hardly
be known to the natives unless washed ashore.
Perhaps the Yakutat people were interested in the
lumpsuckers, Cyclopteridae, with short squat bodies
covered with spines. They are slow moving, attaching
themselves to rocks where their eggs are deposited in
masses and guarded by the male until hatched. Though
numerous, these fish are too small to be of economic
importance. There are also many genera of snailfish,
Liparidae, with tbin loose skin but no scales. Those that
live along the shore are small, for only the larger ones
inhabit deep water.
The blenny or prickleback is a long, slender, eel-
shaped fish, related to the kelpfish and eelpout, all
Blennioidea. They live on the bottom from tidewater
to oceanic depths, and are identified by Boas (1917, p.
129) as "eels" (KM).
The stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is a small
fish covered with bright greenish to blue-black boney
plates, and protected by prominent dorsal spines. It
lives in eelgrass, and around wharves, as well as in
deeper water. The male makes the nest in which several
females may deposit their eggs, which he then guards.
Evidently this little fish, never over 4 inches long, has
been of sufficient interest to the natives that a slough
near Dry Bay is named 'Stickleback Creek' (kagin
hini).
Another relatively small fish, which is apparently
not eaten but which has attracted the attention of the
Tlingit, is the sculpin, Oottidae, represented by many
species, some of which live in tidal pools, others in
shallow or deep waters. One cannot help recording the
Tlingit name (we?; Boas, 1891, wek-, i.e., weq; Swan-
ton, 1909, pp. 18, 107, weq!). The freshwater species are
called "bullheads," as is the red Irish lord, Hemi-
lepidotus hemilepidotus, a salt water sculpin. The latter
grows up to 20 inches in length, and is found from
northern California to Bering Sea. I am not sure
which of these brightly colored, spiny fish were called
we? by the Tlingit, nor whether they used the same
name for all of the group. These fish were sometimes
caught by children, but it was taboo to kill them with
a club. Clemens and Wilby (1961, p. 309) report that the
buffalo sculpin, Enophrys bison, with a range which
includes the Gulf of Alaska is "very common along the
whole coast . . . will take a bait readily and provides
sport for the young, who frequently suffer hand wounds
from the jagged spines." A Raven sib among the
southernmost Tlingit had a Sculpin House; this fish
appears in mythology as Raven's younger brother or
father's brother's son; and tbe Pleiades are supposed
to be a sculpin which Raven put in tbe sky (Swanton,
1908, p. 400; 1909, pp. 18, 107), all of which indicates
how prominent in native thought such an economically
unimportant fish can become.
Possibly the red Irish lord, with its brightly colored,
black-spotted back and its habit of spawning in March
when it deposits large masses of tough pink eggs in
very shallow water, sometimes even above high tide
IN THREE PARTS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 55
level, is the Thunderbird's fish,' mentioned by a
Yakutat informant.
The fish, supposedly shaped like a halibut but with
many "legs" quick and large, with sharp sides that
can cut killerwhales in two, and a friend of the sculpin,
is probably a mythological giant representative of the
family. It (hln-tayl'ci) appears in two Tlingit myths
recorded by Swanton (1909, Tales 60 and 91).
I have been unable to identify the "fish that looks
like a swan" ('adA goqtli or adA guqli, i.e., 'spear-swan').
Marine Invertebrates and Seaweed17
The waters of the Gulf of Alaska are so rich in
marine invertebrates that to attempt to list them in
any comprehensive way is quite beyond the scope of
this study. The same is true of the thousands of insects
and other noninvertebrates of the land and air. We
need only mention, therefore, those that have come to
the particular attention of the natives.
The most important shellfish are those which are
eaten. These include the basket cockle, Clinocardium
nuttalli, which is called by its old Eyak name, 'squirts'
(caxw or caxw, not yAlulet' as in Boas, 1917, p. 155).
In addition Boas (1891, p. 175, g-'atlka'sk, i.e., gatl'
kXtslux) recorded the name 'little clam' for this
cockle.
There is also the common smooth Washington or
butter clam, Saxidomus giganteus, (tsixw), the large
Pacific gaper or horse clam, Schizothaerus nuttalli,
(gatl' or gal; Boas, 1917, p. 155, gal', gai,'), and the
Pacific little-neck clam or "rock cockle," Protothaca
staminea. All of these the people now gather, and they
were also well represented in the midden on Knight
Island.
The "giant clam" that killed a woman (xit, Swanton,
1909, Tale 21, p. 41; Garfield and Forrest, 1948, figs.
46, 47) may be a rock oyster, possibly Pododesmus
(Monia) macroschisma, since my informants called the
rock oyster xet. A similar story is told about a giant
"rock oyster" or "rock scallop," perhaps Hinnites
giganteus (Garfield and Forrest, 1948, p. 41). A large
scallop, Pecten cawinus (xweyna), is occasionally
caught on halibut hooks, but those that I saw at
Yakutat had simply been brought home as curiosities.
The Yakutat also eat the common blue mussel,
Mytilus edulis, (yak, yak; Boas, 1917, p. 101, yak),
17
 Scientific information is based upon identifications in
Johnson and Snook, 1927; upon identifications of shells at
Knight Island (Laguna et al, 1964); and upon Rhode and Barker,
1953. The seaweeds marked with an asterisk (*) were collected
by Catharine McClellan.
and the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, (nfs;
Swanton, 1909, p. 9, nls!). Again, both were found in
the Knight Island middens. The site also contained
such whelks as the large Oregon triton, Argobuccium
oregonense, (Boas, 1891, p. 175, tl'itlk', i.e., tl'itlkw),
the small dogwinkle, Nucella (or Thais) sp., and the
little puppet rnargarite, Margarites pupillus, as well as
a few shield limpets, Acmaea pelta, but I do not know
whether any of these were eaten. A "snail," defined
for me as the "worm" removed from its shell, is called
ta? (Boas, 1891, p. 181, tak', i.e., taq), a word which I
believe refers to the encircling spiral shape. I do not
know, however, whether this term is applied to small
sea snails.
The Yakutat also eat the common chiton or "gum-
boot," Katharina tunicata, (caw; Boas, 1917, p. 155,
caw) which was represented in the Knight Island site,
and sometimes eat the large crypto-chiton, Oryptochiton
stelleri, (ku, kuw; Boas, 1917, p. 155, thw). The latter
was evidently something of a novelty because the
tides are seldom low enough to expose them.
Although my informants denied that shellfish in
Yakutat Bay became poisonous in summer, it would
appear that the large California mussel, Mytilus cali-
forniensis, (yis, yis; Boas 124, yis), which is especially
likely to harbor the deadly dynoflagellate, was not
eaten, but was sought for its hard sharp shell, used as a
knife or scraper.
Dungeness crabs, Cancer magisterij), (tsaw, saw)
were eaten, as were "spider" or "king crabs," possibly
one or more of the Majidae and Lithodidae. The last
were sometimes caught on halibut hooks and so were
called 'crab of the [halibut] deep' ('itkA tsawu). The
largest "king crabs" or "spider crabs" were called by a
special name, xix or x6x. According to Swanton's in-
formants (1909, pp. 142, 412) "spider crabs" are used
by land otters for poisonous arrowheads with which
they shoot people, making boils all over then- bodies or
even causing death. These arrows may cause people to
fall down suddenly, or to be crushed under falling tree
limbs. The drum of the land otter is a "lobster shell"
(qlexetAnu'qhi, i.e., xexetA-nuxu). I suspect that this
animal is a "spider crab" or "king crab."
There are many varieties of starfish, Asteroidea,
(tsAx) but none is eaten. It is used as a crest by the
DAqdentan sib (Swanton, 1908, p. 400).
Squid or "devilfish," Loligo opalescens or Rossia
pacifica(l) (naqw) are sought for halibut bait; and
indeed their name means 'bait.' There are stories of
monster devilfish (Swanton, 1909, Tale 31, p. 132,
dAgasa/)- This may be Octopus apollyon, up to 28 feet
in spread.
The Yakutat people recognke barnacles, Balanus
sp., (tsuk), and the goose barnacle, perhaps Lepas
anatifera, (tsACsn), neither of which was eaten.
56 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
There are also many varieties of shrimp, Pandalus
sp., but I learned nothing about them, probably be-
cause I neglected to ask. Shrimps were, however,
mentioned by the natives as causing phosphorescence,
as were small jellyfish, although my informants seemed
very uncertain about the cause of this phenomenon and
contradicted each other.
By trade from the south comes abalone shell, Haliotis
sp. (gunxa; Boas 153, gunxa), dentalia, Dentalium
pretiosum or D. californicus (tXxxei), and "pearls" or
opercula, 'dentalium-among (?) stones' (tlxxe-xu-teyi).
These precious shells were valued for ornaments.
"Sea jelly," possibly a kind of jellyfish, is called
'ancient tree'(?), (takwan-'Asi) and is taboo to touch.
Spawn left by invertebrates, not by fish, is iix. Swanton
(1909, pp. 402,) records the spotted sea cucumber,
yen, which my informant translated as "slug." It is
probably a species of Cucumaria. Lisiansky (1814, pp.
166-167) when at Sitka reported a taboo against eating
this. Swanton (1908, p. 456, CAku) also mentions some
bad-smelling things on the beaches which are eaten by
Land Otter Men, but we do not know what these are.
There are many varieties of seaweed. Both dark and
light ribbon seaweed, Iridea larninoides* (xatc or qatc;
Harrington, k'aati), and black seaweed, Porphyra
laciniata,* (leikAsk.; Harrington, laak'ask; Boas, 1917, p.
128, laklsk'), were gathered, dried, and eaten. Boas
(1891, p. 177, tare'de, i.e., tay6de) records a word for
Fucus visiculosus, but I do not think that this was used
for any purpose. Kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, (gic) fur-
nished material for fishing lines (tl'eyani).
Insects
Of the rich insect life we need mention only the
tormenting mosquitoes (taia; Boas, 1917, p. 175,
t'axax plural; Swanton, 1909, p. 278, ta'qla), the small
biting gnats or 'baby mosquitoes' (taxax yAtxi), and
the still smaller but no less voracious "No-see-ums,"
called 'with his mouth-nose he bites' (xA-hm-daguq).
There are also spiders, 'it makes a web' (tsaqadi; Boas
138, qasisf!an), small flies (houseflies ?) (Boas, 158,
xln), and blowflies that lay eggs in salmon hung up to
dry. These larvae are called natsilAne", according to
Swanton (1909, p. 230), although maggots in caribou
meat are called wun (Swanton, 1909, p. 24). I recorded
the term, tl'uq, for "worm," which may also be a
blowfly larva, or possibly the woodworm, which I
heard as 1'Ak, when rendered by the same informant.
The Woodworm was the crest of an important Raven
sib at Chilkat (Swanton, 1908, p. 404, L!uk!xa' hit,
'woodworm house,' i.e., tl'u&; 1909, 151, L!uq!u'x).
The red-vested bumblebees that Burroughs (Burroughs
and Grinnell, 1901, p. 61) saw buzzing about the lupins
may be what Boas (1891, p. 174) recorded as
gandasa'dji. Emmons (1903, p. 264, tla-thlu; cf. Boas
1891, p. 175, tie tlu') believes that the butterfly as a
basketry pattern originated at Yakutat. The dragonfly,
according to a Yakutat informant, had a name that
means 'it steals hair' (qacicxaw); Boas (1917, p. 156,
Iq'acicxaw) translates this as 'no body hair,' which is
undoubtedly correct. Head lice, of course, were not
unknown, especially on slaves (note the word for
'burr,' p. 34). The louse is was (Swanton, 1908, p. 411,
was!).
Small "bugs" seen on ponds under the ice were
called da by one of our informants. Swanton (1908,
459, ts'.f'nqle') reports that theTlingit treated the water
beetle with considerable respect, as a dangerous being
whom one should be careful not to offend, and also as
a power that might be utilized by the shaman for curing.
(For additional vocabulary, see Naish and Story, 1963,
pp. 27-29.)
The Homeland of the Yakutat Tlingit
58 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
For the Tlingit, the world, their world, Imgit-'ani, is
the 'land of human beings.' The word, 'an, makes no
distinction between territory and village, rather it
denotes the home where people live. This homeland
always belongs to some sib; the actual settlements
within it are shared by the owners, their spouses and
affinal kin, and any others who may choose to live or
visit there. The ties between the people and the land
are close, and no mere geographical description is
adequate unless it attempts also to display the associa-
tions which make the lingit-'ani a Lebensraum. These
associations are in part conveyed by the names given
to places, sometimes descriptive of the locality, some-
times referring to historical or legendary events which
have occurred here. Even when the names are in a
foreign tongue they serve as a reminder of those who
once occupied the land and are now gone, although the
Tlingit attempt, probably unconsciously, to adapt
the strange sounds to words which have a meaning in
Tlingit.
The human meanings of the landscape are more than
the mythological dimension recognized by Malinowski
(1922, ch. 12). They involve not simply places visited
and transformed by Raven in the mythical past, but
places hallowed by human ancestors. For individuals,
of course, the world has special personal meanings,
for there are places about which their grandparents
and parents have told them, spots they have visited
in their own youth, or where they still go. None of these
personal associations are completely private; all are
intermeshed through anecdote or shared experiences.
Not only is the world the scene of happenings of long
ago, yesterday, and tomorrow, but it has human
significance for what it offers in food resources, scenery,
easy routes for travel, or places of danger.
The Tlingit have never been alone in their world.
Always there have been other tribes for them to visit
or to visit them, and ever since the latter part of the
18th century they have shared it more and more with
the White man. To the explorers, traders, missionaries,
surveyors, even to myself and my companions, it has
been a Lehensraum, and the experiences and meanings
for the White man have merged with those of the
Indian, and help to illuminate the latter.
For these reasons, the lands about the Gulf Coast
of Alaska, the particular homeland of the Yakutat
people, must be sketched, not simply as geography, but
with some hint of all these rich associations, if we are
to understand the Yakutat people themselves.
In the following sections of this chapter we will begin
with Yakutat Bay itself, then turn southeastward,
exploring as far as Lituya Bay, with an excursion up
the Alsek River. Finally we will return to Yakutat to
survey the lands to the west as far as the home of the
Eyak at the mouth of the Copper River. The Yakutat
Bay country has already been described in some detail,
but in dealing with the terrain to the southeast and
to the northwest it will be necessary to introduce some
brief descriptions of the country. A great deal of the
information about Yakutat Bay was gathered on
excursions to Disenchantment Bay and to the head
of Russell Fiord in 1952, and in discussing the photo-
graphs taken then. Similar excursions with native
friends were made to parts of the Ankau lagoon system,
to Lost River and Situk River southeast of Yakutat,
and to Khantaak Island. For other areas I had to rely
upon maps and charts for identification of the places
mentioned.
YAKUTAT BAY
In entering Yakutat Bay we come to Tlaxata or
Laxata, a name which is applied more specifically to
an old sealing camp south of Point Latouche (see
p. 67). 'Inside Yakutat Bay' is Tlaxayik, which
Swanton (1908, p. 397) renders as Laxayt'k, "inside
ia'xa (an island)." Actually the name is Eyak, accord-
ing to a speaker of that language; the name Tla'xa't
is supposed to mean 'glacier-inside place.' The Tlingit
could not pronounce it properly, one of them admitted,
and "it sounds funny to him [the Eyak man] when we
add -ta to that." The inhabitants, 'those who live
inside Yakutat Bay,' are the Tlaxayik-qwan, (or
taxayik-qwan) although some informants felt that
this expression belongs properly to the Raven sib,
Kwackqwan, because they own all the shores of the
bay. The name tla' or la,' with its various endings, is
said to refer to the glacier which formerly extended
way down the bay.
According to Dr. Michael E. Krauss:
tla'xa'lah is Eyak for 'Tlingit habitation,' obviously
referring to the Tlingit of Yakutat. 'Glacier' in Eyak
is la' not tla', but the alternation 1-tl does occur
elsewhere in Eyak. [My own transcription may be at
fault.] However, glacier (la1) is a "d-class noun," so
that 'by (the) glacier(s)' in Eyak should properly be:
la'dAxa' (letter of December 20, 1966).
The word Yakutat, first adopted by the Russians in
1823 (Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 207 n.), or Yakwdat, is
applied to the mouth of Ankau Creek in Monti Bay.
Swanton (1909, Tale 105, p. 351) renders this as
OldTi
ELEAN&R^C
Humpback Salmon Si
Krutoi
?A,J?
P+. Carrew
Ankau Lagoon
Ocean Co
W0M
^Ywm
^^*?&Al\&/~^-''" "'\0. yOld Canoe Traif^^^^^t
^ Ruins vJ??|Sp?^f 0 J Qp f ^ "^
 fj^
MAP 6.?Yakutat Bay [to Dry Bay],

IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 59
Ya'kMat. By some of my oldest informants the word is
said to be Eyak, meaning "salt water pond," or "a
lagoon is forming," referring to the open water which
appeared as the Yakutat Bay Glacier melted back. One
specified that it meant "mouth of a salt water bay,"
like the Tlingit expression, 'el'wAt, and referred simply
to the mouth of the Ankau. Other informants, who
knew no Eyak, thought that the name was derived from
yakwtadE, 'to the ship,' since Russian ships used to
anchor at the mouth of the Ankau, or even that
yakwdat referred to a "canoe bouncing up and down
in the tidal currents."
Harrington recorded Yaakwtaat-yfk for all of the
Ankau lagoon area, as well as the stream. Peter Law-
rence told him that it meant "canoe (yaakw) jump
(taat) inside (yik)" because a canoe will bob up and
down in the waves at the mouth of the Ankau River.18
All of Yakutat Bay and the adjacent lands are
claimed by the Kwackqwan, who trace their origin to
the Copper River. The west side of the bay, and indeed
all of the shores as far west as to include Icy Bay (see
pp. 95-98), was theirs apparently by right of settle-
ment. The eastern shores were purchased from the
original owners. However, the Kwackqwan Ravens
were accompanied to Yakutat by the Wolf Galyix-
Kagwantan, with whom they had intermarried at Icy
Bay. These latter (or a closely related Yakutat branch
of the same sib) were known as the Tiaxayik-Teqwedi
(perhaps after they had settled on Yakutat Bay).
While some settlements seem to have belonged pre-
dominently to the last sib, or at least to have had a
man of that sib as their most distinguished house chief,
control of Yakutat Bay for hunting, fishing, and gather-
ing was in the hands of the leading Kwacljqwan chief.
According to reports about this sib chief during Russian
days, his domination extended up into Disenchantment
Bay, at least as far as Haenke Island.
The West Side of Yakutat Bay
There were no settlements on the exposed west shore
of Yakutat Bay. Its most prominent feature is the
enormous Malaspina Glacier, known to the natives
simply as the 'Big Glacier' (sit tlen).
Point Manby was Yatiak ('place behind'?). Manby
Stream just inside the point was called Kik. (Note
that Kwik Stream of the maps and charts is much
farther up the bay, just below Blizhni Point.) At
Point Manby there was once a great hollow tree, inside
which one could hear the noise of an approaching storm.
The Galyix-Kagwantan youth who married a ship-
wrecked Russian woman (see pp. 233, 256) used to go
inside the tree and, if he heard no storm warning,
would run across Yakutat Bay on the ice, which at
that time stretched from Point Manby to Eleanor Cove.
All along the shores of the lagoons between Point
Manby and Kame Stream ("Grand Wash"), there are
many bears. They dig holes to sleep in, about 6 feet
in diameter and 3 feet deep, so that just the tips of
their ears show. "It looks as if an army had been
digging foxholes." The grass is breast high, so that one
may come upon the bears unexpectedly. Despite this
danger, and that of landing through the surf, and also
despite the Tlingit horror of frogs which are said to be
very numerous here, this region is one of the best in
which to gather strawberries, and large parties often
go across from Yakutat to pick them. The members of
the various expeditions who passed here on their way
toward Mount Saint Elias were much impressed with
the luxuriance of the vegetation, so close to the edge
of the Malaspina Glacier, and commented on the
abundance of strawberries and berry bushes, on the
multitudes of waterfowl, and on the many tracks of
enormous bears?the Alaska brown bear and the still
larger Saint Elias silver grizzly (Filippi, 1900, pp.
72-74).
"Between Point Manby and Esker Creek is good
for silver salmon and hunting seals. . . . We do not
stay there but go for the day. This used to be good
trapping grounds [for marten, mink, fox and land
otter], but whites have used poison and killed off all
the animals." [Jack Ellis in Goldschmidt and Haas,
1946, p. 75.]
I did not learn the names for the numerous streams
along this shore, except that Esker Creek was called
Yafa-se'a or Yata-sl'a'.19 Near here, at the base of
Amphitheatre Knob, coal was found by Jack Dalton, a
White man who prospected this area before he estab-
lished the famous Dalton Trail and Dalton Post of
Gold Rush days. The general area was called ia-yeyl,
'Below the Point,' referring to Bancas Point, and the
site of the coal was called 'Jack's Town,' Jack-'ani or
TcEk-'ani, because Jack Dalton had a cabin nearby
(see Russell, 1891 b, p. 169; Tarr and Butler, 1909,
p. 168). Dalton's cabin was at the foot of Galiano
Glacier, according to Russell (1891 b, p. 98). The
latter, in 1890, named Turner Glacier after "Jack
Dalton, a miner and frontiersman now living at Yaku-
tat, who is justly considered the pioneer explorer of the
region." He had apparently come to Yakutat as a
cook on Schwatka/s expedition of 1886 to climb Mount
" Dr. Michael B. Krauss suggests that Yakutat may be an
Eyak word [di-]ya'-guda'd, 'salt-water mouth-of,' if one allows
for the queer dropping of the di.- (letter of December 20, 1966).
" This may be the Eyak 'it extends across (something)'
ya-ta-s'i-'ah (Michael Krauss, letter of December 20, 1966).
60 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
US. COAST 8, GEODETIC SURVEY
8455
WITH ADDITIONS
SiYe of Russian For?
U.S.C.G. LORAN STATION
N A U T I C A L MILES
0 gOOO 40D0
YARDS
139?
MAP 7.?Southeastern shore of Yakutat Bay.
Saint Elias (Schwatka, 1891, p. 866), and 2 years later
discovered the lignite beds (Topham, 1889 a, p. 425).
It was inland from this region, along the mountain
spurs north of Malaspina Glacier, on the Chaix Hills
and on Blossom Island, that the Duke of Abruzzi's
expedition to Mount Saint Elias noted the tracks of
many bears, wolves, foxes, mountain goats and "par-
tridges," in and near the isolated remnant of a forest
(Filippi, 1900, pp. 106, 120).
Bancas Point marks the western side of the entrance
to Disenchantment Bay. On it or nearby was a sealing
camp in the early 19th century called 'Village on Top
of the Cliff,' Gel'-cAkf-'an. This name was also applied
to Bancas Point itself.
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 61
The East Side of Yakutat Bay
Within the southeastern part of Yakutat Bay, in-
cluding Knight Island, were the more settled areas,
undoubtedly located there because of the shelter af-
forded by the chain of low islands. This shelter also
attracted traders, whose visits were added inducements
for the natives to congregate here. There were also
such natural resources as salmon streams, berries, and
timber.
I recorded no name for Ocean Cape, which marks
the entrance to Yakutat Bay, although Harrington
rendered it as 'Kussians' Point' (ititskiikkhwaan
xaayyfi). Point Carrew at the mouth of Monti Bay is
'Place Where a Monster Emerged' ('AnAx-daq-'At-
qutsitiye). This name puzzled my informant because
there are no monsters there now, and none to harm
people since Raven ordered them "not to bother
humans." A reputedly "Aleut" (Chugach Eskimo)
word for the point is TEyixnAq or TeyixnAk.
It should be noted that many of the places in this
part of the bay have "Aleut" names. "And that is-
lands, too?all kinds of Aleut names, Gotex or Kiot'ei
language. . . . It's not native language." By "Aleut"
is meant Chugach. One explanation for their presence
is that they came to Yakutat with the Kussians, an-
other is that they were the original inhabitants. How-
ever, some informants evidently used "Aleut" to refer
to the Eyak-speaking Indians. "When Copper River
Indians walked here over the ice there was Aleuts
mixed in with them. They made skin canoes." (Minnie
Johnson) Yet this informant knew, or later learned,
that it was Eyak, Yatqwan ('local people'), who were
involved. In any case, the non-Tlingit names were hard
for Tlingit informants to pronounce, and many were
incorrectly rendered as well as inconsistently recorded.
As Davidson (1901 b, p. 44) translated Tebenkov:
". . . all places east [from the Copper River] to
Yakootat bay have each four names; given by the
Tchugatz [Eskimo of Prince William Sound], the
Oogalentz [Eyak], the Copper River Indians [Atna],
and the Koloshes [Tlingit]. . . ."
Ankau Point, at the northern side of the entrance
to Ankau Creek, is 'Aukciaq (or rather 'Xqciylq), an
"Eyak" or, more correctly, a Chugach name. At the
edge of the woods behind the point is the present
ANB (Alaska Native Brotherhood) Cemetery, used by
all the residents of Yakutat, and behind that again a
pond. It is said that the cemetery was started (in the
middle or late 19 th century ?) with the grave
house of a murdered Teqwedi shaman, and with the
burial of his niece who wished to lie near her uncle.
These graves could not be found, although we searched
around the shore of the pond. Later (summer of 1952),
I heard that the doctor's grave house had been seen
near the Army road, but farther up the creek than we
had been able to explore. It was in this vicinity, but well
inside the creek, that Dixon in 1787 (Beresford, 1789,
chart opp. p. 170, pp. 175-176) and Malaspina in 1791
(Galiano, 1802, chart 8; Malaspina, 1885, pp. 161,
346) visited the native cemetery made famous through
their descriptions. Possibly this area has been in more
or less continual use ever since the 18th century; first
as a depository for the ashes of the dead and later as a
burial ground. Since tidal currents make the mouth of
the creek rather dangerous, there have been several
drownings here, and monuments to those who were
lost have been erected along the bank of the stream.
One of these was a cross in memory of two Kwackqwan
brothers who drowned some time before 1900, and in
1949 an impressive marble shaft was set up on the
point for a youth of the same sib who had drowned with
an Eskimo companion.
Also in the vicinity of the former cemetery in the
woods, Vancouver's expedition in July 1794, noted a
temporarily abandoned village where about 50 dogs
had been left behind (Vancouver, 1801, vol. V, p. 396).
Although Dixon in 1787, and Malaspina in 1791 noted
habitations or buildings in this area (Beresford, 1789,
pp. 167, 175; Malaspina, 1849, p. 290; 1885, 161;
Wagner, 1936, p. 258; quoted on pp. 311, 312), my
informants were uncertain whether there had ever been
a village here, and we failed to locate the site. Minnie
Johnson remembered that a village here had been
deserted because of a war between the Teqwedi inhabi-
tants and the Dekina (Haida or Henya Tlingit) from
southeastern Alaska, who cut off each others' heads.
This is suggestive of Malaspina's report of a war,
shortly prior to his visit, and to the descriptions of
heads put into separate boxes at the cemetery. The
survivors are supposed to have moved to Port Mulgrave
on Khantaak Island, according to my informant.
Later, however, she denied that there had ever been a
village near the mouth of the Ankau.
As already indicated, Ankau Creek, including the
whole salt water lagoon system which it drains, is
called Yakwdatyik, 'Inside Where the Boat Is.' Ankau
was known to be a White man's name, but my in-
formants were, of course, ignorant that it had been
given by Malaspina in honor of the 'chief ('anqawu),
or "Ankau June" (Malaspina, 1885, p. 345; Dall and
Baker, 1883, p. 207 n.). The pilings on the southeast
side of the creek, just inside the mouth, are the ruins
of the saltery built in 1901 (Moser, 1901, p. 390).
From here, in 1905, a 12-year-old girl is believed to
have been stolen by land otters when she tried to walk
along the shore to the mission school at Yakutat
(p. 754).
Monti Bay is Djiwanik or DjiwAnfkta ('inside the
62 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
limb,' likening the bay to the branch of a tree). One
informant rendered the name as Tanwanikta, suggest-
ing 'a place beside the sea lions.' On the middle of
the south shore is a large rock, called the 'Sea Lions'
Rock' (tan tEyi) because these animals like to lie on it.
Harrington, however, reported that Monti Bay was
called Tjuwaanik, an "Aleut" name, and that 'Monti
Bay shore' (Tjuwaanik-thA) was the proper name for
the present town of Yakutat.
The town of Yakutat is at the head of Monti Bay
(pis. 22-26). Here are the Government dock where
vessels of the Coast Guard and of the Public Health
Service tie up; storage tanks for the Standard Oil
Company; the cannery and its dock (built 1902-04),
with the cannery store, houses for supervisory personnel,
the old bunkhouses, the terminus of the railway to
Johnson Slough, and other buildings. The cannery
store and dock form the center of the economic life
of the community. The natives moved to Yakutat
about 1919 from the "Old Village" farther north, in
order to be near the cannery, although many already
had summer homes or tents here, and some families
still continue to occupy houses in the Old Village.
A well-kept road connects the new Yakutat with the
Old Village, and with the airfield about 4 miles south-
east, with the Coast Guard Loran Station on the ocean
front to the southwest, and from there runs south-
eastward to a fishing camp at Lost Eiver. In the middle
of the native community of Yakutat is the old Lutheran
church, beginning to fall into disrepair in 1954, and the
ANB Hall (built about 1921). Beyond this, continuing
to the north, is the jail (built in 1949), the post office,
school, a general store, Public Health Clinic, and the
sites picked in 1954 for a town power plant and for a
new Presbyterian church.
The Lutheran Evangelical Mission, established in
1889 (the present buildings are newer), is about half
a mile farther north along the road that parallels the
water. It is called SkunyAkA, 'By the School,' referring
to the boarding school formerly run by the mission.
The Old Village, from which can be obtained a
magnificent view of Mount Saint Elias that is much
enjoyed by the inhabitants, is called Qa-iAs-iak-'an,
'Town Between Someone's Jaws.' Harrington was told
that the correct name was 'Town Between Someone's
Legs' (khaakkAts-^aak-'aan), but that "this word has
a bad sound, so they called it 'Between the Jaws.' "
Both names suggest its position on a curving gravel
beach between two rocky headlands. On the southern
hill, between the mission and the Old Village, is a
graveyard used between 1890 and 1924, as far as could
be judged from the dated tombstones, although some
unmarked graves were probably older. On the northern
point are some marble monuments to dead members of
the Kwacliqwan (pi. 30). The shafts were moved here
from their original location when the road was built
over the graves. The road winds around the point to
end at the lagoon. There were also a few wooden grave
houses on the point. The Old Village was founded about
1889 by Indians who had moved across from the village
at Port Mulgrave on Khantaak Island so that they
could be near the mission and near the store run by a
Sitka merchant. The great lineage houses here were
first in the "old style," later made of sawed lumber
from the sawmill on the lagoon belonging to the mission.
Many of the old houses are still occupied (pi. 26).
The lagoon which opens north of the Old Village and
which runs behind it is called Qaqutsrna (Harrington:
khi'ku'tzAnnAh,i.e., qf'Eu'dzAnA). The sawmill belong-
ing to the mission was located at its head, and the
women still go to the lower stretches of the lagoon to
gather cockles, clams, and sea urchins at low tide.
The small island at the mouth of the lagoon is 'Canoe
Island,' Yakw?at'i, or 'canoe on-it always stays-there'
(yakw 'AkAyAxtEnA). Harrington recorded 'island' (xa-t
or xaat') 'narrow' ('anAtjitck, in Eyak), or more properly
'ground-narrow' (Vh lAttshftsk, in Eyak). Residents
of the Old Village used to keep their big canoes on this
island because the beach in front of their houses was
too exposed.
The larger island to the east is 'Big Berries,' Tl'eq"
tlen, and the smaller one just to the north is 'Small
Berries,' Tl'eqw liAtsliux, because women used to pick
blueberries on them.
Puget Cove farther north is Takuk. The landlocked
lagoon just south of Canoe Pass (lat. 59?35' N.) is
T6Axqatlata (-?- 'inside,' as applied to a bay). The deep
water at the lower end of Johnstone Passage, between
this lagoon and Puget Cove, was called Daxadaneya.
This name, however, evidently referred to the little
island near the shore where Peter Lawrence had a
camp, since Harrington was told that the name,
Daga-tlani-'an (taakkaa ttlaannii 'aan), meant 'deep
all around camp,' because the wooded place became
an island only at high tide.
Khantaak Island, according to Harrington, was
called S'uus, or S'uuskhXh, although his Eyak informant
pronounced it Tsuus. His informants were unable to
translate it and variously guessed that it might be
Aleut, Russian or English! I was told that the name
was S'uskA, by some said to be an Eyak word, but by
others, better informed, reported to mean 'on sus.'
The latter was identified from the picture in Peterson
(1941, opp. p. 64) as a black turnstone, a bird which
can often be seen flying around the island (Emma
Ellis). Other informants identified it only as "a pretty
bird" especially common in southeastern Alaska, which
fits its known range (Gabrielson and Lincoln, 1959
pp. 339-340). Dall (Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 207)
reports that "Khantaak" was "adopted by Tebienkoff
The Lagoon
Grave Monuments
---' Cemefery and site of
Russian Blockhouse
School
Post Office
Jail
A N B M
Church
YAKUTAT
Cannery
Government Dock
Road to Airfield
Sea Lion Rock
NAUTICAL MILE
MAP 8.?Yakutat Harbor.

IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 63
from the native name." If the term is Tlingit, it prob-
ably refers to the lupins (gEntAkw, kantaq, gantaqw)
which grow profusely on the open gravel flats of the
island. According to Davidson (1869, p. 139) the name
is the [Eskimo] word for 'dish.'
The native village at Port Mulgrave, properly called
S'uskA, 'On the Turnstone,' was inhabited up to about
1893. According to my informants, people moved here
from Ankau Point (?), from settlements on the Ankau
lakes and from streams southeast of Yakutat, in order
to trade furs. One gathers from the reports of Dixon
(Beresford, 1789, chart opp. p. 170), Malaspina (1885,
p. 156) and others that already in the 18th century
this was at least a seasonal camping place. Later, sub-
stantial lineage houses were built along the shore, the
pond in back was used for washing, and a well to the
north was dug for drinking water. The open grassy
flat just north of the site is KAtsigAnkiya. The grave-
yard used in the late 19th century was on Point
Turner, but this was destroyed when the land sank
during the earthquake of 1899. Some of the bones were
rescued and were reburied in a cemetery which occupies
the old village site. The graves here are grouped ac-
cording to sib, from south to north: Galyix-Kagwantan,
Tl'uknaxAdi, Teqwedi, and Kwac?qwan, probably as
the houses were formerly alined. The dates on inscribed
stones range from 1908 to 1920, although I know some
graves are older. Now the site is overgrown with
bushes. People gather strawberries on the sandy flat
near Point Turner, or collect tern eggs from the edge
of the beach. Seaweed and chitons are found on the
rocky point (where the light is now), and in Port
Mulgrave there are cockles and mussels. No one lives
on Khantaak Island now, except for a White couple
with a mink farm near the north end of the island, but
the whole island has continued to be a source of black
and ribbon seaweed, chitons, cockles, clams, crabs,
blueberries, strawberries, salmonberries, and sweet
hemlock bark (Goldschmidt and Hass, 1946, pp. 76-77).
The reef opposite Point Turner, off the southern end
of Yakutat Roads, is De'angeya, referring to the ships
as big as 'villages' ('an) that used to anchor nearby.
This may be a Tlingit version of what Harrington
recorded as the Eyak name for a point on Khantaak
Island, about 3 miles from Yakutat, which means
'[the little reef] comes out in the middle' (taa aakkiiyyl',
i.e., da'agiyA'). The location suggests Village Shoal at
Port Mulgrave.
One half mile beyond the point mentioned by Har-
rington, the latter indicates another point, called in
Eyak NixAgAtal (niixxAkkAtthaal). On the mainland
opposite is a cove and salt water lake called AAdAcf
(xAttAccf), which may be the cove and lagoon behind
the 'Berry Islands' (see p. 62), although I have been
unable to identify the locality.
Pyramid Point, just north of the village site, between
Port Mulgrave and Rurik Harbor, is GAnaxwanlk or
GanAxwAnik, a place where the people used to gather
"wild rhubarb."
On the western beach of Khantaak Island "ruby-tinted
black sand containing scale gold" was discovered in
1880(?), and created considerable excitement for a few
years, while White men were panning it. However, in
1890 or 1891, thousands of dogfish washed ashore, their
oil saturating the sand so that mercury could not be
used to separate the gold. Then a great wave washed the
beach away. In 1905 someone was still trying to work
the small bit of sandy beach at the southeastern end of
the island (Tarr and Butler, 1909, pp. 165, 167; Scid-
more, 1893, p. 131). Minnie Johnson remembers the
miners, because one of them married a native woman.
I was also told that much of the shore along Point
Munoz had sunk "during the Katmai eruption [1911]."
This end of the island was further submerged in the
earthquake of 1958 and three women picking straw-
berries near Point Turner were drowned.
The large bay on the east, which almost cuts Khan-
taak Island in two, is 'Sea Otter Bay,' Yuxtc geyi
(Harrington: ytjxt6ikkeevyii), because the sea otter
used to shelter in it during storms. The isthmus here
is only 150 yards wide and Harrington's informants
reported that the sea otter used to cross overland by it.
People used to come to the woods around the bay to
collect hemlock bark in the spring, and when one of
my informants was a child, living at Khantaak village,
she and some other children found a shaman's outfit
in a box cached on a big rock in a pond near this bay
(see pp. 699-700).
A White couple, the Schlichtigs, have a home on the
northernmost eastern hook of the island. This is
Tebenkov's Tapor or "Hatchet" Point (Dall and Baker,
1883, p. 209), and it may be the 'Low Water Point'
(len xayi) of Harrington's informants. A camping place
somewhere southwest of the house was called QadAk.
Harrington recorded that this campsite (kaattlk) was
a place of strawberries and tall grass at a little bay on
an island about % mile from the north end of Khantaak
Island (see "Crab Island" below). Another (?) camping
place in the vicinity was called 'Town Inside the Trees,'
'As-kutu-'an, but this name was also given to a place
on the east side of Dolgoi Island (see p. 64). Some-
where on the northeast shore of Khantaak Island,
however, Dixon in 1787 saw native huts (Beresford,
1789, map. opp. p. 170). The northeast point of the
island, known locally as "Strawberry Point," is called
Xanda'Aq or Xanduaq, reported to be an Eyak or
"Aleut" name. The same name was given to "Crab
Island Bay" east of the point. Some confusion results
from the fact that, according to Harrington, the whole
north end of Khantaak Island was called "Crab
64 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Island" by the Whites, and XAntA'Ax (a n Eyak name)
by the natives. Strawberry Point itself was XAntA'Ax
Itfh (X? nose). This Eyak name would appear to have
been the original for "Khantaak."
"Crab Island," the tiny island in front of the Schlich-
tigs' home, at the north end of Johnstone Passage, had
the Eyak name Kolet'a'tlk (Harrington: kutlAttLi'tR,
i.e., gutlAtjA'lK), referring to ducks standing up in
the water and "shaking their wings." As pronounced
by the Tlingit, this name sounds like QAlat'al or
Kutladaqw. The open water between Khantaak Island
and Kriwoi Island on the east is Qiyakw, said to be
Eyak for 'open place' (i.e., giyAg, according to Krauss).20
The same name (Qeyaq) was also given to some spot
on one of the nearby islands.
Johnstono Passage, east of Khantaak Island, was
called GunaqAdBt sidi, "GunaqAdEt's Pass," referring
to an enormous, wealth-bringing water monster that
was once seen here, or at Canoe Pass (Swanton, 1909,
p. 165: GonaqAde't). Informants were uncertain
whether this name applied more properly to Johnstone
Passage or to Canoe Pass, which branches off it from
the east, south of Dolgoi Island.
Canoe Pass was called DlidEsit, 'the channel on
the way to the place behind' (Harrington: Teekkhii-siit
or tuxw tee ssilt, i.e., deki sit or duiwde sit). On the
mainland side of the pass, just above high water, are
two conspicuous rocks that look like crouching figures.
They are called HindE turd yakw cuwa, or Lundak tuni
tEjri. My informants were reluctant to translate these
words, but they refer to a young man who ran his boat
on the rocks in the dark and cracked it while he was
sneaking after his sweetheart. The rocks are said to have
been once farther from the shore (i.e., the land has
recently subsided ?). A rock on the north side of the
pass was once a bear swimming toward the mainland,
but he turned to stone when an adolescent girl passing
in a canoe peeked at him. It is called Daq-'l-'xrwahuwu
xuts, 'To-the-Mainland Was-Swimming Bear.' Harring-
ton's informants called it the 'outward swimming bear'
(taak-'uwwuhhuwwu-xxuus, i.e., dd,k-'uwuhuwu-xiis),
heading for the mainland.
There is said to have been a village on both sides of
Canoe Pass, so huge that ravens trying to fly overhead
would be overcome by smoke from the houses. The
name, 'AgEtl' wuhiwa t'A?iyE(?), is said to refer to a
contest as to who could make the most noise eating
rotten salmon spawn. We found only a small shell-
heap on the island on the north side of the channel.
20
 Although this name is pronounced giyAg in Eyak, it is
almost certainly not of Eyak origin, but ia more probably
Chugach, according to Michael Krauss (letter of December 20,
1966). See also the same name applied to a place on Dolgoi
Island, on the upper Situk River (p. 79), and to Wingham
Island (p. 103).
The lagoon on the north, just west of Dolgoi Island,
is GAxw-'adus-gewiyE,' Black-Ducks They-Netted Place,'
or "Where They Caught Black Ducks (gAxw or gAxw)
With a Net (gew)," because the Russians used to go
fowling here. Harrington renders this as 'Black Duck
Place' (ka&xw 'aatijskeewwe'h, i.e., g&xw 'adire gewe1).
There was once a settlement or camp in the vicinity.
Dolgoi Island, in Russian "Long Island" (Dall and
Baker, 1883, p. 209, n.) had no single native name;
rather there were names for various places on it.
However, Harrington gives Qiyaq (khiiyaak') as the
Eyak name for the whole island, while my informants
restricted Qeyaq (i.e., giyAg according to Krauss)
to a locality on the northeast side, opposite Kriwoi
Island. A small site on the southeast corner, opposite
Gregson Island, may have been the settlement or camp
called 'Village in the Woods,' 'As-kutu-'an, reported
to have been occupied in Russian times. A place on the
west(?) shore is Qiyu-xAdi-'ak. A lake or lagoon on the
island is associated with the clever escape of a Tlingit
hunter from an ambush by a war party of "Aleuts"
(Chugach) led by a Russian. The lake is called WAxXq,
but because the "Aleuts" had hidden their kayaks there
it is also known as "Aleuts' Lake," Got'ex 'ayi.
Gregson and Fitzgerald Islands, the "Sister Islands"
of the Whites, are called 'Ildihyal (heard as dAMal;
Harrington: 'iltritiiyaal), meaning in Eyak that they
are close together. Two Indians, now dead, used to
live on Gregson Island, and later a White man tried to
raise mink and goats on it.
Kriwoi Island, "Crooked Island" in Russian (Dall
and Baker, 1883, p. 209, n.), is known locally as "John
Bremner's Island." Harrington reports that it is called
KAcayani (M:ACCaayyaannii) an "Aleut" name.
The smaller Otmeloi Island, "Shoals Island" in
Russian, is "Hardy Trefzger's Island," known as
'AnihiwAq. Harrington reports that the word ('Annrl-
luwwAk) means 'head island' in Eyak, referring to the
shape of the north end, and that the island is also called
"Head Island" in English. Krauss believes that the
name is probably Chugach, and definitely not Eyak.
Krutoi Island, "Steep Island" in Russian, is the
northernmost in the line of small islands, and is usually
known as "John Ellis' Island," or "Fox Island." It has
an Eyak name, Ko'et (Harrington: Ku'eet, meaning
unknown; Krauss: ku'e'd, 'place of (an absent) some-
thing'), meaning, according to Annie Harry, the print
of a body, as one would make in bed, but here referring
to a depression in the sand, since the island was a
camping place. Yakutat Chief Yaxodaqet, the head of
the Kwaci:qwan sib, sometimes stayed on this island,
and sometimes at the Humpback Salmon Creek on the
mainland opposite. His slaves stayed on the island,
"and every time they see bad weather coming they go
around and tell the people not to go out [in canoes]"
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 65
I was told. This chief, who probably died about
1880 was the second of that name. His grave is sup-
posed to be in the cemetery near the mission. B. A.
Jack (1860-1948) carved a wooden Raven for bis
monument, which was later sold to a museum. Persons
who were born about 1855 are reported to have said
that during their childhood there were no trees on
Krutoi Island. According to tradition, these islands
were bare when the first Kwackqwan came across the
ice from the west side of Yakutat Bay.
The reef running southeast from Krutoi Island is
CAgulq?x. This is said to be a Tlingit name but was
not translated.
If one follows the mainland shore northeastward
after coming through Canoe Pass, the first large bay
south of Gregson Island is Nexqit (Harrington:
neexkhft, Eyak). Redfield Cove, farther north, was
'Atl'at, probably the Eyak V-tFahd for 'head of the
river' (Krauss). A camping place was reported at the
north point. On the chart, a trail is indicated as running
from the cove east to Redfield Lake, one of the many
lakes drained by the Situk River, and the native name
most probably refers to this lake (see p. 79). One
informant, however, insisted that there was no lake in
the locality indicated.
On the mainland shore, two thirds of the distance
from Redfield Cove to Humpback Salmon Creek, there
are two conspicuous white boulders, at about the half-
tide line. These are said to be two old women who were
quarreling with each other when they were turned to
stone by the baleful glance of an adolescent girl. They
are called Wuc-dAqan-tE, 'With-Each-Other Quarreling
Stones.' (Some informants gave this name to the two
rocks on the south side of Canoe Pass.)
The famous Humpback Salmon Creek (lat. 59?39'N.)
is called Kwack hfni; kwacl? being the Eyak word for
'humpback salmon,' and hini the Tlingit word for
'stream of.' A place on the lake which it drains is
called NaxtlaxAk-'akA (see Situk River, p. 79). Al-
though informants disagree as to who were the original
owners of this stream, all concur that it was purchased
by the Ginexqwan immigrants from the Copper River,
who thereby acquired their present name Kwaci:qwan
from the stream. Minnie Johnson remembers stopping
in spring at the stream to get salmon and big cockles.
The latter were 6 inches long and had to be speared
because the tide did not go out far enough to uncover
them.
The area about Eleanor Cove and Knight Island
offers favorite spring camping spots. Here families
go for halibut and for the first salmon, to hunt the
bears emerging from their dens, or simply to take
delight in watching the cubs playing on the bare
slopes of snow or scree, and to enjoy the beauties of the
unfolding spring. Now hemlock and spruce bark are
juicy with delicious sap, and the fresh green stalks of
wild celery are crisp. Herring spawn, seaweed, and sea
urchins may also be gathered. People will stay here
until it is time to move farther up to the sealing camps
in Disenchantment Bay.
The south point of Eleanor Cove is called "Around
the Face," because it is supposed to look like a face.
I transcribed the native name as QayuKotla, but if the
name is Tlingit, this must be incorrect.
Eleanor Cove, locally known as "Chicago Harbor,"
has been called 'Asi?ta ('asyikta?, 'back in among the
trees'?), and Tl'acanaqaU. Harrington renders the second
as Tl'aca niqat (tl'aacaa nikkhaat), referring to a V-
shaped canyon. The head of the cove is L'uxcayi, 'At
the Head of Muddy Water,' from the glacier-fed stream
(1'ux) that enters it (Harrington: tl'uux-caak). Coal
was said to have been found on the slope above.
Harrington also gives the name Kayiy&at for a large
canyon at the head of the cove, and seems to place the
muddy stream (tl'uux) farther north along the shore.
Eleanor Island is LaxAtc, and was also bought by
the ancestors of the Kwackqwan from the original
owners. According to Harrington, the name LAxAt6
(lAxxlt6) is believed to be Aleut, although "the only
time the Aleuts came in here was when they were hunt-
ing sea otters and got caught in a storm and came in
here for the duration of a bad spell of weather."
Knight Island was Q-lnlwXs, an "Aleut" or Eyak
name. (Harrington gives it as gAnAwAs (kAnnAwwAs);
Krauss suggests that it is from the Eyak word gAlAWAs,
'water extends in an indefinite shape,' or 'flows in an
indefinite bed.') A Tlingit name used by only one
informant, Qacayi iat', 'Human Head Island,' probably
applied more properly to Otmeloi Island, since this
would be a translation of what was alleged to be the
Eyak (Chugach?) name (see p. 64). Knight Island
was the first territory acquired by the Copper River
immigrants, who obtained it by purchase after one of
their women, a chief's daughter or sister, had been
prevented by the owners from picking strawberries on
it. At that time it was just a big strawberry patch,
without trees. Informants disagree as to whether the
payment was made by the woman's father (Garyix-
Kagwantan or TlaxayiK-Teqwedi), by her uncle, or by
her brother, although all acknowledge that the
Kwac]?qwan obtained it through this purchase. My
informants were also uncertain as to whether the
original owners had ever had a real village on it, and
as to the period when the first reported permanent
houses on it were built. These last seem to have in-
cluded the Kwackqwan Fort House, and the Teqwedi
Bear House. Certainly the Teqwedi lived here at one
time, for there is a tradition that a blind man of the
TlaxayiK-Teqwedi, who had been left behind when
his relatives went to sealing camp, was abused by a
66 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
party of ThikwaxAdi from Dry Bay (see p. 262).
I was not told, however, whether there was a village
or a camp on Knight Island at that time. When Jack
Ellis (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 76) assigned
Knight Island to the Teqwedi, I believe he was think-
ing of the leading chief of the village or camp, not of
general territorial rights, since these were claimed by
the Kwackqwan. Certainly, up to modern times, the
south shore of the island has been used as a camping
place for hunters going up and down the bay. Here,
for example, in the last century, the older brother of
one of my informants had to camp because his canoe
was overloaded with seals. The land otters tried to
kidnap him, but were defeated through the efforts of
a shaman, his uncle (pp. 716, 753-754). At the present
time, two White men have places on the south side
of the island.
Most informants agreed that the site on the south
shore, 'Old Town,' TlAkw-'an, had been abandoned
before the Russians came, although they also believed
that the name had been given to it by the wealthy
Teqwedi house chief and shaman, Xatgawet, to make
people think it was as high class as the Chilkat village
of Klukwan. (Swanton, 1908, p. 397, renders this as
Laku-an [tlakw-an], 'Renowned Town.') My most
reliable informant, however, insisted that iXatgawet
had nothing to do with Knight Island, and had lived
after the Russians (pp. 246-247). The site, occupied in
both late prehistoric and protohistoric times, has
already been described (de Laguna et al, 1964). Accord-
ing to some, its correct name should be "Raven Falling
Down," Yel 'ada qutciyE(?), because the smoke from
the many houses would overcome any raven attempt-
ing to fly over the town. Others gave this name (Yet
'adAx kAl tciye?) to a reported site a little farther
east on the island.
Knight Island seems to have been Malaspina's
"Isle of Pines" (Isla Pineda or Ma de Pineda), de-
scribed as a fairly high island, heavily wooded, with
grave monuments on the south shore facing east, like
those seen on Ankau Creek (Malaspina, 1885, pp. 164,
340, 346). The island was near the mountainous main-
land where the bottom dropped off sharply, and here
the launches of the Descubierta and Atrevida were
anchored in July, 1791, after having explored as far
north as Haenke Island.
The north end of Knight Island is its 'head,' GAnAWAS
cada; the reef outside the island is GwAtsitta (Harring-
ton : kwAtsilaa).
On the mainland, opposite the southeast point of
Knight Island, the stream that drains the northern
flanks of Mount Tebenkof is simply 'Muddy Water,'
L'ux (Harrington: tl'uux-caak). The mountain north of
this stream has a sandy slope toward the water and is
called 'Sand Mountain,' Tl'ew-ca.
The small island, opposite the middle of Knight Is-
land and close to the mainland shore, is Nukw, 'Little
Fort' (see de Laguna et al, 1964, p. 22). On Little Fort
Island (as we have named it), we found the remains of
stone defences, reportedly built by the Teqwedi as pro-
tection against the "Aleuts." The island would have
been easier to defend before it was elevated 12% feet in
the earthquake of 1899, which exposed a landing beach.
Eggs of a sardinelike fish, 'Thunderbird fish' (xetl
xadi), were obtained from under the rocks along the
mainland shore between Little Fort Island and the
north end of Knight Island. One family from Yakutat
used to camp regularly each March on the mainland
point just above Little Fort Island before going farther
up the bay to sealing camp. Here they used dip nets
to catch smelt(?) that came right up to the shore. This
camp was on the beach raised by the earthquake.
According to Harrington the canyon that comes down
opposite the north end of Knight Island was Hasdanigag
(haastannikak). A deep canyon with a small river in it
(apparently the same one?) he variously transcribes as
Kox-gik, or Gagfk, or as Gagil naxgi-t6 (kaakf-k or
kaakil naaxki-t6). I was told that there had been an
"Aleut" camp, Goxqik(?), at the mouth of the stream
across from the north point of Knight Island, but the
inhabitants were all killed off by the Kwacl:qwan.
"The name GwAxgEkw is Aleut [Eyak?] for 'mountain
stream.' Sea gulls used to lay their eggs there. There
was no grass. Quite a few families settled in there. . . .
It's right across from Knight Island. A stream comes
out. It used to be shacks all the way down there on a
sandspit. Now it's all trees. I think that the name is
Aleut because I never heard that gEkw business in
Tlingit. In our language it would be 'mountain creek.'
They have a war at that time, and some of the bunch
. . . made some kind of protection?I don't know
what. I didn't see anything there. . . . They just try
to beat one another there for eggs." (Minnie Johnson)
The informant knew no details about the war.
Roosevelt Creek is the larger stream just north of
Mount Hoorts (i.e., xuts, 'brown bear'). The creek,
"the biggest canyon of all," was called GiyAxAq
(ki-yAkik caat or KiiyAMk or Ki-yAXAk) according to
Harrington. The big sand and gravel bluffs north of
this are Tl'ew-ca-tlen, "Big Sand Mountain.' Harring-
ton records the same name but assigns it to Logan
Bluff, see below, indicating that the widest rock slide
near Roosevelt Creek is Ta-k-wucixihyAh. The point
beyond this is 'Low Tide Point,' Len xayi, because so
many boulders are exposed at low tide. The stream
just north of the bluff, (below Mount Hendrickson ?),
is 'Agwag ('aakwaak) which Harrington was told was
a Tlingit, an Eyak, or an Aleut name by different
informants. Beyond this again was another rock slide.
All this long sandy stretch, from Roosevelt Creek to
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 67
the last stream south of Point Latouche, is Logan
Beach, "Logging Bluff," where the waves beating
against the bluffs wash down small amounts of gold-
bearing sands. These were being worked by three pros-
pectors in 1905, but offered bare wages (Tarr and
Bulter, 1909, p. 166). My informants did not mention
the miners or the gold, although Minnie Johnson
remembered stopping here as a child to get edible
hemlock bark when the family was moving up the bay
to sealing camp.
The last stream south of Point Latouche, described
to Harrington as a short canyon with trees in it, was
called Tl'e-tshu-t (tl'eettshuut) by his informants. At
the north bank of this stream and at the north end of
Logan Beach, was the site of the old sealing camp,
Tlaxata (or La'xa'ta), used before the natives had
rifles, when floating ice in Disenchantment Bay rendered
camping dangerous above Point Latouche. The old
campsite was back in the woods, on the flat between the
stream and the rocky slope. Several now middle-aged
and elderly persons report that the shift from this camp
to sites above Point Latouche was made when they
were small children (i.e., about 1880-85?), yet their
accounts are not consistent. Furthermore, according to
historical traditions, it was early in the 19th century
that the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi were massacred at a camp
above Point Latouche (pp. 264, 270). Perhaps there
were periods or seasons in the middle of the last century
when the campsite of Tlaxata was the northernmost
point that could be reached safely.
Malaspina certainly found the natives camped here
in July, 1791 (1885, pp. 162-164). The site as he
described it faced south and was protected from
northern winds, although the shore was exposed to
heavy surf. On July 1, the young Indian chief guided
Malaspina's boats north of Point Latouche to a gravelly
beach at the foot of a gully between two fairly tall
mountains, where there was a flat with pleasant vegeta-
tion, a spot corresponding to the later campsites visited
by the Harriman Alaska Expedition in 1899. Malaspina
found the water rilled with floating ice and, as is well
known, was blocked by an ice barrier at Haenke Island.
It may be significant that his guide insisted on returning
to his camp below the point before night.
Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord
Point Latouche, 'Ana'dfyac ('Ana'diyac), said to be
an "Aleut" name, is rendered in Tlingit as 'matEyac,
"in front of the stone platform." Harrington's Eyak
informant (George Johnson) pronounced it as
'uunnaaddiiyaac or 'uunnAttAyyAhc, meaning in Eyak
'[Old Raven] has his young ones in here,' referring to
some wave-cut caves at the point. Krauss suggests that
it may be the Eyak 'u-nahd 'idAyahc, 'month when
(animals) bear young.' It is a conspicuous and important
landmark. It was, in fact, cited by an informant as an
example of something always noticed. On rounding it,
one enters Disenchantment Bay, leaving behind the
ocean swells and the forests, to come face to face with
the magnificent panorama of snowy peaks and glaciers
that make the 'heart' ('Ate%) of Yakutat Bay so
beautiful to all who see it. Here are rocky slopes, bare
except for scrubby alders, willows, and wild flowers,
inviting to the hunter of ptarmigan, bear, and mountain
goat. The only trees are a few cottonwoods or balsam
poplars. The waters are filled with floating ice on
which the seals he, sometimes whole families in rows of
up to six or seven on a single cake. One evening in late
July, 1952, there were seals stretched out on the ice
all over the bay as far as we could see. The water was
faintly phosphorescent, due to tiny shrimps, according
to my informants.
The glare from the water and ice is very strong, so
that women and children in the old days used to smear
their faces with dark paint to prevent sunburn. Men
were supposed to put charcoal rings around then1 eyes
when they passed Point Latouche, (undoubtedly to
protect them from the glare), although an informant
said it was to prevent rain (p. 806).
Although Point Latouche itself is bare of trees, yet
there is supposed to be still standing the old dead
trunk on which the Tl'uknaxAdi scout spied upon
the sealing camp farther north (p. 263). Our Indian
friends and ourselves looked for it in vain.
Between Point Latouche and Haenke Island are
four flats at the mouths of streams where sealing camps
were established. They are here described from south
to north.
(1) Qegdtleya' (Harrington: khe'-ku-le-ylh), said
(erroneously?) to mean 'burned up' in Eyak.21 This
flat extends between two streams, the mouths of
which are close together. Behind this is a cliff or rock
slide called 'Mountain Goat's Fort' (DJINUWU nuwu),
where the father of one of my friends nearly fell when
hunting black bear.
(2) The next camp is WuganiyE (Harrington:
wiiukaaniyeh), meaning 'burned up' in Tlingit. This
was where the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi had a fortified camp,
surrounded by stonewalls with loopholes for guns. It
21
 Dr. Michael E. Krauss informs me that this word does not
mean 'burned up' inEyak, unless the original form was qi'qu'
lAyah/Uya-' meaning 'place where plural things are put on the
fire,' although this is not a form which he has encountered in
Cordova Eyak. He suggests that the name might be derived
from a garbled kuxu-nJayAh, '(something's) tooth/teeth.'
68 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
was probably on the rocky dome in the middle of the
valley. The defenders were all killed by the Tl'uknaxAdi
from Akwe River and Dry Bay. The baby brother of
Minnie Johnson died and was cremated here, about
the time of the Harriman Alaska Expedition.
(3) Calahonda Creek was 'Big Valley,' CanAX tlen.
The camp of that name was close under the hills at the
north side.
(4) North of this was 'Narrow Valley,' CanAx kusa
(Harrington: c&annAx kussl).
Most informants said that there were only three
main camps in this area, that is, at the first of these
localities. The whole beach was said to be called
Qeg6tleya', the first camp was WuganiyE; then came
a small camping place on the "gravel between two
[main] camps," 'iyawa kAt SA tAna (SA is 'glacial mud');
the second main camp was at 'Narrow Valley'; and
last was the camping place at the mouth of Calahonda
Creek. This would leave the stream north of the last
without a name. Harrington was also told that the
double canyon just above Point Latouche was called
Xe-khuusAyA. (The first camp would have been be-
tween the mouths of these streams.)
At these various camps the people used to gather in
June and July, setting up bark huts, canvas tents and
smokehouses. The men hunted seals, and sometimes
bears and ptarmigan. The women flenaed the seals,
dried the meat, rendered the fat, and stretched the
skins. At this time of year seagull eggs were gathered
at various places in Disenchantment Bay. At low tide,
seaweed, mussels and chitons could be obtained, and
wild celery grew near a pond behind the gravel beach
(Minnie Johnson).
The Harriman Alaska Expedition visited these camps
in mid-June, 1899 (pis. 72-80). Grinnell (1901, pp.
158-165) and other members of the party have left
descriptions of the camps and of the methods of hunting
and preparing the seal oil and skins. As Burroughs
(1901, p. 60) observes, while the natives are here, and
later at the summer fish camps, the village of Yakutat
is nearly deserted. "The encampment we visited," he
reports, "was upon the beach of a broad gravelly delta
flanked by high mountains. It was redolent of seal
oil." Grinnell (1901, p. 158) specified "three camps of
Indians all engaged in the hair seal fishery. The three
camps were thought to represent Indians from different
localities, Juneau, Yakutat, and Sitka." When at
Yakutat he had been told that Indians from as far away
as Sitka came to Disenchantment Bay for seals. How-
ever, I think it more likely that the camps represented
sib groups than village groups. "They were camped on
the gravelly beach, just above high water, and for the
most part occupied ordinary canvas wall-tents, though
some few lived in the square bark-covered shelters
which in ancient times were their summer homes."
He estimated that about 300-400 people were camped
here (p. 161).
"For many generations this has been a sealing
ground for the Indians, and in some places the beach
is white with weathered bones and fragments of
bones that represent the seal catches of many years.
The surroundings are not attractive, for the place
resembles a slaughter-house. The stones of the beach
are shiny with grease; seal carcasses and fragments
of carcasses are spread along the shore, and there is
an all-pervading odor of seal and seal oil. The place
is a busy one. Back of the beach is a lagoon of fresh
water, from which the Indians get their drinking
water, in which the children wade about, sailing
their canoes, and in which the mothers bathe their
babies" [Grinnell, 1901, p. 165].
According to C. Hart Merriam, a copy of whose
field notes was given to me by Dr. Robert Heizer,
University of California, Berkeley, the main camp
visited by the expedition was occupied by about 150-
200 Indians. "There are probably at least 600 skins in
this village of seals killed during the past two weeks
[June 8-22]. And there are two other, somewhat
smaller villages a little farther up the coast?say %
mile and one mile away, where many more seal skins
are drying."
Haenke Island, close to the eastern shore of the
bay above these camps is locally known as "Egg Island"
a literal translation of its Tlingit name, KwAt' ^afi
(Harrington: kwAii xaatfii). It is still a favorite place
for gathering seagull eggs hi early June from nests on
the cliff along the south side. The latter is called
DA? tlen ('big place behind'?), or "Big Cliff." Below
this is a gravel beach, now a much frequented camping
place. When Minnie Johnson was a small child in the
1880's, her family used to come here to get eggs. At
that time, before the earthquake had elevated the
whole island 17-18% feet, there was no gravel flat
on the south shore and no large point at the southeast
end of the island, only a small rocky point called
'AdAx, ('AdAi?). As she observed, after we had picknicked
on the gravel beach, June 11, 1952, "Egg Island has
changed, too. There wasn't no such thing as that rock
point. That side where we built a fire seemed to be
raised up. That's terrible! That's just a small rock
point there [before]. In olden days they don't let the
women go up on the mountain . . . just the men.
The women might have an accident. . . . They never
let the women climb for eggs." While the men and boys
were scaling the rocky ledges, the women were supposed
to remain at the small point. On the occasion of our
visit with a large party, however, a number of the
younger women and girls also climbed up the cliff.
"In my grandma's time, my mother told me, an Aleut
climbed the cliff on Egg Island for eggs. He fell down
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 69
and smashed all to pieces." (MJ) Several other persons
on the excursion mentioned this accident.
The bight on the mainland just northeast of Haenke
Island is sometimes used as a sealing camp when the
ice is not too heavy. This is called Xa tien tciye,
referring to the 'Big Point,' ?a tien. It was perhaps
late in the 19th century before this site could be used,
for Minnie Johnson declared that before her father's
death in 1888, the ice prevented camping above
Haenke Island. In 1895(?) her stepfather took a party,
including her baby sister (born 1893), to camp here.
During the night they were nearly drowned by a
wave from a calving iceberg which swept over them.
She also remembered how, despite parental prohibition,
the children used to jump on the cakes of floating ice.
"We dance and move back and forth and think it's
lots of fun. . . . They were afraid the ice might
break in two and we would slide in between."
Kwaclqwan territory included Haenke Island and as
much of Disenchantment Bay as could be reached by
seal hunters (see pis. 18-19).
Above Haenke Island, 'at the head' of Disenchant-
ment Bay, 'upstream' (naki), one sees the full extent
of the glaciers. Turner Glacier, formerly Dalton or
First Glacier, is on the right, opposite the upper end
of Haenke Island. It is called by some 'Narrow Glacier'
(sit kusa). Harrington recorded 'ixtee'aa-ssit, 'the
lower glacier,' as its correct name. The huge Hubbard
Glacier, Second Glacier (Harrington: tlxxaa-ssif), that
thrusts its 'nose' (sit; lutu) into the elbow bend at the
junction of Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fiord, is
usually known simply as the 'Big Glacier,' (sit tlen).
The bay at its west end is Weyna ta, named for the white
clay (weyna; Harrington: weenaa), that is found here.
This is "something that grows on the rocks. They use
it for paint," Harrington was told. The name of the bay
is literally 'gypsum-inside-place' (Harrington: w6enna-
atthAh).
Several informants told me that this substance was
never taken: "Long ago if you touch it, it gets foggy
for days and days." The same taboo applied to other
rare minerals or rocks found in this area. One man
told of being stuck for 2 days with several hunting
companions on the western side of Disenchantment
Bay by the north wind, which apparently packed the
ice against the shore. They had no food, and to make a
place to sleep had to spread sand over the ice. Finally
they made their way down to Esker Creek, thence back
across the bay, and up to the camp above Point
Latouche.
People used to gather sea gull eggs from the eastern,
moraine-covered part of Hubbard Glacier, 'Black
Glacier,' Sit tutc. This nesting place was called 'Eggs'
Town,' K>At-'ani. All the natives on the boat which
took us up the bay in July 1952, agreed that Hubbard
Glacier had advanced in recent years, and it was clear
that the front extended farther into the bay than on
the chart (U.S. C. & G.S., chart #8455, 6th ed., 1945).
They reported that they no longer dared to camp on
Osier Island because of the danger of waves from
calving bergs. This island, on the point between Dis-
enchantment Bay and Russell Fiord, is called 'Little
Egg Island' KwAt &ati feAtsktx (Harrington, xaat
kutsku, 'small island'). There is said to be coal on the
hillside above it. My informant who had been here
before the earthquake reported that there was formerly
deep water behind the island, where there is now a bar.
Rounding Osier Island, we come into Russell Fiord.
In this stretch there are a few young cottonwoods or
balsam poplars, and willows full of ptarmigan, but
my guide, born 1914, remembered when it was treeless.
The long, low, terraced mountain ridge that stretched
along the northwestern side of Russell and Nunatak
Fiords is his "favorite mountain." He confirmed Tarr's
observations (see p. 36) that he had almost never seen
a bear here, although they live on the south and west
side of the fiords.
There is a camping spot on the west side of Russell
Fiord on the gravel flat behind Marble Point. This is
called Nei xayi (Harrington: niix xaayyii), 'White
Quartz Point,' because of this rock which also occurs
in the vicinity.
The cliff on the northwest side of Cape Enchantment
is 'GunaqAdEt's Cuff' (gtmaqAdEt gel'i; Harrington:
kunnaakhAtteet kitti'n).
Opposite Cape Enchantment, Nunatak Fiord
stretches to the east, and as one goes up it, the water
becomes progressively more murky with silt. The
vegetation dwindles to mosses, and finally the sides are
nothing but bare rocks and gray rubble, for the glacier
has left them too recently for life to have yet found a
foothold. One man estimated that Nunatak Glacier
had retreated 3 miles between 1950 and 1952; another
remembered that in 1915 it had jutted out "around
the corner" of the nunatak, between its seaward and
its landward arms. Harrington in 1940 received similar
information.
Nunatak Glacier, Third Glacier (Harrington:
nAski'aa ssft), is also known as 'Ate? sit ('glacier at its
heart' ?), probably the same as Harrington's 'way back
small glacier' (Atte'ek-'aa-ssitt:). It is also called
'Narrow Glacier' (sit kusa) or 'Tiny Glacier' (sit
kAtsKux), but my informants disagreed as to what was
the correct name. Harrington was told that it was a
'female glacier' (cute sit') (p. 818). One of my informants
said that when the original inhabitants of Yakutat sold
all their lands, they went to southeastern Alaska
(Chilkat area), by an overland route, going inland from
sft kusa, which she placed with some uncertainty in
Nunatak Fiord. It should be remembered that Nunatak,
70 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Hidden and Fourth Glacier near the head of Kussell
Fiord are all arms of the great "through glacier" which
stretches southeast to the Alsek River, and were all
highways for travel into the interior. The native
descriptive names, 'narrow glacier' and 'way-back
glacier' seem to have been applied to both Nunatak and
Fourth Glacier (see below).
Off the point between Nunatak Fiord and the south-
ern part of Russell Fiord there was formerly a small
island, or low point, used as a camping place. It was
called Gel' xatfAlu (Harrington: kitl'xaat'AkJhiu).
The most striking peak (2,780 feet high) of the Mount
Draper Range on the south side of Nunatak Fiord is
known as 'Dollar or Silver Mountain,' Dana ca or
DAna ca (Harrington: taanaa-caa 'silver mountain'),
from the silvery shine of the wet rocks on its flanks
which can be seen from a great distance. The many
springs or trickles of water from melting patches of
snow are said to make the shining rocks very slippery.
Minnie Johnson remembers that her father used to peel
mica from the rocks.
There are bird cliffs on the southside of Nunatak
Fiord, just north of Mount Draper. These are called
'Cormorants' Cliffs' Yuqw gel'i, from the many birds
that nest on their ledges. There is said to be a lake on
top of the hill above the cliffs, where soapberries may be
found. Mountain goats are hunted on both sides of the
fiord.
Turning south up Russell Fiord, we pass the moraine-
filled valley of Hidden Glacier, where the ice has
melted back since the chart was drawn. This bay is
sometimes called 'Mud Bay' (see below). The area is a
good one in which to hunt mountain goats.
Harrington recorded the name 'Mouldy' (khAtlhaax)
for a bench where mountain goats were hunted, so
called because the face of the mountain was said to
look as if it were mouldy (decaying?).
South of Hidden Glacier and opposite Mount
Tebenkof, is a point off the end of which is a tiny island
(not shown on U.S. C. and G.S. Chart #8402). The
island is called 'Seals' Rock,' tsa 'itci (Harrington:
tshaa-ttheeyyii or tshaa-'ittjii), because seals used to
bask on it before it became covered with bushes.
Jack Ellis in 1940 spoke to Harrington of a "big
catastrophy" connected with the shores of Russel
Fiord 'behind Seal Rock' (tshaa-'iittcii t'aak), which
occurred when "four lakes became three." This would
have been when the ice barrier across Russell Fiord
broke.
Fourth Glacier, far up Beasley Creek, has apparently
melted back one or two miles since the chart was made.
It was referred to as 'Narrow Glacier' (sftf kusa) by one
informant; another used the term sit qusAnayi, possibly
referring to the place where the glacier had once been.
Harrington also heard it called 'narrow glacier' and
'head of the bay, or way-back glacier' ('Atteek-'aa-sit')
Cape Stoss, opposite the mouth of Beasley Creek, is
LAqAqal or LaguqAl, which I was told was an Eyak word
meaning "it's got the glacier in its mouth," as one
might say of a dog with a bone.22 Harrington recorded
IX' kohkkhooi, 'where (two mountains) bit the glacier.'
This is because Fourth Glacier once extended all the
way across, making the head of Russell Fiord a fresh-
water lake. At that time, hazarded Harry K. Bremner,
all the glaciers on the east side of the fiord also extended
across it. Indeed, as we know (pp. 27-28), probably
all of Russell Fiord north of Cape Stoss, Nunatak
Fiord, and Disenchantment Bay were filled with ice
until relatively recently. At that time the Russel Fiord
Lake drained out through the east branch of the Situk
River. The ice barrier broke when my informant's
father was a young man (about 1855-60?).
"Mud Bay," or the expanded head of Russell Fiord
is called literally 'bay of mud' (kaixkw geyi; Harring-
ton: kutl'kA-keeyyli), or 'this was the head of Situk'
(sitAk CAt 'ayE). The former outlet of the Situk River
is SitAk ta, 'iti, "the Situk used to be there." There
were formerly many seals on the small island opposite
its mouth. A stream south of Beasley Creek on the east
side of Mud Bay is called WAt lAxel, and a stream south
of that was QudEnixl qAnik hini. Most of these names
are said to be Eyak, although they cannot be recognized
as such and seem to have been given a Tlingit form.
The second cove below Cape Stoss is "slough below the
point" (probably lu-yik-'e?, 'nose inside slough').
The 3,000-foot peak between Fourth Glacier and
Russell Fiord, south of Mount Pinta and north of
Beasley Creek, is 'Mountain at the Head of Situk'
(SitAk cak). This was where the Teqwedi used to hunt
mountain goats.
It should be noted that in coming to the head of
Russell Fiord we have entered the territory of the
Teqwedi, whose main settlements were on the Situk
and Ahrnklin Rivers to the south. Presumably Russel]
Fiord north of Cape Stoss, Nunatak Fiord, and Disen-
chantment Bay above Haenke Island were not claimed
by any sib, because they had been until so recently
blocked by ice. Thus, while several well-informed
Yakutat natives reported going into these areas to
hunt and to gather eggs, they added, "There is no
special ownership up there" (Jack Ellis, Sam George,
etc., to Goldschmidt and Hass, 1946, p. 75).
There is said to be a run of humpback salmon in
Russell Fiord every even-numbered year. This perhaps
indicates something of the length of time taken to
22
 Dr. Michael Krauss advises that la'cU.qAqa-1 would be
the correct Eyak form for 'is biting a glacier.' In the name
recorded the dA- is missing, the mark of a d-class noun like
la' 'glacier.'
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 71
establish a run when new spawning grounds become
available, since there could have been no salmon
entering the fiord from Yakutat Bay while the ice
barrier was present. After it broke, the Situk Eiver no
longer drained the head of the fiord, so they could not
enter from this direction.
John Ellis, who pointed out and named most of the
landmarks during a trip to the head of Russell Fiord
in July, 1952, said that there were as many place
names for localities in Russell Fiord as in Yakutat Bay,
but that he did not know them as well. Harrington
made the same trip in 1940 with John Ellis and the
latter's father, Jack Ellis, as guides, and later checked
over the foreign names with George Johnson.
YAKUTAT BAY TO DRY BAY
So far, our trip up Yakutat Bay has to some extent
followed the movements of the people from their
winter homes at Yakutat to the spring and early
summer camps. In former days the winter villages, as
well as the mid-summer and fall fishing camps, were
on the sheltered waters southeast of Yakutat. Com-
mercial fishing during the summer is now done off the
mouths of the larger streams draining the coastal
plain between Dry Bay and Yakutat Bay (and even
farther away), but in autumn, when the season is
over, a number of families still go inside the sloughs
or lagoons to put up fish for their own winter use.
Fall and winter hunting and trapping camps were
usually located up the streams near the mountains;
others were closer to the shore in order to hunt seals
on the sandbars. From mid-summer to fall, berries
were gathered and edible roots were dug on the flats.
Families without children in school may stay on into
the winter to hunt, or return in early spring. In the
older days, the eulachon runs in February and March
were particularly important. Before the present school
was opened in Yakutat there must have been much
more coming and going, or residence at the "winter
camps.
Between Yakutat and Dry Bay, a distance of 52
statute miles (45 nautical miles), the coastal plain is
divided into sections from the mountains to the sea.
These belong to the different sibs. Thus, the Ankau
lagoon system within Phipps Peninsula and the lakes
to the southeast that drain into it belong to the
Kwackqwan. The eastern boundary of their territory
actually runs from the Number Two Runway of the
airfield northeast to Cape Stoss, and includes the
northernmost tributary to the Situk River and a small
bit along the western edge of Mud Bay. Lost River and
Situk River, 11 and 14 miles east of Ocean Cape,
belong to the Bear House branch of the Teqwedi;
Ahrnklin, Dangerous, and Italio Rivers, 17, 24, and 27
miles east of Ocean Cape, belong to the Drum House
branch of that sib. The Akwe-TJstay River, some
miles from Ocean Cape, as well as the Dry Bay area,
belong to the Tl'irkna^Adi and the allied ThikwaxAdi.
In going southeastward towards Dry Bay, the coastal
plain between the mountains and the sea narrows pro-
gressively from 17 to about 5 miles in width. The
mountains are the Brabazon Range, 4,000-6,000 feet
high, and lie in front of the great "through glacier"
between Russell Fiord and the Alsek River, behind
which, in turn, rises the main ridge of the Saint Elias
Range. From this inland sea of ice, as well as from the
flanks of the Brabazon Range itself, numerous glacial
tongues protrude, the most conspicuous of which is
the Yakutat Glacier, some 3 miles wide and about 34%
miles east of Yakutat Bay. Still farther east, the
Chamberlain and Rodman Glaciers feed the Akwe
and Ustay Rivers.
According to the Coast Pilot 9 (1955, p. 85):
"A canoe can be taken from Dry Bay to Yakutat
Bay at high water, but there are several portages
and the route is impracticable for a boat of any size.
The principal rivers between Dry Bay and Yakutat
Bay have shifting bars at their entrances and
lagoons or tidal basins inside; they can be used
only by small boats or launches at high water and
with a smooth sea."
The natives often traveled between Yakutat and
Dry Bay, paddling or poling their canoes along this
chain of sloughs and streams or, in winter, tramped
along the frozen courses with snowshoes, dragging their
belongings on hand sleds or carrying packs, the women
with babies on their backs or in their arms. The clearest
description of the route is that given by Commander
Moser (1901, pp. 382-388), based upon reports by
"Lieutenant Rodman and Mr. Chamberlain [who],
with Indian guides and canoes, from July 1 to 6 [1901],
made a trip from Yakutat Bay to the Alsek." That
same summer, Ensign Miller, with Indian guides, made
the portage from the head of Russell Fiord to the
headwaters of the Situk River, descended this to its
mouth, and returned to Yakutat via the Ankau lagoon
72 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
MAP 9.?? Yakutat Bay to the Alsek River. "The dotted area is the coastal plain; the larger glaciers are shown by the broken lines, with
moraines dotted, while the little cliff-glaciers are represented by the black." (Blackwelder, 1907 b, p. 417.)
and lake system. Charley White remembered taking
Lieutenant Emmons via this last route. Of the trip
from Yakutat to Dry Bay, Moser (1901, p. 388)
concludes:
There are no villages or permanent habitations
between Yakutat and Dry Bay, and the journey,
even in summer, with a light two-man canoe is not
an easy one and is accompanied by some risk. The
plain between Yakutat and the Alsek, and bordering
the mountain system to the sea, is for the most part
wooded with spruce, hemlock, alder, and cottonwood,
with a smaller growth of willows and elder, accom-
panied by the usual berry bushes, devil club, etc.
From Black Sand Island [at the mouth of the Situk]
to the mouth of the Italio there is an extensive
treeless sand plain reaching several miles back from
the coast line. This plain is cut up by small, shallow,
spreading streams, having little or no current, with
some shallow ponds, and a portion of it has a scant
growth of grass and weeds. In very dry weather
sand storms occur, and it is said they are at times
dangerous."
In 1888 Topham (1889 a, p. 425) "met a miner who
had made the journey by himself [from Dry Bay to
Yakutat by canoe] in 4K days." In 1890 Glave and
Dalton with an Indian guide came from Dry Bay to
Yakutat in 3 days (see p. 204). In August 1886, Frederick
Schwatka went by canoe with a party of Indians
from Yakutat Bay via the Ankau system to the mouth
of the Situk or Ahrnklin River, as reported in the
New York Times, October 26 (p. 2), 1886.
The timber, as far as I could determine from the
air and from trips to Situk and Lost Rivers, is con-
fined to sand ridges parallel to the beach, at least as
far as Situk River, while the eastern shore of Yakutat
Bay is heavily wooded. Here the trees grow on the
moraine of the Yakutat Bay Glacier. This moraine
extends westward from Ocean Cape about 3 miles,
or 2 miles east from the town of Yakutat. The forest
ends abruptly, as if cut off by a knife, midway along
the road from Yakutat to the airfield, except for
stands along the old beach ridges, and for a few tongues
of trees on higher ground bordering Lost and Situk
Rivers. Much of the last obviously represents new
growth, and the natives remark on how the trees
are encroaching upon their former berrying grounds.
Some trees have certainly sprung up on the treeless
stretch since it was traversed by Lieutenant Rodman
in 1901, perhaps spreading down from the foothills
at the headwaters of the streams. This open plain
formed the major portion of Teqwedi sib territory,
whereas Kwaclkqwan lands farther west were within
or close to the forest. The following sections describe
these sib areas in more detail.
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 73
Mont, B - y - ^ f ^ . . ? . ' : . - i - V y - f * \ ^ . # . ' i . ^
8 U B SKETCH
FROM
MONTI BAY TO BLACK SAND ISLAND.
MAP 10.?Monti Bay to Black Sand Island. (Subsketch from Moser, 1901, p. XLIII.)
The Ankau Lagoon System
"The Ankau," Yakwdatyik (Harrington, yaakwtaat-
yik) lies within Phipps Peninsula southwest of Yakutat,
between Monti Bay and the ocean. This is a maze of
shallow tidal lagoons, separated from the Pacific by a
narrow barrier beach and glacial moranine, and is
studded with small islands and rocks. Its mouth is
Ankau Creek; its upper or southeastern end is "Salt
Lake" or "Russian Lake," into which flows Tawah
(t'awal) Creek, draining "Rocky," "Aka," and "Sum-
mit Lakes" to the southeast. The last lake, just east of
the Coast Guard Loran Station, also drains in the op-
posite direction, i.e., southeastward, into Lost River,
by a stream called "Tawah Creek" on the U.S. C. &
G.C., chart #8402, "Ancau Creek" on the U.S.G.S.
topographic map, and "An-kau River" by Moser (1901,
pi. XLIII, pp. 383-384). This whole route was formerly
navigable at high tide, but I doubt that it would now be
possible to take a canoe through, since the upper
reaches of the streams and Summit Lake seem to be
silted up or blocked by vegetation. Where the roads
cross the streams the latter run in culverts. Orphir
("Over") Creek, which rises on the swampy ground just
east of Yakutat, flows into Summit Lake.
During World War II a military road was built that
ran south from near the airfield to the beach, followed
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 7
northwestward along the shore, turned north at Ocean
Cape, and finally completed the circuit by returning
eastward to Yakutat by a bridge across Ankau Creek.
This bridge is now fallen, and the western part of the
road along the ocean has been made impassable by
storm waves which have washed parts of it away or
thrown huge piles of driftwood on it. Most of the maze
of roads around the airfield have also been abandoned,
but the section from the main road to the Loran Station
is kept in repair. In 1952 we were able to drive north-
westward along the shore to Ocean Cape, and in the
other direction to the fish camp at the mouth of Lost
River. A few natives at Yakutat own cars and trucks.
The Ankau area is important because it was on the
innermost lagoon that the post of "New Russia" was
established in 1796. One reason for its destruction by
the natives in 1805 was that the Russians denied the
Indians access to their traditional fishing grounds in
this region. Unfortunately, military regulations during
World War II also kept them out. From 1902 until
1925, when Federal law closed the Ankau to commer-
cial fishing, this area supplied the saltery and later
the cannery, but even by 1913 the runs of reds and
cohoes had been seriously depleted (Rich and Bell,
1935, p. 447). However, enough salmon still come to
the Ankau to make this a place where the natives go
in the fall to put up fish for their own needs. The
lagoons and lakes are visited annually by thousands of
74 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
migratory waterfowl, and many breed here.
If one enters the lagoons through Ankau Creek, one
can continue westward to the shallow tidal ponds
behind Ocean Cape, or turn southward to "Eussian
Lake." The first course is taken by women who want
to gather seaweed on the boulder-strewn shores of
the cape, or who are looking for cockles in the lagoon.
North of Ocean Cape is the wreck of the Kayak, a
ship that went ashore here in the 1920's. The lagoon
inside is marked by a prominent boulder, and is called,
'Lake Where the Rock Sticks Up/ 'AnXx tB nacuwuwE.
The lagoon south of this, and east of the cape is appro-
priately called "Inside Your Little Ear," (qa-gukwk"r-yik
'inside of someone's little ear').
The largest lagoon is "Russian Lake," Gus-&Ayi-
qwan 'ayi, literally 'clouds outside-of people lake-of.'
It is also known as "Ankau Lake," and as 'Salt Lake'
(in Tlingit, 'el' 'ayi). It is entered from the north
when coming from Ankau Creek by a narrow tidal
channel just east of a small island. Rapids ('iy) form
here except at high water, which make passage difficult
or impossible at other stages of the tide. Just north or
outside of these rapids lives a lone White man, Bill
Hall, at the site of an abandoned saltery. His place is
called 'This Side of the Rapids' ('iyuqtagi; perhaps
'iyux tayi, 'rapids-outside ground-of). The rapids in
the smaller channel on the far (west) side of the little
island are called wAnkA 'iy, 'Along-side Rapids.'
Schwatka tells about running the rapids on a rising
tide when entering "Russian Lake" from Ankau Creek.
"These cascades fall about 20 feet in [a] 40 to 50 feet
run," down which the Indians shot their medium-sized
hunting canoe at full speed, paddling hard to give the
helmsman steerage way. From here their route wound
left to the mouth of T'awai Creek, through shallow
channels.
The Russians had their fortified agricultural colony,
Novo Rossiysk ("New Russia"), on the ocean side of
Salt Lake, reportedly at a narrow place on the isthmus
between the ocean beach and the lagoon. This does not
seem like a suitable place for such an establishment,
but the ocean waves may well have eaten away some
of the land, since the bank above the beach is undercut.
Unfortunately, the survey upon which Tebenkov's chart
is based is not sufficiently accurate to show the exact
location of the fort, although this is placed in the gen-
eral region indicated by informants. According to
Minnie Johnson, who accompanied us to the place, the
Russian fort was on the southeast side of a small stream
that ran beside the cabin and smokehouse belonging to
William Milton (1888-1950). The latter is said to have
found charcoal when digging the foundations of his
cabin. Although we explored around the cabin and in
the vicinity we could find no evidence of the fort, even
though a depression 25 feet square, southeast of the
cabin, suggested a house pit. My informant was sure
of the site because the Indians used to land here when
coming from Ankau Creek, and would store their gear
in a log cabin which her father told her was where the
fort had been. "My grandpa used to pack me in the
log cabin the Indians had where the Russians used to
be. They used it to store things in when they were
going to walk along the ocean beach." (MJ) She did
not believe that the fort had been on the hill northwest
of this spot, although that location seemed better and
had been designated as the site by another informant.
It was generally agreed that the Russian fort
was "supposed to be by William Milton's smokehouse"
(map 26, p. 168). The site was called 'Russians' Town,'
Gus-kAyi-qwan-'ani (Harrington, ]ktrtskii-khwaan 'aan-
nii, or 'Anntiuccii nuuwwuu 'Russians' Fort'). Dall and
Baker (1883, p. 207) report that "the settlement con-
tained seven buildings defended by a stockade, and
five others outside. Even the site has not been seen by
white men for half a century."
Just northwest of Milton's smokehouse, the cove in
the lagoon is called 'Cows' Bay,' Xas geyi (Harrington,
xaas keeyyii), because the Russians kept cattle there.
One woman said she had found a Russian glass pitcher
and liquor bottle in her garden on the point west of the
reputed site of the fort.
An island northeast of the fort (not shown on the
chart) was said to have been garrisoned by the Russians,
who kept guards on each side to watch the mouth of
T'awai Creek where they had built a "gate" of boulders
to keep the Indians from going through with their
canoes. The Tlingit name for the island meant "island
on which spears are ready to use," but I was not able
to record this successfully.
Tawah or T'awai Creek (tawal) runs from Rocky
Lake into the head of Russian Lake. Somewhere near
its mouth, an Indian found a carved boulder when
gathering moss to cover a trap. The petroglyph origi-
nally represented a bear, including the body and paws.
The piece with the head alone was taken to Yakutat
where I saw and photographed it, but it later disap-
peared (de Laguna et al, 1964, pi. 3, b). It is generally
supposed to commemorate the destruction of the Rus-
sian post by the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi.
According to Moser (1901, p. 383), "Ta-wah" Creek
is less than half a mile long, and drains a small pond,
about 300 yards long, with a rocky bottom. "The rocks
and boulders have been removed from the bed and
piled along the side [of the stream], forming a shallow
channel up which canoes are tracked at low water, but
may be poled at high water." A loaded canoe could be
poled or pulled across the pond. The latter is evidently
"Rocky Lake," KAtsitExi-'a (possibly kA-sit-tExi-'a?),
translated as "rocks on the lake," or "full of rocks."
A few hundred yards up the shallow winding stream
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 75
one comes to Aka Lake, about a mile long. The Russian
"gate" was supposed to have been on T'awal Creek
between Rocky and Aka Lakes. The Russians made the
Indians pay a sea otter skin to go past. When the gate
was closed, canoes had to be portaged over a trail,
informants reported. Perhaps the "gate" was a zapor,
or fish weir, such as the Russians made and which were
later maintained both by commercial fishermen and
natives in Alaska until banned by law. Moser's party
found the remains of several slat barricades along
this stream (Moser, 1901, p. 244, pi. 20). The total
length of T'awal Creek from Russian Lake to Aka
Lake is about K mile.
Schwatka (New York Times, October 26, 1886, p. 2)
describes T'awal Creek as a "shallow salt-water creek,"
so narrow that the sides of the canoe were scraped by
boulders, as well as the bottom. Just above a "little
space of deep water" [Rocky Lake?], his party came to
a stone fish dam, "large and well constructed," which
evidently blocked the stream so that the rising tide
could not ascend farther. There was a break in the
center of the dam, through which water poured and
through which the Indians managed to take the canoe.
Schwatka observed that:
"This dam deserved more than passing notice.
The rocks of which it was built seemed as old in
place as any of those lining the shores themselves,
and not one of them had apparently been displaced
since its making. I naturally asked if it had been used
at all within recent times; and Yeet [i.e., Yeet-shwoo-
doo-kook] (which name I will give my guide here-
after) replied that the Yakutats nor any other clan
of Thlinkets had ever used it, and that it was built
by the Aleuts many years ago."
Schwatka satisfied himself that the "Aleuts" were
not those in Russian employ, but were "the Aleuts who
once occupied the land now held by the Yakutat
Thlinkets." A short distance above the dam, Schwatka
found the water fresh.
"Here a pretty little rivulet came through gravel
and small stones, and I noticed that these had been
scraped out of its bed to the two sides, forming a
sort of diminutive levee on either bank, and my first
idea was that it had thus been cleared to allow the
salmon to ascend, for the stream was actually so
small that obstructions would have to be taken out
to allow such large fish as salmon to swim up it. I
thought this too might be Aleut, but was told that
it was Thlinket or Yakutat. . . . [The party dragged
the canoe up this stream, which was] small and
shallow, [although] very swift. . . . Another portage
through a creek full of boulders and where we had
to wade and we entered our first fresh-water lake."
[This was evidently Aka Lake.]
Aka Lake is northwest of the Loran Station on the
ocean beach. The name, 'AkA, 'on the lake,' refers to a
former village on the ocean side near the head of the
lake. It was primarily a KwacKqwan place, but "not
their capital." and was wiped out by smallpox, which
informants believed had come before the Russians
(pp.277-279). Emmons in 1883 was told that there had
been six Kwaclsqwan houses at "Ah-ka," of which
nothing remained at the time of his visit, but he locates
the village of that name at the mouth of Ankau Creek
(see p. 61). The site on the lake was later used as a fish
camp, for one informant, born in 1896, remembers a
row of smokehouses there when she was a small child.
Another, born in 1914, also said there were smokehouses
when he was a little boy. When we stopped there in
June, 1952, there was nothing to see but a clearing
choked with bushes and nettles.
Aka Lake is connected with Summit Lake by a little
brook, 6 feet wide and %-}? mile long, according to
Moser (1901, p. 383), which carried just enough water
to permit a loaded canoe to be hauled through. The
stream is called NstsilhuwA, and was said to have been
a "canal dug by slaves" according to informants. This
suggests the boulders cleared from the lower part of
T'awal Creek. There was a village on Aka Lake, at the
mouth of this canal, which was called NEtsilhuwA-
wlt-'an. It was occupied by Eyak-speaking natives
who were wiped out by the Teqwedi.
Schwatka (1886) observed both of these villages on
Aka Lake in August, 1886.
"On this lake were two Summer fishing villages,
one of which [Aka] must be occupied a great deal in
that season?though we saw no one there?from
the large number of graves that were on one side
of it, as in wholly temporary camps they transport
the dead that have succumbed there to their more
permanent villages. All these fishing villages are, as
far as I could see, of as permanent construction as
any other houses they build, and seemed more like
deserted towns than temporary ones. [The "second
place," NEtsilhuwA-WAt^ 'an, was within 200 or 300
yards of the ocean beach.] After leaving this place,
for nearly an hour the course is on a narrow stream
and through timber and heavy underbrush, where
we waded and pushed and pulled the canoe along. . . .
Then we emerged into a shallow lake full of grass
and pond lilies full of stripes cut through them in
the direction of the lake, showing where the canoes
of fishing parties had preceded us and cut their
way through. [This was evidently Summit Lake, for]
By 4 o'clock we were leaving this lake so full of
fish, and passing another Indian house entered
quite a large creek, but I was surprised to find its
waters running the other way. The lake had been
the dividing water between two emerging streams."
76 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Summit Lake, which drains both towards Ankau and
Lost River, is described as varying in width from 100
yards to % mile, and is about 1% mile in length. Its
depths range from 1-24 inches (Moser, 1901, p. 383),
hence it was called 'Very Shallow Lake,' KuxwAtsun'a.
There was formerly a village on the sandy ridge between
the ocean and the eastern outlet, called 'Hill Top Town,'
Gutc-CAki-'an, variously reported as inhabited by Eyak,
by Kwaclkqwan, or by an "all mixed" population, who died
in the smallpox epidemic before (?) the Russians came.
Another name for the lake is simply Gutc-CAkf-'an-'a.
Ophir Creek, "Over Creek," a fine clear stream
which rises close behind the town of Yakutat and
"forms the main spawning ground for this system"
(Moser, 1901, p. 383), flows into Summit Lake. It is
called Kuxtcinik. The road from the Yakutatr-Airfield
highway to the Loran Station parallels this stream.
No lakes beyond this point were mentioned by our
informants, but Moser reports that a mile beyond
Summit Lake there is a "so-called third lake," consist-
ing of a series of small pools and swamps, about l}f-2
miles long, from 20 yards to % mile wide, and full of
marshy islands and weeds. I do not believe that this
was recognized as a lake by my informants.
Schwatka found that the stream running eastward
from Summit Lake was "large," but "disagreeably full
of sand bars." At first his party had to wade, but soon
came to a "well-marked river, down which we sped
aided by current and paddle. Just as we were leaving
the sedgy swamps at the head of the stream we came
to a high pole, there being a weather vane on its top,
which Yeet told me marked the spot where a young
Indian had perished some years ago in a terrible storm
of cold and snow."
The stream draining eastward from Summit Lake is
called simply 'Channel' or 'Slough' ('e?). Harrington
refers to this as 'a salt slough, tributary to Ova Creek,'
called 'eex. According to the natives, it should be called
Lost River, like the lower part of the stream which it
joins and which empties into the sea about 9 miles east
of Ocean Cape. The upper part of this stream, actually
its lesser, northern branch, is known locally as "Little
Lost River."
The western branch of Lost River from Moser's
"third lake" to the confluence is about 3 miles long,
from 15-40 feet wide, and 4-6 feet deep. Just south of
the airfield, on the ocean side of the stream, in the
middle of its course and at about the highest point
affected by the tides, was the former village called
NEssudat. The name is Eyak and Dr. Krauss suggests
that this is derived from lis- . . . 'spruce, tree,' -da'd
'place in front of.' Before the Russians came this was
an Eyak settlement, consisting of smokehouses, not
named houses. After the arrival of the Russians it
became the "capital" of the Kwackqwan, where the
chief, Yaxodaqet, lived in Raven's Bones House
(also known as Big House). Other houses of this sib
were Fort House, Moon House, and lesser residences
(p. 316). Mountain (Saint Elias) House of the same sib
was also mentioned (MH). From here the people
moved to Khantaak Island.
Emmons (in 1883 ?) was told of the site of "Nis-too-
dart (facing the mountains)" which had formerly
contained three Kwackqwan houses and one belonging
to the "Ka-kuse-hit-tan," apparently represented by a
single family from Prince of Wales Island. (These were
the Qa-^us-hfttan of Henya, or the Qaqloshlt tan,
"Human-Foot-House People" of Swanton (1908, p.
398).) The site was abandoned at the time of Emmons'
visit. Schwatka in 1886 mentions passing "a deserted
Indian village of four or five well constructed houses
called Yess-too-doot." In 1888, however, it was oc-
cupied by at least one family, perhaps only as a summer
fishcamp, for Minnie Johnson remembers spending the
night here with relatives when her family was taking
her father's body from Situk back to Khantaak Island
for burial. In 1901, there were "three houses and some
drying racks . . . on the southern bank . . . where
the natives cure fish during the season" (Moser, 1901,
p. 384). Our archeological investigations here are
briefly described (de Laguna et al, 1964, pp. 24-26).
This site marks the eastern boundary of Kwac?qwan
territory, except for rights to Little Lost River.
Lost River to Italio River
The original inhabitants of Lost and Situk Rivers at
the western edge of the coastal plain, were the -Luxedi
or Tlaxayik-Teqwedi; the present owners are the
Bear House branch of the Teqwedi who came origi-
nally from southeastern Alaska, via the Dry Bay area.
Present-day claims are confused by attempts to will
the land to sons and daughters, who are, of course,
Ravens and not members of the original owning sib
(Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 78). My informants
spoke about the ill-feeling thus created between the
nephews and the children of the owners, aggravated by
the hope that oil would be found in the region.
The most famous chief of the Teqwedi was ^atgawet.
Despite the popular association of his name with Knight
Island, my most careful native historian said that he
lived alone in a single house in a clearing on the ocean
side of the stream from Summit Lake, i.e. the west
branch of Lost River. This place, east of NEssudat, was
called 'Strawberry Leaf in Eyak, CukwAltai, because of
the three-lobed shape of the clearing (HKB).23
23
 Dr. Krauss informs me that 'strawberry leaf in Eyak is
cuq'Alt'ahl.
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 77
Farther east, on a sandy rise on the ocean side of the
stream just above its junction with Little Lost River,
was the "capital" of the Bear House Teqwedi. This
was originally an Eyak village Diyaguna'Et, called di'ya'-
guna' Et( by an Eyak speaker, which means "salt water
(di'ya') comes in here," or refers to a bend in the tidal
stream.24 It is pronounced diyaguna'Et by the Tlingit.
There was a battle here between the Tiaxayik-Teqwedi
and the "true" Teqwedi, in which the latter suffered
serious losses, but later gained control. When a smallpox
epidemic killed off everyone in all the villages from the
mouth of the Ankau to Lost River, the only survivors
were a few people at Diyaguna'Et. Informants are not
clear as to whether this was the epidemic of 1839 or an
earlier one, and I cannot reconstruct the sequence of
events.
Mrs. Emma Joseph, at one time the oldest living
native in Yakutat and reported to have been born in
1867, gave the following confused statement to Gold-
schmidt and Haas (1946, p. 77 a). Apparently she was
thinking about both the old village and a later camp at
or near the site, as I have tried to indicate by my own
explanatory additions in brackets.
"Lost River was owned by the Teoquedi people
who [once] had a large village which was used the
year around. In my time there were four [temporary?]
houses there. They trap salmon and got all kinds of
berries. They [the inhabitants of the old village] move
away when smallpox killed the people. This was
before I was born. They moved to a little place called
Nastudat, which was also on Lost River. By the time
I [was old enough to] remember they had moved to
Situk and would go out there for a month or so at
a time."
During the Teqwedi occupation there were several
houses inside a fort: Shark House, Bear House, Bear
Paw House, Golden Eagle House, Coward House, and
Valley House were all mentioned but it must be re-
membered that one house might have several names.
Sidewise House of the Tl'uknaXAdi was also here, but
its site is now believed to be in the muskeg, while the
stream has washed away some of the high ground where
the others stood. Emmons (MS.) reports that "De-ah-
gun-ah-ate (where the salt water comes up and the
people moan for fresh water)" was the earliest Teqwedi
village in the Yakutat area, and had eight houses inside
a stockade. The doorway to the chief's was cut through
a totem pole on which the Bear crest was carved. My
informants mentioned this, as well as the carved house
posts that were later taken to the village on Khantaak
Island. The last known occupants of the village, who
later moved to Situk River and Khantaak Island, were
the parents and grandparents of persons born in 1880-
84. Our explorations at the site indicated a long period
of occupation (de Laguna et al, 1964, pp. 25-26, pi. 1,
b). There is some suggestion that the Teqwedi moved
away because a shaman had been killed in a quarrel up
the Situk River (p. 320).
In August, 1886, Schwatka evidently passed Diya-
guna 'Et which he described as "another deserted village
of such construction that we could have found perfect
shelter during the night both from mosquitoes and the
rain." His Indian guide had, however, "most emphatic
superstitious scruples against sleeping in deserted
houses of his race unless a medicine man was with him."
This would be understandable if the body of the
murdered shaman had been entombed nearby.
Little Lost River, i.e., the upper part of "Lost River"
on the maps, above the junction of the main branch
from Summit Lake, has been called Dagi'a, Qelgi'a
(said to be an Eyak name derived from qel, 'woman,'
and 'a, 'river'),25 and Tsexskw. The last term was given
by a woman who had called the western branch Sexs
(not 'e&), and so may be a diminutive form of the latter
(perhaps sexskw?), although the word is said not to be
Tlingit. Moser (1901, p. 384) calls it "Tha-ghe-an"
(clearly the name of a settlement), and reports that it
drains a lake 6 miles to the north. It enters Lost River
about 1 mile above the mouth.
On the east bank of Little Lost River, just above the
confluence, is an abandoned landing at the end of a
spur from the cannery railroad. Here are a smokehouse
and Bear Paw House, built in 1918, but now long un-
occupied.
On the west bank of Little Lost River, about H mile
above the landing, is the site of 'Shallow Water Town,'
Wutl'iya-'an (ANH and SH). This was reported to have
been the oldest village of the L'uxedi, but my informant
may have confused it with Diyaguna'Et, since investiga-
tions here failed to reveal any evidence of antiquity
(de Laguna et al., 1964, p. 26). The ranking chief of
Bear Paw House at Diyaguna'Et, a man named
DaqusEtc, is said to have planted native tobacco here,
and later to have given the site to his Kwac&qwan
brother-in-law, so it became a village of that sib.
"The White people call it Little Lost River where
it splits. The natives from NESsudat go way up
above. I don't know what language the name is
[tsexsk"]. It's not Tlingit. Sometimes my grand-
father's people trap fox and wolf and so on in the winter
time." At the site, "CAtkiguxw-'ic and all his big family
stay there. And after they get through with that
[moved away], they got a cabin way up Situk."
u
 According to Dr. Krauss, di-ya'guk'e'd means in Eyak
'place of salt water.'
26
 According to Dr. Krausa, qe'lgAyuya'a"- means 'women's
river' in Eyak.
78 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
At the mouth of Lost River is a modern fishcamp,
located on the west bank and reached by road from
Yakutat. Its name, Gucin<5, "Point of Timber," (from
guc, 'thumb, fin'), is also given to "Diyaguna'Et, but
more particularly to the point of timber on the west
bank of Lost River about half a mile from the mouth.
This is where two Teqwedi shamans were entombed in
a grave house, and, after the mission was established,
were buried in the ground. No trace of the sepulcher or
the grave could be found. The shamans were TEk-'ic,
'Little Stone's Father,' and Qadjixdaqina, the man
from Diyaguna'Et who had been killed on the upper
Situk. According to Swanton (1908; p. 405), the name,
Qadj&xdaqe'na, means "Eagle going around a dead
thing and making a noise," but I would translate it as
'[Eagle] flying around a murdered man.'
There was formerly a slough connecting the mouths
of Lost and Situk Rivers, called WAnki hln, 'Alongside
[the beach] Stream,' but this has silted up during the
past 50 years, and the mouths of both rivers have
recently shifted to the west. The man who pointed
this out to me was afraid that the salmon would avoid
them. There are said to be sand dunes east of Lost
River (I saw only muskeg) called Xu^qagEka. A
small island between Lost and Situk Rivers (probably
that forming the connecting slough) was "Head Island,"
Qacayi &at', 'human-head island.' The Coast and Geo-
detic Survey Chart (#8402; 1949) shows the tidal lagoon
into which both Lost and Situk Rivers formerly
emptied. This also continued eastward, behind Black
Sand Island, to the large lagoon which received the
waters of Seal Creek and Arhnklin River.
The mouth of the Situk River is now one of the main
places for commercial fishing, and many Yakutat
natives have summer cabins or tents along the sand-
bar west of the mouth. The Yakutat and Southern
Railroad, operated by the cannery, runs the 9% miles
from Yakutat to a landing on Johnson Slough, an
eastern tributary of the Situk which enters the latter
just above the mouth. "About 2 miles from the sea
the Ku-na-yosh, about half the size of the Seetuck,
joins the latter from the eastward" (Moser, 1901, p.
385). Cannery tenders run up to the landing at high
tide to unload fish and take on supplies. Goldschmidt
and Haas (1946, fig. 6) published a photograph of the
natives rowing their skiffs from the camp up to the
landing and report as follows about the whole drainage
area:
"The lower portion of the river was important
for fishing and berrying. The region yielded salmon
and eulachon, swamp berries, high-bush cran-
berries, lagoon berries, strawberries, blueberries,
salmon berries and dewberries.
"The upper reaches of this stream are hunting
and trapping territory?some of the best in the
whole Yakutat area. It yields black bear, mink,
land otter, mountain goats, and weasel. Old salmon
are caught, as well as fish for current use." [Ibid.,
p. 80.]
"The Situk River is by far the largest producer
of red, coho, and pink salmon in the Yakutat district,"
according to surveys up to 1927 (Rich and Bell, 1935,
p. 411). My informants remember when two trains
of several cars each were needed to haul the daily
catch to the cannery; in 1952 only one car might be
filled in a day.
The name Situk (pronounced sitAk; Harrington,
siithak) is believed to be Eyak, but the meaning is
unknown. According to Emmons (MS.), the river
is said to have been named by or for an Athabaskan
man from the interior. Krauss informs me that the
older pronunciation was tsAtAg, but the name was
probably not Eyak.
On the lower Situk, about a mile above the railway
trestle, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains
a fish weir and station for the purpose of counting
the salmon that come up the river to spawn, in order
to determine how many days should be open to com-
mercial fishing. On the eastern bank, between the
weir and trestle, are a number of collapsed frame-
houses, house pits, and graves, marking the former
village of SitAk. This was established by Teqwedi
men who had moved from Diyaguna'Et on Lost River.
The first house to be built was Coward House; Bear's
Nest House of the son-in-law of a Coward House man
was built later. Farther upstream, above the weir,
was the Tl'uknaxAdi Boulder House, and at least one
unnamed house, for in 1866 Emmons (MS.) reported
40-odd persons living in four houses. Some of the
framehouses below the weir were certainly built later.
After the settlement ceased to be a place of permanent
residence it seems to have been used as a fishcamp.
A number of my informants were born here, or lived
here for shorter or longer periods. Graves among the
ruined houses belonged to the last house chief, Situk
Jim (died 1912), his younger brother, Situk Harry
(died 1945), as well as to the Tl'uknaxAdi chief, Dry
Bay Chief George (died 1916), and the ^at'kA'ayi
man, Lityua Bay George (1845-1926), and to various
others. According to one informant who had lived
here as a child (1884-90), "There's been nothing
but glaciers here. No bushes or anything in Situk
when I was small?just flat gravel spit. No bushes,
nothing." (MJ)
The open grassy place below the weir and west of the
railway trestle on Situk River, extending half a mile to
Johnson Slough and beyond, is called De'angeya (like
the reef near Yakutat Roads). The landing on Johnson
Slough is called 'Pitching the Fish Place' (xaat-
'aatukutje), according to Harrington.
U. S . COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES
STEAMER ALBATROSS
COMMANDER JEFF'N F M O S S R JJ .SNAVY,
COMMANDING.
SKETCH OF THE
ALSEK EIVER DELTA
ADJACENT STREAMS TO YAKUTAT
JULY 1901.
AUTHORITIES:
(Base map - - U S C &. G & chart Noa50O).
Alsek Riv?r and Adjacent Streams, Lieut Hu^ h Rodman., U. S. N
See-tuck River Entivn Cyrus ft. Miller, U. S.N
* ,' ? > ? ? . ? ?')YAKUTAT BAY
MAP 11.?Yakutat to the Alsek River Delta. (Moser, 1901, pi. XLIII.)

IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 79
As has been explained, the Situk until relatively re-
cently drained an ice-dammed lake at the head of
Russell Fiord. Its muddy waters gave the name,
i'uxedi, to the original inhabitants of Situk and Lost
Rivers. Now, the Situk rises in two connecting lakes,
close to the western shore of Mud Bay, both of which
lie against the mountainous slopes south of Mount
Tebenkof and are dammed by glacial moraine. The first,
a narrow lake, is only a mile over the hills from Cape
Stoss, and is 190 feet above sea level. Four miles down-
stream, meandering to the west, is the larger circular
lake, about 2 miles in diameter and 110 feet above sea
level (Moser, 1901, p. 384, pi. XLIII). This has been
named "Lake Miller," after Ensign Miller who came
through it going down the Situk in 1901. The natives
(and the most recent chart) call it "Situk Lake." The
dead spruce and hemlock on the western and eastern
shores were believed by Moser to have been killed by a
subsidence during the earthquake of 1899. From the
southern edge of the lake, the Situk winds to the sea,
about 13 miles away by direct line, and during its course
receives several tributaries, a good proportion of which
have their origin in lakes or swamps. Near some of these
lakes the ground is so full of salt that it does not freeze
in winter. One man thought this was due to sea water
which once came way up the Situk River, but did not
make clear whether this was from the mouth of the
river, or down from the head with the flood which ac-
companied the breaking of the ice dam in Russell Fiord,
or even whether it was due to the subsidence noted
at Miller Lake.
About one third of its length below Situk (Miller)
Lake, the main course of the Situk is joined by the
"On-klat" from the west, evidently draining Redfield
Lake. The name of this stream is evidently derived
from the Eyak word, 'an-tl'ahd, meaning 'head of
river,' according to Krauss. Moser (1901, pp. 384-385)
reports two more tributaries from the west and two
from the east along the middle third of the Situk. Most
of this area seems to be low and swampy, and sparsely
timbered. Unfortunately, it seems to be poorly mapped.
Harrington was told of three lakes on the Situk River,
but I cannot identify them with certainty. "First Lake"
(nfktl'axxAk 'aa) is perhaps Lake Redfield, although
my informants denied that this had a native name and
applied the name NaxtlAXAk 'akA to a lake (or place
on a lake) that drained into Humpback Salmon Creek.
Next (presumably going upstream) is a big lake right
at the foot of the hill, or 'lake at the head of Situk'
(sAtthAk ctJk 'aayyii), probably Situk Lake. Last is a
long narrow lake surrounded by mountains, with a
waterfall on its outlet stream ('Accuku 'aakkuu).
The main branch of the Situk had an Eyak name,
variously rendered by informants as GAditl-kexl (MJ),
Gudiyixl-tl'elx (JE), Gudal'-texl (HKB), and GudAl-
kexl (CW). These variations are probably due as much to
my faults in recording as to mispronunciations by
Tlingit-speakers of a foreign word. It was not trans-
lated, but Krauss identifies it as Eyak for 'nest'
(iudAltl'ihxl).
On this stream, over one-half of the way to "Situk
Lake," perhaps near or above the confluence of the
"On-klat/' was the site of the fort built by the Tiaxayik-
Teqwedi after they had destroyed the Russian post on
the Ankau. It consisted of three or four houses, con-
nected by tunnels, and surrounded by a wall, in which
was the door from the Russian fort. This was called
'Eagle Fort,' Teak nu in Tlingit, or Gutcgalaq glaca'l
in Eyak (Krauss, g/gu-djgAUg-tla-ca'l). Here, the oc-
cupants repulsed an attack by the Tl'uknaxAdi from
Dry Bay, only to be destroyed by the latter at Wuga-
niyE in Disenchantment Bay. After this, the former
L'uxedi territory on Lost and Situk Rivers was pre-
empted by the Bear House Teqwedi.
A hunting camp on the upper Situk was called GiyAq
(Krauss, giyAg), which my informant said was an Eyak
word suggesting an open space (see p. 64). Many of
my informants had or have camps 'way up the Situk'
(sitAkyik).
The eastern branch of the Situk, which formerly
drained Russell Fiord Lake, was called 'As ?axi?aq;
poorly recorded, but probably meaning something
'between the trees.'
Johnson Slough, which enters the Situk from the
east, is GAniyac (guniac) hin. About 1% miles above the
landing at the end of the railway, on the western side
of the stream, was once a single Tl'uknaxAdi house,
Boulder House, on top of a sand bluff. This was built
by the greatgranduncle of Minnie Johnson, perhaps
early in the 19th century; at any event so long ago
that the place, "Gunne-ash," was known to Emmons
(MS.) only by name. The settlement was called GAniyac
or GAniyacyik, 'Inside Johnson Slough.'
Black Sand Island, Xenu, formerly extended between
the mouths of the Situk and the Ahrnklin Rivers, but
has been largely washed away since the chart (# 8402;
1949; cf. revision of 1963) was made. Situk Harry, a
Teqwedi house owner, started to build Valley House on
it; but the island was largely washed away after his
death in 1945. Now it is described as a sandbar with a
few fishermen's cabins on it, and all the rivers from
Situk to Ahrnklin have a common mouth, since the bar
now extends across the old mouth of the Ahrnklin (see
U.S.G.S. topographic map, 1951; chart #8402, revised
1963). In 1901, there were extensive lagoons at the
mouths of these rivers, with strong tidal currents
sweeping in and out at each end of Black Sand Island.
These lagoons and the connecting slough "were full of
jumping salmon": king, sockeye, and coho (Moser,
1901, p. 385).
80 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
In passing east of Black Sand Island we enter the
territory of the Drum House branch of the Teqwedi.
They had been living in the Dry Bay area before they
purchased the lands to the west.
The first stream east of the Situk, and west of Seal
Creek, has no name on the maps but is known to the
natives as Qacayi 'e?, 'Human Head Slough.' Seal Creek
is literally that: Tsa 'iiE (or 'iyi).
The Ahrnklin River was the heart of the Drum
House territory. The name is 'Antlen, shortened from
'At-'ani-tlen, 'big town (or country) of the animals,'
a name applied to a village on the river about 2 miles
above the mouth and apparently between the two
main branches of the river. Here were four big houses,
including the original Drum House, Thunderbird
House, and Golden Eagle House, all belonging to the
Teqwedi. A tale recorded by Swanton (1909, pp. 365-
368) recounts the story of Heavy-Wings who built
Thunderbird House. The river is now said to be under-
cutting the site. On the Ahrnklin there was also a
settlement, or house, called 'Wolf Cave,' Gutc tAtukw,
belonging to the Teqwedi. According to Emmons
(MS.), the inhabitants of "An Klain" were all but
wiped out by smallpox, and the town deserted. He
believed that the original Drum House line had become
extinct, although my informants' stories would indicate
that it barely escaped that fate.
The central branch of the Ahrnklin River, rising
just below Slate Peak, is 'Antl6n hin; a northwestern
tributary is GAnEtsitsk or Gunefeitsk (Krauss, guletsitsk,
'narrow body of water' in Eyak); and the main western
arm is Tcal'-Kitu hm, 'River Through the Small (?)
Willows.' The main eastern branch is Staxe'ya; this;
as well as the name for the northwestern tributary, is
in the tongue of the original inhabitants and cannot
be translated. The latter had various names, but were
also known as the StaxAdi, after the eastern tributary
of the Ahrnklin, which was the last bit of territory
they owned in the whole Yakutat area. After selling
this, they emigrated (to southeastern Alaska?).
There was rich hunting on the mountain slopes at
the head of the Ahrnklin. The father of one elderly
informant had a hunting camp at what we believe to
be the head of the east branch, Stax6ya CAk. Slate
Peak, near the headwaters of the central and western
branches, which can be seen from the head of Russell
Fiord, is called Lagut and was a good place on which to
hunt mountain goats. Fish, mink, land otter, and wolves
were obtained in the area by the natives. The river
itself was closed to commercial fishing by the Govern-
ment, and the Indians who owned traplines in the
vicinity have tried to prevent the Whites from en-
croaching (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 81).
An island in the river was known as "Rice Island,"
Kux i&ti, literally, 'island of Kamchatka lilies,' evidently
because the natives used to gather "wild rice" here
from the roots of these plants.
The Ahrnklin country is full of historic associations
for the Drum House Teqwedi. Not only was it purchased
because the people from Dry Bay found it so beautiful,
but later, it was a hunter from 'Antlen village who
encountered a wounded Golden Eagle in the mountains,
learned its song (1954, 1-1-F; p. 253), and from it
obtained from the Drum House people the right to use
the Golden Eagle as a crest. On the river, half a century
ago, the older brother of one of my informants was
drowned, but because the Wolf was a Teqwedi crest,
the wolves guarded his body. This story, as well as the
Teqwedi claims to the river, are symbolized in a
magnificent beaded blanket (pi. 151). Lastly, a song
composed by Olaf Abraham (1954, 1-2-A; p. 1291) in-
terprets the mountains at the head of the Ahrnklin
River as symbolic of all the ancestors of the lineage.
According to informants, a slough or channel, not
shown on my map or chart, has recently been formed
connecting the mouths of the Ahrnklin and Dangerous
Rivers. This will take a skiff on a 10-foot tide. In 1901,
Lt. Rodman's party had to ascend to the head of the
eastern branch of the Ahrnklin and make a portage
"across a small plain to Dangerous River," a matter
of 45-60 minutes (Moser, 1901, p. 386).
Dangerous River, KutHtciki hin (Harrington,
khxilhttchikki hiin; see Boas, 1917, p. 67, k'ulixeLCAn,
"dangerous"), drains Harlequin Lake at the foot of
Yakutat Glacier. It is dangerous to cross because of
the swift water and floating ice, and while purchased
by the Teqwedi, had no settlements on it. Moser
(1901, p. 386) notes that it is full of quicksands, has a
strong current, and is continually changing its bed.
"It is considered a very treacherous stream and is
feared by the natives." The water is muddy with
glacial debris, and can only be navigated with a very
small canoe at high tide (Robson, 1910, p. 165). There
is a long portage between the tidal basins at the mouths
of the Dangerous and Italio Rivers, so that Moser
(1901, p. 386) advises travelers going westward to
cross Dangerous River where they have reached it
from the Ahrnklin portage. "The quickest and easiest
way is to cache the canoe at Dangerous River and pack
across the sand plain to the Italio, skirting the tree line
and fording the [Italio] river; the depth is less than
2 feet." Otherwise, one must descend Dangerous River
by canoe, and make a long portage from the eastern
end of the tidal basin at its mouth to the mouth of the
Italio. Dangerous River carried salmon, and many
seals could be shot on the bars in the middle of the river.
"They make good eating in the winter when they are
fat, or in the spring," it is said. Harrington was
told that seals were "always lighting on the bar"
(tshaa 'aayeekkhii-tjiiyye).
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 81
According to my informant, the eastern boundary of
Teqwedi lands was just east of the Italio River, and
just west of the present mouth of the Akwe-Ustay
Rivers, that is, due south of Harlequin Lake. Beyond
this is the Akwe River-Dry Bay country, belonging to
Raven sibs. Emmons (MS.), however, includes the
Italio River with the western territory, reporting that
in 1886 there was one Tl'uknaxAdi house with 12 occu-
pants, all that remained of an old village. According to
Goldschmidt and Haas (1946, p. 83): "The dakestina clan
own the Italio River." This is simply another name for
the CAnkuqedi, and the two men belonging to this sib,
who were mentioned by these authors as having trap-
ping rights here in 1946, were Frank Italio and Sam
George, both sons of the Tl'uknaxAdi chief, Dry Bay
Chief George. "Like other areas in the Yakutat terri-
tory, the Italio river area was transferred contrary to
the native rules of inheritance, with the result that clan
ownership has been confused" (Goldschmidt and Haas,
1946, p. 82). A distinction should, however, be made
between villages and house sites, traplines, and general
hunting territories. Teqwedi tradition recounts that
they were living on the Italio River, as well as at Dry
Bay, before they purchased the Ahrnklin area. Possibly
exclusive title to the Italio was never clearly established
by any of the sibs. In 1909, Robson's party photo-
graphed some Indian cabins on the river, apparently a
summer fishing camp, but give no details (1910,
photo, opp. p. 171).
The Italio River, called Qetlhwa, is reported to rise
either in Harlequin Lake or in another lake about 4
miles to the southeast; more likely, it receives water
from both. The western arm, used in traveling by
canoe to Dry Bay, is not, however, connected with
the Akwe River, as indicated on Moser's map (1901,
pi. XLITI). In any case, from the confluence of the
eastern tributary about 7 miles above the mouth, the
main stream runs southwestward; "when near the
coast it is deflected more to the westward and parallel
to the ocean beach, from which it is separated by a
low sandspit, about one-eighth of a mile wide, for a
distance of 3 miles, when its channel leads into the
sea" (Moser, 1901, p. 386). The lower part of the
stream is like a tidal lagoon, and this description fits
most of the rivers in the area. Moser's party further
noted that the stream mouths were in general working
westward, as sandbars were built up. The Italio River
was described as "a fine stream, clean and clear,"
with sandy bottom, and runs of sockeye, coho, hump-
back, dog, and a few king salmon. It can be easily
forded, since the depth is only 2 feet. Other resources
obtained by the natives included strawberries, land
otter, mink, fox, and brown bear. In the mountains at
the head of the river were mountain goat.
A mountain, described as at the head of the Italio
or back of Akwe River, Mount Reaburn, or one of the
lesser peaks in front), is called Tacax or Tacaq (Har-
rington, thaa ccaax). It was the slave of Mount Saint
Elias and Mount Fairweather, and its owners used to
send it back and forth to carry messages between them
(JE). Another informant specified that it was from
this mountain that Raven's partner threw him down a
cliff in a box, after Raven had cheated him (MJ).
This reference to Raven indicates that we are already
close to Dry Bay, where so many localities are asso-
ciated with his deeds.
THE DRY BAY AREA
The Dry Bay area, in native thought, extends from
the Akwe-Ustay River system on the west to Cape
Fairweather on the southeast, since all this region was
occupied by the same groups of intermarrying sibs.
Dry Bay is sometimes called 'Alsex, referring to the
Alsek River, of which it is the mouth. The region is
also called Gunaxo (Harrington, kAnnaa xxuu), con-
tracted from gunanaxo, 'among the foreignors [Atha-
baskans],' because the original inhabitants, the Raven
TlukwaxAdi, spoke Athabaskan. Another term for the
bay, possibly a literal translation of the English "Dry
Bay," is Wuxugu ge (i.e., wuxukw ge?). It was to Dry
265-517?72?vol. VII. pt. 1 8
Bay that came the Hoonah man, QakexwtE, who had
killed his own sleep. Here he encountered the Athabask-
an TlukwaxAdi, taught them Tlingit arts, and from them
obtained a wife. A ThikwaxAdi man married a Chilkat
CAnkuqedi woman, so other members of this Wolf sib
came overland to Dry Bay. Later, the Drum House
Teqwedi are said to have used this route?-if indeed they
were not then a part of the CAnkuqedi?-up over the
Chilkat Pass and down the Alsek. Other Tlingit from
southeastern Alaska, the Raven Tl'uknaxAdi, the Wolf
Kagwantan, and the Bear House Teqwedi, came along
the coast, presumably by canoe, possibly on foot from
82 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Lituya Bay.
The original language at Dry Bay was said to have
sounded something like Copper River Atna; it was
most probably a dialect of Southern Tutchone spoken
on the upper Alsek. Later, the Tlingit speech at Dry
Bay was like that of southeastern Alaska, not like that
at Yakutat where so many sounds are pronounced
farther back in the throat. Since many of the Dry Bay
people used to ascend the Alsek to hunt and trade in
the interior, and so many of the Southern Tutchone
used to visit the coast, all the Dry Bay people could
speak Athabaskan, and affected Athabaskan songs,
dances, and costumes for ceremonies.
Landmarks in the Dry Bay area are associated with
Raven, with QakexwtE, and with the CAnkuqedi boy
who was lost on the Alsek and lived with the Thunder-
birds, as well as with historic events. Here we are dealing
with a different tribe from that of the Yakutat Bay
area, even though during this century the original
distinction between the peoples has been lost.
Although the CAkuqedi and the Sitka Kagwantan
had lineage houses in the Dry Bay area, and the Teqwedi
also once lived here, this territory, particularly the Akwe
('akwe) River region, was claimed by the Athabaskan
Raven ThikwaxAdi, with whom the Tlingit Raven
Tl'uknaxAdi mingled and came to dominate. With
them lived lesser Raven groups, including remnants of
the ^a?kA'ayi from Lituya Bay.
Dry Bay itself is simply the delta of the Alsek River
which rises in southern Yukon Territory and cuts its
way through the mountains. The delta flats cover an
area of some 80-100 square miles (Moser, 1901, p. 387),
and are filled with bars and small islands, between
which the channels continually change. Eight miles
from the ocean, the river is almost blocked by the
Alsek Glacier on the east, and above this are still
more glaciers on both sides of the river. The river
carries down a quantity of glacial silt, so that at times
in summer the sea for 10 miles offshore may be dis-
colored. In summer, too, when the glaciers melt, the
river is subject to sudden, dangerous floods of water
that may trap and drown persons walking on the flats,
or overturn canoes. In the middle of the bay is a rocky
wooded island, "Bear Island," 200 feet high. The
westernmost of the three channels crossing the bay
is the largest. According to the Coast Pilot (9, 1955,
p. 85), it "is about 400 yards wide, has depths of about
6 feet at low water, and has been used to some extent
by small craft." But Riddell and Lane who visited
Dry Bay in the cannery tender during stormy weather,
September 1953, will appreciate the further warning
that to enter "a smooth sea is essential; during heavy
weather the sea breaks fully 2 miles off shore."
"The streams which flow from Dry Bay are
navigable for boats and canoes, but have bars at
their mouths which require great care to pass over,
as the sea generally breaks on them. The Indians,
however, get then" large canoes, forty to sixty feet
long, in and out by selecting the time, and it is
reported that once inside there is continuous or
nearly continuous navigation by these streams and
lagoons behind the sea beach all the way to
Yakutat." [Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 206.]
This is the route which we have been following all
the way from the Ankau.
In approaching Dry Bay, we come first to the Akwe
River, which joins the Ustay from the east, to empty
through a common mouth about 12K miles west of
Dry Bay. The Akwe rises in a lake at the foot of
Chamberlain Glacier and also receives a tributary
from a small lake near the easternmost branch of the
Italio. About a mile from the sea, where it meets the
Ustay, it "is deflected around a high wooded point
through 180?," then the combined streams flow west-
ward almost 4 miles before entering the sea (Moser,
1901, p. 387). The Akwe, according to our informants,
formerly joined the Ustay between 3 and 4 miles
farther west of their present junction. The Ustay also
rises in a lake below Rodman Glacier on the west,
while its eastern branch, Tanis River, rises in a lake
of the same name at the foot of Fassett Glacier. From
the Tanis-Ustay three streams or creeks flow south-
eastward or eastward to empty into Dry Bay, that
is, into the main channel of the Alsek River which
follows the western shore of the bay. These streams
are: in the north, from Tanis River, Gines ("Williams")
Creek; then closer to and parallel to the ocean, Kakan-
hini (Moser's Ko-kon-heen-ni, or "Stickleback") also
known as "Muddy Creek," to distinguish it from a
"Clear Creek" which joins it near the mouth; and
lastly, the small Stuhinuk or "Cannery" Creek. The
Kakanhini and Stuhinuk enter Dry Bay near the
mouth of the Alsek, forming a long, narrow island
between them, on which is a now deserted cannery
and Indian village.
If coming by canoe, we would ascend the eastern
branch of the Italio to a small muddy lake, from
which there is "a hard portage through the timber"
to the westernmost tributary of the Akwe (Moser,
1901, p. 387). Robson, who made the trip in 1909,
also reported (1910, p. 166): "At the head of Italio
River is the 'stick portage,' so called because the
portage is through timber and over a hill to the Akwe."
From here, one would run down the Akwe to its con-
fluence with the Ustay, go up the latter, and then
down the Kakanhini. This route is dangerous because
of the many bars in the rivers and patches of quicksand.
However, it is also possible to make the journey on
foot, if one has cached the canoe at Dangerous River
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 83
and followed the edge of the tree line until the Italio
River could be forded just above the lagoon at its
mouth. From here, one would "walk along the ocean
beach to the Akwe, then follow up the right bank for
about 3 miles from the mouth, crossing two wooded
belts separated by a "broad, treeless, sand plain,"
until, beyond a "low, grassy plain," the Akwe "can be
forded under normal conditions. Caution, however,
must be used as there is considerable quicksand, but
by using a pole and sounding ahead a passage can be
made" (Moser, 1901, p. 387). The ford is apparently
just below the confluence of the Akwe and Ustay.
Near here, however, Moser noted that a canoe was
usually kept on the eastern bank of the Akwe for
ferrying. This place was probably near the former
junction of the rivers, where an old village site was
reported (one of the two locations given for Gusex,
see below). The route leads from here along the shore,
where "the sea beach affords an excellent highway,
particularly at low water," and a "well-defined trail"
led up to the village at the mouth of the Stuhinuk and
Kakanhini Creeks (Moser, 1901, p. 387). Along this
route, there is now a road between the mouth of the
Akwe-Ustay to the fishcamp at the very southwest
entrance point of Dry Bay.
Emmons (MS.) translates the name "Ah-qway" as
"great water." My informants pronounced it 'akwe; it
is probably Athabaskan.
Tebenkov's map (VII; Davidson, 1904, map vi)
indicates that the Akwe and "Akse" or Ustay Rivers
emptied directly into the sea at their confluence. On
each was a village, designated as the "Nearer" and
"Farther Village to the Russian Post [at Yakutat]."
Davidson (1869, p. 136) also reports these villages as
some 6-12 miles upstream from the common mouth.
The first seems to be on the south or west bank opposite
the confluence of the western and northern (main)
branches of the Akwe; the second appears to be on the
west bank of the Ustay opposite the opening into Gines
Creek. (See map 23, p. 160.)
Tebenkov's "Nearer Village" is certainly the main
Tl'uknaxAdi and TlukwaxAdi town, Gusex, described
by one informant as halfway up the Akwe, near a lake.
It was originally an Athabaskan settlement, where
the wandering QakexwtE from southeastern Alaska
taught the Athabaskans how to catch fish. In Swanton's
version of the story (1909, Tale 32, pp. 160-161),
the L!uk!nAXA'dt (Tl'uknaxAdi) the next year built
Sleep House at Kos !e'x. Swanton's Wrangell informant
located this village vaguely on the Alse'x, and referred
to it also as Kosle'xka at "the mouth of Copper river,"
but it is evidently the same place (Gusex). Here, the
Tlingit Tl'uknaxAdi established important houses
that were built or rebuilt after the defeat of the Russians
at Yakutat, and to it they brought the Russian loot
taken from the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi or L'uxedi. The
houses said to have been built here were variously
listed as Mountain (Fairweather) House, Sea Lion
House, Whale House, Far Out House, and Frog
House. The last was named for an enormous frozen
frog found when digging the foundations. The town
was abandoned after 1852, perhaps as late as 1865 (?),
after a Tl'uknaxAdi party, enroute to southeastern
Alaska, was drowned in Lituya Bay. From Gusex,
the inhabitants moved away, some to Hoonah and
Sitka, others to the settlement near the Dry Bay can-
nery from which their descendants came to Yakutat.
On the Akwe, Emmons (MS.) mentions "Kul-se-
gun-ke-ye (to see through the trees)," where 20 people
lived hi three houses in 1886, but which later became
only a summer fishing camp. It was near a thinly
timbered point, but is otherwise not located. He also
reports "Gooch-ache (hill town)," named for a peculiar
cone-shaped hill at the confluence of the Akwe and
Ustay. It was occupied especially by the XafkA'ayi
with Kagwantan wives, and was once very large, al-
though only four houses remained in 1900. While the
name suggests Gusex, the site was apparently farther
downstream than most informants would place the
latter. If Emmon's translation of "hill town" is correct,
it would be gutc-'ani in Tlingit. In any case it seems to
be near the canoe ferry mentioned by Moser.
My informants called the Tanis-Ustay River, Tanfs,
but did not translate it. When there were (Tlaxayik-?)
Teqwedi at Knight Island, the ThikwaxAdi from Dry
Bay provoked war with them. To protect themselves,
they built a fortified village somewhere on the Alsek,
"back towards the mountains," called "Eddy Fort;"
Cixa'a nuwu. This was probably well up the Alsek
River (see p. 89). Later, when peace was established,
they moved downstream and settled at DmEtki-'an,
"it wiggles like jelly," evidently referring to the shifting
sand (see Boas, 1917, p. 142; yA-nAt', 'to shake'). It
is said that "no trees or greens grow here at all. . . .
It's like it's floating. . . . It's where the Alsek is just
running out swift. . . . There's a big bluff there, a clear
place," on the west side of the river (MJ for Frank
Italio). Emmons (MS.) also mentions a settlement,
"De-nis-te-nar (shaking ground)" on the Tanis, named
for the quicksands in that river, which suggests the same
settlement. Here a mixed Tlingit^-Athabaskan popula-
tion of 40 was living hi two large houses in 1888.
Riddell and Lane were told of a former village on Gines
Creek, which flows from the Tanis to the Alsek.
Tebenkov's "Farther Village" was on the Tanis, where
Gines Creek branches off. Possibly all these accounts
refer to a single settlement, established after "Eddy
Fort."
Emmons (MS.) noted a village with three houses
belonging to the ]fcai!kA'ayi, called "Tlu-tu-heen-nok
84 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
(water from the nose) [possibly lutu hinnAx], literally
meaning Dry Point." He located it at the mouth of a
northern [sic] branch of the Alsek, where a point sticks
out into Dry Bay. The name suggests what our inform-
ants called Ltuhinuq (probably very poorly recorded),
and applied to a village on Stuhinuk ("Cannery")
Creek, or rather on the island between it at Kakanhini
Creek, farther inland.
At the Dry Bay (eastern) end of the long, narrow
island between these two sloughs, there is a sand dune.
On this I was told could still be seen the footprints made
when Raven with a cane shaped like a devilfish ten-
tacle drew ashore an "ark" filled with all kinds of food
animals. Canoe Prow House of the ThikwaxAdi refers
to the enclosed prow of this canoe, and the Tl'uknaxAdi
use a dance paddle shaped like the cane. The point,
'Atuqka, was "a place just like the prow of a canoe?
like an island." In 1901, Moser noted a settlement on
the southeast side of the island. On the ocean side are
the ruins of the Tl'uknaxAdi Far Out House (also called
Frog House) and Thunderbird House of the CAnkuqedi.
Canoe Prow House of the TlukwaxAdi is on the north
side near the old cannery. One informant also men-
tioned a Tl'uknaxAdi Boulder House. It is not clear
how many sites or locations were involved, for my in-
formants vaguely described several places, and spoke of
the houses as having been built or rebuilt several times.
The last tune was in 1909-10 for Frog House and
Thunderbird House; Canoe Prow House is a frame
house built in 1925. At an earlier period, the houses
are described as having been farther "back" (more in-
land towards Kakanhini Creek ?). All are now deserted,
as is the cannery, built and abandoned between 1901
and 1912. There are graves near the village site and on
the sand dune bearing dates from 1905-30.
According to Goldschmidt and Haas (1946, pp. 84-
85) the village with Far Out House, Boulder House and
Thunderbird House was on the east side of Dry Bay,
near the mouth, but this seems to be in error, for my
informants clearly placed it on the west.
Emmons had heard of a village on Kakanhini Slough,
called "Ko-ghan-heenee (Stickleback)" but nothing
remained of it in his day. The Tlingit name would be
MgAn (Boas, 1917, p. 128). "Huskay (back of the
trees)" ['as-t'a?] was also remembered as a village
somewhere in Dry Bay.
When Robson went to Dry Bay in 1909 along the
streams and sloughs from Yakutat, he found about 50
members of the "Dry Bay tribe" living in temporary
summer huts and tents near the mouth of the Kakan-
hini, where they were putting up salmon. By the
middle of September, however, "The huts were still
standing, but the Indians had long since caught then-
winter supply of salmon and retreated to the shelter
of the mountains" (Robson, 1910, pp. 173, 166-167).
The sandy flats of Dry Bay are traversed not only
by the mouths of the Alsek River, but by other streams
coming from the mountains on either side. According
to Tebenkov's chart, these various streams are (from
west to east): the Kakagina; Vankagina (west of Bear
Island); and the Kunakagi, Taaltsug, and Tlegan,
(east of the island). Most of these cannot be identified
with the present streams and sloughs. The latter are
the main channel of the Alsek on the west, East (or
Easting) River (now called East Alsek River) in the
middle of the delta, and the Dohn (now called Doame)
River that skirts Deception Hills on the east.
The rocky island in the middle of the bay is called
"Bear Island," because it is frequented by so many
bears that it is dangerous to go there without a gun.
The native name is GXltcinuwu (untranslated). (It
sounds like gal, gal, 'clam'; djin, 'hand'; nuwu, 'fort
of.) Swanton's Sitkan informant (1908, p. 413) gave it
the name GAltse'niwa, and reported (in error, I be-
lieve) that it had given the name 'people on the island'
to the QlAtlkaa'yi (?at!kA'ayi). The island looks like a
stranded whale, and is in fact the Whale down whose
blowhole Raven flew, and which he caused to wash
ashore at Dry Bay. The Alsek delta is sandy because
Raven wished the Whale to strand on a fine sandy
beach. The people that flenzed the Whale and whom
Raven cheated of the blubber lived on the east side of
the bay, at Yay tayi, 'Whale's Fat.' On or very close to
the island are rocks that were once an adolescent girl
in her puberty hood, her two brothers, and their two
dogs, all turned to stone because she looked at them.
To approach these rocks will cause stormy weather.
Swanton (1908, pi. xx[x, c) figures a TmkwaxAdi hat
which illustrates "the story of a man (the figure in the
center), and two girls (on the sides) who turned into
stone while trying to cross Alsek river."
Dry Bay is where Raven opened the box of Daylight
which he had stolen. The sudden burst of light not
only so frightened the people that they ran away and
turned into various sea and land animals according to
the furs they were wearing, but also drove all the rocks
away. Raven also tricked the king salmon into coming;
ashore at Dry Bay.
On the lower part of the Alsek River in Dry Bay is
a small place called KunagX'a, where people living on
the east side of the bay used to go to put up king
salmon. "We always go up to the [Alsek] glacier here
and stay, and then go to KunagA'a in Dry Bay over
here," I was told. Emmons (MS.) reports "Ku-nar
Ka-ha" as a sand flat at the mouth of the Alsek where
people caught king salmon in the early summer. Pos-
sibly it was on the north shore of the bay, opposite
the entrance to Tebenkov's "Kunakagi" or what we
now call East River.
My informants applied the name Diyayi or Diyayi
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 85
to the Dohn River, or, more probably, to the land
bordering the eastern shore of Dry Bay. "Dog Salmon
River," Titl' hini, is either the correct name for the
Dohn River, or else for one of its main tributaries that
drains the west slope of Deception Hills. Minnie John-
son said that Diyayi was a rocky mountain or hill, east
of the Alsek, where a big rock stands up like a man.
It was here that QakexwtE taught the Athabaskans
how to catch eulachon in a fish trap. People used to
live partly up Titl' hini, and this settlement is prob-
ably what Emmons (MS.) called "De-arge (across the
river)" and described as a small village on a "southern
branch of the Alsek." A woman, who had lived here
as a child, said of the place: "Deception Hills are above
it. It was an old place?all sandy. They lived on the
north side, I guess. That sand was all over. There was
no fresh water near the mouth."
The last man to live on Dohn River, after all the
TlukwaxAdi had died off, was John Williams (1887-
1943), builder of Canoe Prow House on the other side
of Dry Bay. It was on the Dohn River, or Titl' hini,
that the parents of an informant were drowned by a
sudden flood of glacial melt water in 1907. Her Kag-
wantan paternal grandfather used to set his salmon
trap in a nearby stream, Gun hin, 'Clear Spring Water.'
Perhaps his Box House was on the Dohn or Titl' hini.
Although the coast from Dry Bay nearly to Cape
Fairweather is considered to belong to the Dry Bay
people, a discussion of this area is best postponed until
we have visited the upper Alsek River, as the natives
used to do. On the lower Alsek, in the Dry Bay-Akwe
area there was formerly excellent fishing, especially in
the smaller rivers and sloughs where eulachon, king,
red or sockeye, silver, humpback, and dog salmon were
caught. By 1925, however, the Akwe River and the
"basin" of the Alsek River had to be permanently
closed to commercial fishing, and other regulations
have severely limited the length of the commercial
fishing season off the mouths of the rivers. Many
Yakutat people go regularly to Dry Bay early in the
summer to fish for the cannery, before the season
opens off Situk and Lost Rivers. Around the shores of
Dry Bay are salmonberries, blueberries, highbush cran-
berries, and other fruits. In the mountains above are
brown and black bear and mountain goat, but there
were no deer or porcupine. Fur-bearers were lynx,
marten, wolf, wolverine, fox, and land otter (Gold-
schmidt and Haas, 1946, pp. 83-85).
THE ALSEK RIVER
Despite its swift currents, the Alsek formed a high-
way for travel between the coast and the interior.
According to Robson (1910, p. 169), who made the
ascent during the summer, there are two difficult
canyons to pass. The first is 20 miles (by river) from
the mouth, and lies between a cliff 1,000-1,500 feet
high on the west, and the 200-foot ice wall of the Alsek
Glacier on the east. Beneath the latter was a lake,
which probably does not form every year. The canyon
is only 1,000 feet wide and is filled with swirling water.
"The Indians have a superstitious fear of the
place, for several of their number have been drowned
and they cannot be induced to go near it except in
winter when everything is frozen over. In the
cranky little dugouts having only a few inches of
freeboard it is little wonder that they met destruc-
tion in the terrible waves and swirls." [Ibid., p. 169.]
Above the first canyon is a 25-mile stretch of valley,
midway along which is the receding end of a glacial
tongue belonging to the great "through glacier" which
connects the Alsek River and Russell Fiord. Robson
(ibid., p. 171) commented on the beautiful summer
weather experienced above the first canyon, because
"the mountain ranges through which we had passed
shut out the rains and storms of the Pacific."
The second canyon is some 40 miles above Dry Bay,
where the Alsek in descending makes a right-angle
bend from south to west, and where a second ice-
discharging glacier, the Melbern, enters from the east.
Above this, in British Columbia and some 70 miles
from the sea, is the confluence of the Tatshenshini
from the northeast with the main branch of the Alsek.
Still farther upstream the Kaskawulsh enters from the
northwest.
Although Robson did not travel above this point, he
saw no floating ice here, and so concluded that there
were no glaciers discharging into either river, although,
of course, most of their tributaries flow from icefields.
He noted that from the forks one could travel in winter
to Glacier Bay, via the Melbern and the Grand Pacific
Glacier. Possibly this was the way QakexwtE was
supposed to have come to Dry Bay.
Robson's journey downstream was exceedingly rapid,
since the canoes made 50 miles in only 5 hours, whereas
86 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
there had been many days of hard labor cordelling the
boats upstream (ibid., p. 172). In the summer of 1890,
Glave and Dalton had gone into the interior from Lynn
Canal, via what was to be known as the Dalton Trail
over Chilkat Pass, and then crossing a pass, had gone
down the Tatshenshini and Alsek to the coast. Glave
(1892, p. 880) describes the Alsek as:
" . . . a wild dangerous river which races along
with an eight-knot current, its volume at times
spread over the rocky valley in a dozen channels
which combine in one deep torrent when the moun-
tains close in and narrow the limits with their rocky
walls. Along the banks of the Alseck old moraines slope
to the river's edge, and active glaciers are pushed far
out into the stream; the internal working of the ice-
field maintains a continued rumble, and blocks of ice
topple into the river, and whip the waters into a con-
fused, seething mass. Eighty miles to the east of
Yakutat, on the south coast of Alaska, the Alseck
Eiver plunges in one deep, angry torrent through a
canon of rock and ice, flows over the stony waste
known as Dry Bay, and pours a muddy volume into
the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean."
Because of the difficulties of getting a canoe up the
river, the prospectors avoided the lower stretches by
traveling over the "through glaciers" east of the Alsek.
Tarr and Butler (1909, p. 35) write:
"For example, it is said by prospectors that one
could start from the terminus of Yakutat Glacier,
whose end rests on the foreland east of Yakutat
[at the head of Dangerous River], and, ascending
to a broad ice divide, pass on down into the Alsek
Valley by one of several courses. . . . [The icefield
could also be crossed from Hubbard Glacier, Nuna-
tak Glacier and Hidden Glacier.] In fact, several
years ago some of these glaciers were actually used
as highways by scores of prospectors as a means of
entrance to the Alsek Valley, some going to the
head of Russell Fiord and ascending a glacier (called
"Fourth Glacier"), which comes down to the fore-
land just east of the fiord, others going from the
head of Nunatak Fiord up Nunatak Glacier (called
"Third Glacier"). . . . The ruins of a store at the
head of Russell Fiord and the remnants of sledges
at the base of the nunatak in Nunatak Fiord and
of boats at the landing place near by are relics of
these days of over-ice travel."
Hundreds of prospectors went this way during the
Gold Rush, and Fourth Glacier is "still a highway to
the Alsek Valley" (Tarr and Martin, 1910, p. 7).
Blackwelder (1907 a, p. 87-88) reports that in 1898
the prospectors dragged their sleds about 40 miles from
Nunatak Glacier to the head of "American River,"
a tributary of the Alsek, but that crevasses later
rendered this route impassable. Farewell (1909, p. 536)
states:
"At the time of the Klondike excitement a number
tried to go up the Alsek. A little settlement was
formed on the west branch of the river, called New
Hamberg, which is evidence that there was a Ger-
man in the party. It lasted only one winter. It
is said that some of the men were four months
getting over the glaciers from Disenchantment Bay,
and whether any ever succeeded in getting into the
Klondike that way is highly problematical."
The Whites were not the first to use this route. One
informant said that after the original owners had sold
the Ahrnklin area to the Teqwedi they walked into
the interior over one of the glaciers from Russell Fiord,
probably Nunatak Glacier. They went to Tcanukwa,
probably on the headwaters of the Alsek, near Scotty
Creek and below Wesketahin (Dalton Post). It took
them 3 months walking. From here they went in 1%
months to "Taku Lake," identified as Taku Arm of
Lake Atlin, walked all around Atlin Lake, and then
went to Klukwan on Lynn Canal. Even if this ex-
ceedingly circuitous route seems difficult to credit as
historically accurate, it indicates something of Yakutat
knowledge of the interior, Gunana 'ani, 'Athabaskans'
land.'
Travel on the Alsek itself was so dangerous because
of the extent of the glaciers which were formerly greater
than today. When Topham (1889 a, p. 425) was at
Takutat in 1888 he heard, perhaps from the prospec-
tor who had come from Dry Bay by canoe, that just
above "the lagoon at its mouth," the Alsek "passes
beneath a portion of the Pacific Glacier which de-
scends from Mount Fairweather. The Indians portage
across the ice, and launch their canoes above it," and
had explored as far as 100 miles above the mouth of
the Alsek. According to Robson (1910, p. 171); 'Dalton
and Glave, who floated down the Alsek in 1890, speak
of a place where the river runs under a glacier near
the sea. The two places described above, the first and
second canyons where glaciers discharge directly into
the river are the only approaches to that condition,
and it is hardly possible that so great a change has
occurred in twenty years." While I believe that such
a change could have occurred in this space of tune,
Glave's account of their descent of the Alsek (Janu-
ary 3, 1891) does not mention passing under the ice.
Presumably, however, Glave and Dalton heard the
native traditions about it. My own informants men-
tioned the ice bridge (see below), and while similar
ice barriers are reported by various native groups to
have spanned every major river from the Copper to
the Stikine (Tarr and Martin, 1914, p. 416; Garfield,
1947, pp. 438, 447; deLaguna, 1956, p. 2; 1960, pp. 132,
137), there is no reason to discredit these traditions.
We may infer, rather, that an ice bridge across the
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 87
Alsek has formed and broken several times. These
changes would be due to temporary advances of the
ice, despite the general retreat of the glaciers since
the 18th century, and to floods caused by the breaking
of ice-dammed lakes on the headwaters.
Two such occurrences in the last century were re-
ported to us by an Indisn who lived at Mile 1022 on the
Alaska Highway near the Alsek headwaters, and who
had heard from his mother of the ice dams' breaking.
In contrast, in 1908 the Alsek River terminus of the
Grand Pacific "through" Glacier was advancing into
the forest (Tarr and Martin, 1914, p. 193).
As with all glacier-fed streams, the amount of water
and the strength of current in the Alsek were likely to
vary greatly over a short period of time. Thus Tarr and
Martin (1910, p. 35) state: "The natives residing at
Dry Bay, 60 miles southeast of Yakutat Bay, report
that in the summer of 1909 there were remarkable and
long-continued changes in the volume of the Alsek
River, which may be related to the advancing and
breaking of some of the glaciers whose ends lie up this
valley." An informant who lived in Dry Bay has told
of many drownings caused by sudden rushes of water
which overturned canoes or swept across the mud flats.
Although it is not possible to identify the majority
of the localities involved, our informant's accounts of
travel up and down the Alsek are not without interest.
"My father's people, TlukwaxADi, used to go way up
to the head of Alsek, 'Aisexyik. They would catch king
salmon, slice it and cover it over with cottonwood
branches. They used duq (cottonwood) leaves (kayani)
and put it on top of the dry fish. They would just leave
it there, and when they came down from the head of
Alsek, it was just dried good. Up at Tmx kayani
['Kinniirinik Leaves'] at the head of Alsek, they used
to get soapberries and other kinds of berries and put
them in a box. They used to go up there for all kinds
of meat?black bear meat, and then they come down.
That's where my father's people stay, way up there on
an island, getting soapberries and king salmon.
"When they were going up the river, they used to
cross the glacier the whole way across. They took their
cottonwood dugouts with them. They took then-
canoes up a gully between two mountains, like a V, with
a ravine, gel' or gel'i:w, like a steep place between the
two mountains. They carry the canoes over. It takes
them one or two days."
This portage is apparently over the point of land on
the west bank of the Alsek, opposite Alsek Glacier. The
mountain on the west was called Gel'guwa, while the
hill on the east side of the Alsek, Gateway Knob, was
called Kit6a in Athabaskan, or YAdagwAl in Tlingit,
referring to the stones that continually 'rolled down'
from it (or from the glacier).
Of Gateway Knob: "That's where the rocks fall all
around, and they call it Yel tsunayi ['Raven's work'?].
There are rocks that big [the size of golf balls] coming
down. It's funny they don't go in the boat. They just
fall around the boat. When you are going to die?
that's the time they go in the boat. Old Crow [Raven]
made it like that. His wife is just scared. 'Oh, it's going
to drop on our boat and go through!' [she said]. 'Don't
worry about it,' said Raven. 'Oh no, they won't go
through.' I believe it [my informant added.] When my
father was going up to Tmx kayani, it touched his
boat. That same summer they drowned."
One gathers that the ascent might be made in the
spring or in the (late?) summer, when the snow was
melting and rocks falling, as well as in the fall or winter
when the river was frozen (see below). In fact, another
woman explained: "Tou know the Alsek is very swift.
They need lines to take the canoes up," implying that
canoes were towed upstream (MJ). Blackwelder (1907a,
p. 87) reports, however, that the Alsek can be ascended
by small boats only during low water; which would
mean that from some time in May or June until some-
time in August, swollen floodwaters fill the whole
lower canyon and make ascent impossible.
"They used to cross the glacier to go up the river,
but going down they had to go under the glacier. That
water is pretty rough. Every tune they come out,
everybody sings. They put on their new shoes [sic] and
all their good clothes before they go under the glacier,
for fear they will drown. The clothes are of moose and
caribou hide, tanned white, and sometimes have porcu-
pine quill embroidery. I know that song, too. That
man, he stands up in front of the boat and he sings
that song. [It is now used as a dancing song for pot-
latches (1954, 6-2-D; p. 1230.]
The informant's son explained the trip: "The
TlukwaxAdi lived in Dry Bay, and used to go up the
Alsek, and take their canoes over a point called Gel'&w,
through a V-shaped notch. They would go up every
fall or winter to YewAltcA hin, a river where there is a
glacier and the ice breaks in spring. [There, or some-
where else up the Alsek, is a place called "King Salmon
Bone," T'aketci, (possibly feiici, 'dried king salmon'?).]
When they went up in the fall they would hang fish to
dry there and it would take care of itself. Nothing
happens to it. They would spend the whiter in the in-
terior and come back in the spring. [He also mentioned
Yel tsunayi] "a place up the Alsek where pebbles keep
falling all the time, but they won't hit the canoe unless
someone is going to die. Yel [Raven] told his wife the
pebbles would fall outside the canoe?that's why . . .
When they came down [under Alsek Glacier], they
would put on then1 best clothes, and after they had
passed the glacier they would yell, and it would break
behind them, because they were so happy." He also
reported that they sang.
88 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
136* 134*
\
> From N\s.Map o\ a\asV.a.,and
Br. Co\umV\oSS N VM.TerrWory
e of Miles.
O _
 1O 2a 3O 1.0 so fro
63
" W.
MAP 12.?.The Alsek River. (Davidson, 1901 a.)
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 89
Not only did the glacial arch apparently break
between 1888(?) and 1890(?), but it also broke when
Emma Ellis' father's mother was a little girl (about
1850?), creating such a big wave that many people
drowned in Dry Bay.
The second glacier ascending the river (on the north-
west side, near the British Columbia boundary), is
where Raven threw away his wife's sewing basket and
a big king salmon stomach. It is said that one can still
see them.
Four days' hard journey up the Alsek, but only one
day's run down, was a camping spot called 'Glacier
Point,' Sf<! xayi. It was here that a CAnkuqedi boy was
left behind by accident, but was rescued by the Thun-
derbirds, an event which entitled his sib to use the
Thunderbird as a crest and to sing Thunderbird songs
(1952, 2-1-3, 5; pp. 249-251).
A mountain at the head of the Alsek where the Dry
Bay people obtained white rock (marble) to carve into
dolls' heads is near a place called 'Mountain Goats'
Stream,' Djinuwu hini.
Probably some of the places visited by the Dry Bay
people are the two "Stick's Villages" on the map drawn
by the Chilkat Chief Koh-klux for Davidson in 1852
(1901a). These settlements appear to be on the Tatshen-
shini, at the confluence of the O'Conner from the east
and just below it. "Tin-cho-hani" evidently Tinx
kayani, is still farther up the river. (See map 12, p. 88.)
When Dalton and Glave started down the Alsek in
1890 from Weskatahin (Dalton Post), they came first,
after passing some rapids, to an abandoned settlement
consisting of a few dilapidated log buildings, including
a crude plank gable-roofed house and a cache on poles.
According to their native companions, these had be-
longed to the "Nua Qua," a coastal tribe that had come
into the interior many years before, looking for flint
with which to make tools. This they obtained from a
mountain called "Kle'ce'a." They met the "Gunena"
(Athabaskans), and gave them seal oil in trade. Some
of the "Nua Qua" never returned to the coast. Eventu-
ally, those that had settled in the interior died off,
through sickness and starvation, or mingled with the
local Indians (Southern Tutchone). Glave's guide,
Shank, was one of their descendants. "The last chief
of the Nua Quas was old Tena sarti [Tmna sati, 'Master
of Copper'], who died many years ago" (Glave, Decem-
ber 20, 1890, p. 376).
A short distance below this abandoned village, Glave
and Dalton came to
"the remains of a once important settlement. There
was still standing an old plank house, very strongly
built. The timber had been scored and hewn by some
well-instructed mechanic who had gained his ex-
perience, undoubtedly from the early Russians.
[The heavy planks and timbers had been squared
and dovetailed with an ax and fastened with iron
spikes, while the stout door was put together with
copper nails. The smokehole was circular, as if in
imitation of the hole for a stovepipe.] The old houses
at Sitka much resemble this one. There was a large
square, formerly used for a council hall, composed
of heavy planks jutting out from the main building,
the whole edifice being roofed with rough shingles.
[This was evidently a fort or a fortified settlement.]
"It is said that after the massacre of the Russians
at Yakutat, many of the natives of the place, fearing
the vengeance of Saranoff [sic, Baranov] when he
should return and find all his people killed, pene-
trated the Alseck country and settled at Tin Char
Tlar, the place where stands the house I have just
described. Here they traded with the inland tribe
of Gunena Indians. But they all died off; even the
local trails around the settlement are now obliter-
ated." [Glave, December 27, 1890, p. 396.]
The fate of these settlers seems to have been the same
as that of the "Nua Qua," whose village was not far
upstream. One wonders, in fact, if they were not one
and the same group, even though two stories are given
to account for their movement into the interior. On
the other hand, the tradition of a flight from Yakutat
to escape Russian wrath reminds me of the building of
"Eagle Fort" on the Situk; and these two traditions
may have been confused. The Alsek River fort, how-
ever, would appear to have been what my informants
called "Eddy Fort," built by the Dry Bay people as
protection against the Yakutat Teqwedi.
Davidson (1901 a, p. 82), in reporting the travels of
the Chilkat Chief Koh-klux, states that on a journey
down the Tatsenshini to its confluence with the Kaska-
wulsh, "he encountered the rapids, Tchu-kan-nagh', a
log hut on the right [west] bank (built in the style of
the Russian log huts of Port Mulgrave?with a legend
thereto), with the name [missing in the text; see Tin-
chor-han on the map], and other villages of 'Sticks';
hence to its junction with the Kaskar Wurlch." From
this it would appear that Koh-klux's "log cabin," the
fort reported by Dalton and Glaves, and "Eddy Fort"
(cixa'a miwu) of my informant (see p. 83) are all one
and the same, located at or near 'Kinnikinnick Leaves,'
just below the swirling rapids.
Other localities mentioned are impossible to identify.
Thus, according to a tale recorded at Wrangell by
Swan ton (19091, p. 118) the place where Raven gave a
feast to the Wolf clan is on the Alsek. "You can still
see his house there with the boxes inside (a rock
hollowed out like a cave with other rocks inside of it).
When they came in sight of that the Indians would
pray to it." One of my informants specified, however,
that Raven's Rock House was "the other side of
LituyaBay" (MJ).
90 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
A rock way up the Alsek is TAnaku, according to
my informant. Swanton's Sitka storyteller (1909,
Tale 27, p. 68) placed TA'nAku just south of the Alsek
River, which is undoubtedly correct (see p. 91). In the
same story (p. 67) was mentioned a place above the
glaciers, called CanyukA', where the Dry Bay people
went for soapberries. There is also a hole in the cliff (?),
called the "Hole-Raven-bored, (Yel-djuwAtu'lia),"
from which come rocks whenever there is to be a big
run of eulachon or other fish. My informants did not
mention these last two localities.
Undoubtedly the Dry Bay people were familiar
with much of the interior country sketched by the
Chilkat Chief Koh-klux in 1852 for Davidson (1901a).
Some of them were, in fact, interior Tutchone married
to Dry Bay spouses. Parties from Dry Bay must have
known the way up the Alsek and Tatshenshini to
Weskatahin, the great native trading center to which
the Chilkat Tlingit formerly came every year to trade
for furs (Glave, 1892, p. 682), and near which Dalton
was later to establish his famous Post. It was also a
center for native copper, obtained from the White
River far to the northwest. Some of it was taken to
Chilkat country; some, informants indicated, was
taken down the Alsek to Dry Bay.
Chilkat Indians from Haines and Klukwan, going
into the interior or to Dry Bay to trade, used to ascend
the Klehini River, (Davidson's "Tklae-heenae"), a
western branch of the Chilkat River (now the route of
the Haines Cutoff from the Alaska Highway), and cross
northwestward to Weskatahin or southwestward to the
O'Connor River and thence down the Alsek. Such
journeys were most frequently made on foot in winter.
Swanton (1909, Tale 32, p. 162) tells of a Chilkat chief
who sent a slave with a gift of tobacco to his father-
in-law at Yakutat via the Alsek. The Dry Bay people
also traveled on foot into the interior, and the CAnku-
qedi who lived at Dry Bay felt that their real home
was at Chilkat, and used to go there via the interior
route. Winter travel on snowshoes up the Alsek is said
to have taken only 2 days, instead of a week as in sum-
mer, but the point reached was not specified.
In May, 1890, when Seton-Karr (1891, pp. 80-81)
was camped on the upper Klehini,
". . . some Indians came into camp, having crossed
the Pass from the Altsekh river, carrying heavy
packs. One of the women was a Yakutat. They
pointed out to me the position of the Pass, and
explained that other Indians had remained a short
distance up the valley, in order to manufacture
cotton-wood canoes. [In other words, travel up-
stream would be made on foot in winter, while dug-
outs would be quickly hollowed out in spring for
downstream travel.] They stated that it took seven
days to reach Dry Bay, and that there were canoes
upon the Altsekh, which shot down to salt water
with great velocity. This agrees with the account of
Glave and Dalton."
Southern Tutchone Indians whom I met with
Catharine McClellan in 1954 at Klukshu (tl'uk-cu,
'salmon end' in Tlingit), at the very headwaters of the
Alsek above Weskatahin, knew about Dry Bay, even
though they themselves had not visited it, and they
spoke with awe about the former Dry Bay shaman,
'Wolf-Weasel' (Gutcda), who had died about 40 years
before.
One of my Yakutat informants, Jack Reed, a man
born in Sitka, had served as a porter during the Gold
Rush, packing over the Chilkoot Pass, via Sheep Camp,
Stone House, Crater Lake, etc., and doubtless there
were others who could have described trips to the
interior if good maps and interpreters to explain them
had been available.
CAPE FAIRWEATHER AND LITUYA BAY
From the eastern edge of Dry Bay, the almost
unbroken coast trends southeastward to Cape Fair-
weather, about 25 nautical miles distant on a straight
course, with the entrance to Lituya Bay some 16
nautical miles beyond, but, of course, along the curving
beach the distance is much greater. Lieutenant Emmons
is reported to have "crossed overland to Dry Bay"
from Lituya Bay (Scidmore, 1893, p. 130), and one of
my informants, a woman who formerly lived at Dry
Bay, had once walked from there to Lituya Bay.
This route, at least from Cape Fairweather or Lituya
Bay, if not from considerably farther south, is associated
with the travels of the Hoonah man, QakexwtE, who,
unable to rest after he had killed his sleep in the form
of a bird, wandered north to meet the Athabaskans at
the Alsek River (see pp. 270-272; Swanton, 1909, Tales
32 and 104). According to one version of the story, he
started from a place, Seqayi or TsAqAyE, vaguely
localized as southeast of Cape Fairweather, and walked
'back along the beach [to] Alsek' (dak lunitc 'Alsex),
I59
C R O S S
138?

IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 91
over a glacier which has apparently since retreated.
At a place called L'e-dAx-nitc, he imagined that the
boulders were people. This man, who belonged to the
Kagwantan or to a closely related Wolf sib, gave the
Sleep Bird to his wife for a crest, while the Kagwantan
built Shadow House, commemorating his hallucina-
tions (Swanton, 1909, Tale 104). According to another
version, he began his journey at Cross Sound. It would
certainly be possible to walk all the way from Icy
Point (17 nautical miles northwest of the entrance to
Cross Sound) along the beach to Dry Bay, provided
transportation were available across Lituya Bay; or,
one could walk from Glacier Bay on Cross Sound over
the "through glaciers" to the Alsek Eiver.
According to Swanton's Sitka informant (1908, pi.
L, g, h, i; 1909, Tale 27, p. 68), the rock, TA'nAku or
TA'naku yukuxl'da, was just south of the Alsek Kiver,
and contained the spirits of the shaman, Qatsatt'.
(This name suggests 'master of fish,' xat sati; and as
we shall see there were a number of Dry Bay shamans,
TlukwaxAdi, who claimed Fish as spirits.) "When a
person wanted to kill some animal he placed things
there [at the rock], and now the TlA'qldentan make a
door like it and use it as an emblem. Near by is a place
where many wild onions grow. They were planted
there by Raven." Many puffins also lived around the
rock, and were also represented in DAqdentan face
paintings that illustrated this crest.
Dry Bay territory is considered to have extended
almost to Cape Fairweather.
The stream immediately southeast of Deception
Hills is "Sea Otter Creek," but I did not learn the
native name. Another stream entering the sea south-
east of Dry Bay is the Kakhvegina River of Tebenkov.
I was given the name Kantuq hmi ('lupin river'?) as
the name of a stream east of Dry Bay, although it was
not located.
The most prominent landmark on the beach between
Dry Bay and Cape Fairweather is the seaward end of
the Grand Plateau Glacier, an arm of the enormous
icefield that stretches between the Alsek River and
Lituya Bay, and which extends inland into British
Columbia, and eastward to the shores of Glacier Bay.
Emmons (MS.) reports that there was once a Koskedi
village at the mouth of the "Scar-tar-heen," which he
indicates as a stream flowing from the Grand Plateau
Glacier. This is, however, considerably northwest of the
waterfall which my informants designated by the same
name.
Cape Fairweather, or a rocky reef which can be seen
from Dry Bay, is called LagAski xayi, 'Green Seaweed
Point.'
Cape Fairweather is described as:
". . . an evenly rounded point sloping gently to the
sea and abruptly back to the mountains. The summit
of the cape is bare of vegetation but is covered with
large piles of glacial drift, some of a bright iron-rust
color.
"Protection from southeasterly weather can be had
northward of Cape Fairweather, which appreciably
breaks both wind and swell. Small-boat landings can
be made on the sand beach in moderate southeasterly
or southwesterly weather. Just northward is a high
rocky slide, with a cataract several hundred feet
high, which is prominent from offshore," [Coast Pilot,
9, 1955, pp. 84-85.]
The landing place on the beach is called Yakw deyi
or Yel yakw deyi, 'Raven's Canoe Road.' According to
Swanton (1908, pi. Lin, 6), this place, yel yA'kMeyf,
is claimed by the Daqdentan, a Raven sib at Sitka,
and is represented by a face painting. The waterfall,
from which the Raven Koskedi have named a house
in Sitka, is CkAdayi hin. Swanton (1908, p. 407) gives
the form cgada'yf hit, or 'Waterfall House,' and indi-
cates that it was first built at the waterfall.
Conflicting claims to some DAqdentan crests, and
to the area southeast of Cape Fairweather, can best
be understood if we accept the explanation of our
Yakutat informants that originally the owners were
Tl'uknaxAdi. When so many of then" villages were
deserted, however, those who moved to Sitka and
Hoonah were called DAqdentan, even though there
were also "real Tl'uknaxAdi" at Sitka?-probably rep-
resenting those who had never moved north. Some of
the sib who remained at Lituya Bay were the %&?-
kA'ayi, 'People on the Island,' but eventually their
descendants moved north to Dry Bay and became
absorbed by the Tl'uknaxAdi there.
The whole area from Dry Bay to Icy Point is domi-
nated by the snowy peak of Mount Fairweather,
TsAlxan (Harrington, sAi-xaan), some 15,300 feet high.
Its appearance gives promise of calm seas or warns of
storms, and it is therefore called 'the paddler's moun-
tain' by the natives. Swanton (1908, pp. 418, 420, pis.
L, e, j , and LVIII, a) reports that the DAqdentan use
the mountain, Tsalxa'n or TsAlxa'n, as a crest, repre-
senting it by facial painting and by a basket design.
I was told, however, that it was claimed as a crest by
the Tl'uknaxAdi, in memory of the lost canoes from
Gusex to whom it failed to give the sign of danger. A
stone "nest" or refuge is said to have been built on
top during the Flood, called Qis kAnada, "High Tide
All Around." This peak can be seen even from the
ocean beach and the airfield near Yakutat, over 80
miles away. Like Mount Saint Elias, Mount Fair-
weather has captured the imaginations and played
an important part in the lives of both the aboriginal
inhabitants of the Gulf of Alaska and of White voy-
agers. Thus, between 1846 and 1851, the Fairweather
Grounds, in the Gulf of Alaska off Cape Fairweather
92 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
""" "mm . ? . . . : . . " ? ? . "" . **"?... : * . i '
]\1AP 14.?Lituya Baj'.
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 93
and Lituya Bay, was a center for whaling. During this
period some 300-400 ships were hunting the right
whale, never landing, but cruising off and on, within
sight of Mount Fairweather. "When the whalemen saw
the summit of that snow-clad peak unveiled by clouds
they were sure of fair weather for several consecutive
days afterwards, hence the name" (Elliott, 1886, p. 72).
The name had, however, been given by Cook in 1778
(Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 205 n.; Cook and King,
1784, vol. 2, p. 346).
Along all the shore between Dry Bay and Icy Point,
some 80 nautical miles to the southeast, the foreland is
low and wooded except where interrupted by Lituya
Bay and by protruding glacial tongues. Behind the
foothills rise the snowy summits of the Fairweather
Range, towering to elevations of 10,000 feet to over
15,000 feet. One of these peaks, southeast of Lituya
Bay, is said to have been slashed by Raven when Echo
angered him by imitating the slurping noises Raven
made in eating sea urchins. It is, therefore, called Tel
nisA kawulica (kAWAl'i-ca ?) or Tel nisA kuxlitA CA
(MJ and AG). It may be Mount Crillon or Mount
LaPerouse. Raven's stone house was somewhere along
this coast, as was the place where Raven obtained
plants and medicines by fooling the Sea Otters. My
informants were unable to show us on the chart these
localities.
Also southeast of Lituya Bay, according to a Hoonah
man, was a "place where the people used to camp in the
olden times, but this camp site was covered up by the
glacier when it came down. I never saw the place, but
was told by the old people when we went by that place"
(Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 94).
Lituya Bay, some 39 nautical miles northwest of
Cape Spencer, was visited by native canoes from both
southeastern Alaska and from Takutat, for purposes of
hunting and fishing, and as a stopping place on long
voyages for war and trade. It probably never supported
a large permanent population, and unfortunately we do
not know what tribes or sibs were encountered there by
LaPerouse in 1786, nor do we know who were the oc-
cupants of the large skin boats that had been wrecked
shortly before his visit. Were they Chugach from Prince
William Sound or Takutat Indians? The bay is called
ttu'a, apparently referring to its lakelike shape (pos-
sibly: litu'a, 'to-be-inside lake'?). Emmons (1911, p.
294) states that 'Lituya is a compound word in the
Tlingit language meaning, 'the lake within the point,'
and the place is so called from the almost enclosed
water within the extended spit," i.e.,lutu-'a.
[According to the strictly practical Coast Pilot:}
"Lituya Bay affords protected anchorage in all
weather when once inside, but the entrance is
dangerous and on account of strong currents should
never be attempted except at slack water. [It is
a long, narrow bay with a bottleneck entrance
through which the tides sweep with velocities up
to 8 or 12 knots.] The ebb currents, running out
against a southwest swell, cause bad topping seas
or combers across the entire entrance through which
no small boat can live, [as LaPerouse's men dis-
covered to their sorrow. Such craft should keep away
from the entrance to avoid being shot through,
like a cork out of a champagne bottle.] The ebb
current flows in a narrow stream for several miles
out to sea, and can be seen at a distance of several
miles, forming a prominent landmark for the en-
trance . . . no stranger should attempt to enter except
at slack water." [Coast Pilot, 1943, pp. 424, 425-
426.]
[The dangers of the passage make clear the skillful
seamanship of the natives, for as reported by
LaPerouse (1799, vol. 1, p. 390):] "Every day we
saw fresh canoes enter the bay; and every day
whole villages departed, and gave place to others.
The Indians seemed to have considerable dread of
the passage, and never ventured to approach it,
unless at the slack water of flood or ebb. With
the help of our glasses we distinctly perceived, that,
when they were between the two points, the chief,
or at least the principal Indian, arose, stretched
out his arms toward the sun, to which he appeared
to address a prayer, while the rest paddled away
with all their strength."
In the middle of the bay, about 3 miles from the
entrance, rises the hilly, wooded island named Ceno-
taphe Island for the wooden monument which La-
Perouse erected on its southeast point in memory of
the officers and men lost at the mouth of the bay.
No trace of this remained in 1874 (Dall and Baker,
1883, p. 204).
At the head of the bay, which is T-shaped, three
glaciers descend the steep sides of Mount Lituya and
Mount Crillon, and here landslides and avalanches have
plunged into the water. The cross arms at the head of
the bay he directly on the Fairweather Fault, which
begins near Icy Point and runs northwest for at least
115 miles to form the axis of the northwestern part of
Russell Fiord. Because of the peculiar shape of Lituya
Bay, it has been repeatedly subjected to the devasta-
tion of giant waves which have reverberated within
its narrow confines. The sites of the settlements near
the mouth of the bay (one on the south shore, two on
the north), which had been seen by LaPerouse in 1786,
were overridden by the terrible wave of 1958. I do not
know what effect this may have had on the site of the
former fishcamp on the salmon stream, Huagin River,
some 2K miles northwest of La Chause'e Spit at the
entrance to the bay. (See pi. 20.)
These giant waves (Miller, 1960; summary in de
94 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Laguna et al., 1964, pp. 19-20) are known, from a
study of the forest growth destroyed and reseeded, to
have occurred in 1853 (or early in 1854), about 1874,
in 1899 (probably associated with the Yakutat earth-
quake), in 1936 (caused by a landslide), and in 1958
(caused by a landslide due to an earthquake). The
flood of 1899 destroyed a native village and saltery
near the mouth of the bay. There are also reports of
"catastrophic floods caused by breaking of a glacial
lake near the head of the bay in 1890 and again in 1928"
(Miller, 1960, p. 74).
In addition, we should note that Lituya Bay, like
other areas along the Gulf Coast, has suffered consider-
able changes due to glacial movements. Thus, "ice
stood at or near the mouth of Lituya Bay within the
time required for growth of a climax forest in this
region, possibly less than 1,000 years ago." Within the
parts covered by this recent glacial advance, "an ice-
sheared stump, rooted in a humus-rich soil just below
the surficial till on the south shore near the entrance
of the bay . . . has a radiocarbon age of 6,060 ?200
years B.P." as of May, 1959?i.e., 4,101 B.C. ?200
years or from 4,300 to 3,900 B.C. "However, the ice
fronts were farther back when LaPerouse visited Lituya
Bay in 1786 than at the present time." Thus, the com-
bined length of the cross fiords at the head of the bay
was then about 9 miles, whereas since 1894 it has been
only 3 miles long (Miller, 1960, pp. 54, 55).
These geological changes are mentioned because they
appear to corroborate native traditions of the destruc-
tion of a village by a giant wave (in 1853?), and by the
advance of glaciers.
Emmons (1911, p. 295) recorded Indian beliefs about
the dangers of Lituya Bay, caused by
" . . . a monster of the deep who dwells in the
ocean caverns near the entrance. He is known as
Kan Lituya, 'the Man of Lituya' [qa htu 'a?]. He
resents any approach to his domain, and all of those
whom he destroys become his slaves, and take the
form of bears, and from their watch towers on the
lofty mountains of the Mt Fairweather range they
herald the approach of canoes, and with their master
they grasp the surface water and shake it as if it
were a sheet, causing tidal waves to rise and engulf
the unwary.
"This legend of Lituya is illustrated by a carved
wooden pipe (fig. 50) [pi. 123], of spendid propor-
tions, which was obtained in 1888 from the chief of
the Tuck-tane-ton family of the Hoon-ah Kow
[DAqdentan sib of Hoonah], who claimed this bay
as his hereditary sea-otter hunting ground. It was
used only upon occasions of particular ceremony?
when the clan assembled to honor the dead, or to
deliberate upon some important question of policy.
At one end is shown a froglike figure with eyes of
haliotis shell, which represents the Spirit of Lituya
[possibly the Frog crest of the sib?], at the other end
the bear slave sitting up on his haunches. Between
them they hold the entrance of the bay, and the two
brass-covered ridges are the tidal waves they have
raised, underneath which, cut out of brass, is a
canoe with two occupants, that has been engulfed.
[Author's note:] This illustration was furnished
through the courtesy of Mr George G. Heye, in
whose collection the pipe now is."
Emmons (1911, pp. 296-298) also recorded in 1886,
from a chief near Juneau, the Tlingit story of their
meeting with LaPerouse in Lituya Bay in 1786. At
Yakutat I heard a shorter version of the same story,
but the main tradition associated with the locality was
the capsizing of eight canoes of Tl'uknaxAdi men from
Gusex on the Akwe River, when they were enroute to
Chilkat. The rock on which they were wrecked was
Tan teyi, 'Sea Lion Rock.' 2a It was after this disaster
that the Akwe region was largely deserted.
According to the Coast Pilot of 1883 (Dall and
Baker, 1883, p. 204):
"The bay described by LaPerouse is one of the
most extraordinary places in the world. It is in fact
a sort of Yosemite Valley, retaining its glaciers and
with its floor submerged six or eight hundred
feet. . . . There are few fish, except halibut, in Lituya
Bay; but wild animals, birds and seal appeared
quite abundant in 1874. There is no permanent
village here, and perhaps has never been, but
parties of natives going north and south put in here
to camp quite frequently. Strawberries and numerous
other kinds of berries are plenty in their season; and
in June wild flowers are abundant. . . . During the
fishing season there is an Indian camp at the mouth
of the Huagin River, a small stream called Riviere
aux Saumons by LaPerouse. . . ."
The flora consists of the usual stands of alder,
willow, and cottonwood on newly exposed land; with
older forests of Sitka spruce, hemlock, and Alaska or
yellow cedar (Nootka Cyprus). Berry bushes include
salmonberries, huckleberries, loganberry, highbush cran-
berry, and black currants. Animals are the ordinary
black bear, several species or varieties of brown bear,
and the blue or glacier bear, as well as mountain goats,
deer, wolves, cross and red fox. LaPerouse also noted
such fur bearers as marten, ermine, beaver, marmot,
and muskrat(?). Seal, porpoise, and sea otter were
once plentiful. Wild fowl include such edible land birds
as ptarmigan and grouse, as well as migratory ducks,
swans, and geese (Mertie, 1931; Jay Williams, 1952,
28
 Swanton, 1908, pi. Li, d, shows a facial painting design
representing tan teyl', as a crest of the Sitka TlA'qldentan.
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 95
pp. 138-140; Miller, I960, p. 54).
When Jack Ellis (1892-1952) was a small boy,
there were two native houses on the north side of the
bay. A Hoonah man described Lituya Bay as "a place
with many houses. It was one of the main places they
hunted the sea otter. The Yakutat people did not
come down this far" (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946,
pp. 72, 94). According to Frank Italio (1870-1956), a
Dry Bay man, the CAnkuqedi and Tl'uknaxAdi were
in Lituya Bay when they saw the first European
vessel. According to others, there were formerly
TcukAnedi (a Wolf sib) at Lituya Bay, and a few lived
at Dry Bay. Other Lituya Bay people were a branch of
the TfuknAxdi called ?a?kA'ayi.
Emmons (MS.) reports that the campsite used during
the salmon runs and sea otter hunting season on the
Huagin River, "Ka-huagh heen, (fish egg water),"
obviously Kahakw hln (or hini), was called "De-yaghe
(on both sides) [of the river]," and was occupied by
DAqdentan of Hoonah and ^atkA'ayi.
Although the Yakutat people were familiar with
Lituya Bay, and with the coast to Icy Point, some 22
nautical miles southward, and down to Cape Spencer
at the entrance to Cross Sound (Harrington, iixeh)
and beyond, we need not follow their journeys further.
They could walk along the beach from just below the
boulder-strewn entrance to Lituya Bay down to Icy
Point; or their canoes could find a number of sheltered
beaches and stopping points in the irregular bays
between Icy Point and Cape Spencer, 18 nautical
miles southwest. However, this territory was definitely
felt to belong to the DAqdentan of Hoonah.
THE GULF COAST WEST OF YAKUTAT BAY
Icy Bay-
It will be remembered that the Kwacliqwan of
Yakutat claim Icy Bay as part of their territory. The
present bay (pp. 28, 286-287) is about 5 miles wide and
6 miles long, lying about 58 nautical miles northwest of
the town of Yakutat. It is entered between Point Riou
on the southeast, which shelters Riou Bay, and Icy Cape
on the northwest, which protects a shallow lagoon,
Guyot Bay. Both of these entrance points are formed
by the terminal moraine of the glacier which once filled
Icy Bay. Across the mouth is a curving bar, 7-10
fathoms deep. At the head of the bay, Tyndall Glacier
on the east and Guyot Glacier on the west, both arms of
the huge Malaspina-Bering Glacier system, discharge
their ice into the water, making this, like Disenchant-
ment Bay, an excellent breeding place for seals. Surf
and icebergs hinder landing on the western shore of the
bay above Guyot Bay. On the eastern shore, above the
sheltered waters of the Riou Bay, is a low island, "Egg
Island," beyond which are the present mouths of the
Yahtse and Caetani Rivers, both emerging from beneath
the Malaspina ice field. To the north, beyond the head
of the bay, lie the Chaix Hills and the Karr Hills, where
mountain goat are hunted and where bear and ptar-
migan may also be encountered.
While this whole area is made famous by the reports
of the various expeditions, 1886-91, that attempted to
climb Mount Saint Elias from the south or southeast,
the "Icy Bay" where they landed was simply the former
mouth of the Yahtse River, which then entered the sea
east of Point Riou. "Icy Cape" was then the actual
front of Guyot Glacier which protruded into the sea
(Plafker and Miller, 1958).
The Yahtse River is known to the Tlingit as Yas6 hin.
The first word is now often pronounced watse, as one
of my informants observed. Topham (1889 a, p. 432)
translates "Yahtse" as "swampy, or muddy ground,"
suggesting that it may be derived from si, 'clay.' Icy
Bay is Yaseyik (Harrington, yaasseeyyik) and Mount
Saint Elias, towering above, is Yase"t!a ca,' Mountain at
the Head of [behind] Icy Bay.' It is also called '[the]
Big Mountain,' Ca tlen, and is one of the most im-
portant crests of the Kwackqwan because its snowy
triangular peak, 18,000 feet high, served to guide them
on their journey across the ice from Copper River.
According to Swanton's Sitka informant (1909, Tale
1, pp. 6-7), the halibut fishing ground, "Just-on-the-
edge-of-kelp," or Gl'ck'lcuwAnyt', was near Mount
Was!e'tf-ca, and this was where Raven induced Bear
to kill himself by cutting off his own penis to use for
halibut bait. A Wrangell informant (Swanton, 1909,
Tale 32, p. 160) referred to the mountain as Masli'ca.
When the Gmexqwan, the ancestors of the Kwack-
qwan, came to Icy Bay, it was, of course, covered by the
glacier, and they camped somewhere to the west. The
spot is called Tiy 'ani, 'Yellow Cedar Bark Town,' from
the material used for their shelters. Here they met and
intermarried with a party of Galyix-Kagwantan who
96 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 1
J "?*
H
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 97
were moving eastward, and who were seal hunters.
The Gmexqwan apparently stayed some time near Icy
Bay before moving on to Yakutat Bay.
The western boundary of KwacM:qwan territory was
at "Big Valley," or "Williams Creek," described as
"near Mike Sullivan's place," just west of Icy Bay.
It is called Gutsaxw(?). According to Krauss, this is
obviously 'muddy water' (gu-ntca-xu) in Eyak. It
could not be located on any map. There is a Big River
about 4 miles west of Icy Bay, but the largest valley
is that of the White River, which enters the sea between
18 and 19 miles west of the camp. Big River is referred
to as Hin tlen, but this may be only a translation of
the English name, or the latter may be derived from
the Tlingit descriptive designation.
A Yakutat man told me how his Kwacftqwan father
(died 1935?) used to go to hunt at Icy Bay. He had a
camp on the west shore of Yakutat Bay "across from
Point Latouche" where he would leave his canoe, and
from here he would walk along the beach to Icy Bay,
past the 80-mile front of Malaspina Glacier. 'Glacier
Point,' or Sitkagi (Sit xayi) Bluffs, where the Malaspina
reaches the beach to form a cliff about 5 miles long, is
also called 'Glacier Nose,' Sit lutu. The river beyond
this was QwalAxuk (or qwatlAhAq), probably Fountain
Stream. The next river was NAsaxix (indicated on our
map at longitude 141?5' W.), probably Yana Stream.
Beyond this was LigasA hin, 'Tabooed River.' My
informant's father "had log cabins along the way.
It took him 6 days to get from the camp near Point
Latouche to LfgasA hfn. Lfgas means 'against nature.'
They used to call it LigasA 'a, 'Bad Luck Lake.' There
wasn't a river there then. First there was a lake. And
you had to be quiet as you go by it. That was when
people hunted big sea otters from a boat. You couldn't
say a word. You just have to keep quiet. Then the lake
broke open." This was before the informant's birth in
1911. The location which he indicated, about longitude
141 ?12' W., is at the chain of lagoons, lakes and small
streams near the former outlet of the Yahtse River,
(East Yahtse River of the chart). Tebenkov's map vn
of 1849 shows "Shoal Lake" at this location, close
to Point Riou or "Shoal Point" (see Davidson, 1904,
map vi).
According to another man, when the ancestors of
the Kwackqwan came to the coast they encountered a
people who made special canoes for sealing in the ice
(gudiyE; see p. 339). These seal hunters lived in the Icy
Bay area and kept their canoes hidden in LfgasA 'a,
'Tabooed Lake,' because they did not want the new-
comers to learn how these craft were made and used.
This informant believed that the lake was named
because of the efforts of the Icy Bay people to keep
their invention a secret. "I don't know the name of
that tribe at Icy Bay. They made war with us when
we came from Copper River. I asked Old Sampson
[1866-1948] and Jimmy Jackson [1861-1948], my
uncles, but they didn't know. They sneak up in war in
the nighttime." No other informant associated this
kind of canoe particularly with 'Tabooed Lake.' It
seems to have been an invention of the original Eyak-
speaking inhabitants of the Icy Bay-Yakutat Bay area,
and was used at Yakutat almost until the present
century.
No names were recorded for Point Riou or Riou
Bay. In fact, there is some confusion as to which side
of Icy Bay is designated by the names which I did
record, and this is not surprising in view of the fact
that the bay itself is so recent.
Point Guyot on the northwest side of the bay was
called Sit lutu, like Sitkagi Bluffs. "They call any place
the glacier sticks out sit lutu, or 'glacier's nose.' There
was a little camp out there, and they say it seems like
it moves. It's right on the glacier. I don't know any
name for it. In bad weather they camp here safe. It's
a harbor when they are getting sea otter. The glacier
used to be out 2 or 3 miles [into the water]." This
probably refers to the 1890's when the Tsimshian
used to come up to hunt sea otter in Icy Bay.
Guyot Bay, or "Mud Bay," inside Guyot Point, is
known in Tlingit as 'Tsimshian Bay/ TsutsxAn geyi.
This was because one of the Tsimshian hunters was
accidentally shot to death by a companion, and to pre-
serve his body for transportation home, he was evis-
cerated here. "There is a flat rock there?about 4 inches
thick. They put his guts on it. It used to stand up like a
totem pole. Now it's all washed away." Thus, "The
natives here claim that because the insides of the man
is buried in that ice, that's why the glacier is melting
away so fast. The glacier used to be sticking out. Now
you can hardly see any glacier there." A third in-
formant said that 'Tsimshian Bay,' was Riou Bay,
and that Point Riou was 'Tsimshian Point,' TsutsxAn
iayi. This would seem to have been cleared of ice
before Guyot Bay. Plafker and Miller (1958) date the
retreat of the Icy Bay glacier at about 1904. From the
observations of Captain Belcher in 1837 (1843, vol. 1,
pp. 79-81) one would assume that the ice had actually
advanced since Vancouver's expedition saw and named
Point Riou in 1794.
At a much earlier period, perhaps in the 17th or
early 18th century, before the glacier filled Icy Bay,
there was a village in Mud Bay. Because some young
fellows laughed at the glacier it came down and over-
whelmed the village. I heard one version of this story,
and another was recorded by Topham in 1888 (see p.
286). My informant had seen remnants of the forest
above Point Guyot which had been destroyed by this
advance and then uncovered by the retreat of the ice.
"Where you can see the trees still standing in the mud
98 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
and in the ground, you can make a fire with the trees.
There's nothing but oil in it and the trees burn just like
coal. I thought all of the wood was wet and wouldn't
burn. We just put a little in the stove and it flared up
and we burnt all our clothes. . . . I think it's oil that
gets in the trees. . . . Those trees that are in the
ground are just as hard as this table.
"In that mountain, too?I don't know how they
make it out. You can see the things that's supposed to
be on the beach way up in the rocks. Those twisted
shells are in the rocks. The shell is all rotted away,
but [the print in] the rock is still there. We saw some
way up high but we couldn't carry them home because
we had about six mountain goats to carry." He un-
doubtedly refers to the fossil shells in the Chaix
Hills, in what Russell called the Pinnacle formation,
and which were identified by W. H. Dall (Russell,
1893, pp. 25-26). My informant told me that at Icy
Bay one could also find banded greenstone, rock crys-
tal, and the rock called "weight on the glacier,"
sfflsA xuwu. (See Boas, 1917, p. 148; yl-xu 'to pin a
blanket,' k'l-yA-iu 'to peg,' and sl-xu 'to peg'; p. 162,
xuw).
At Mud Bay, and down the coast westward to Cape
Yakataga, there has been considerable prospecting
done for oil during the present century. Minnie Johnson
told how her first husband used to freight supplies
from Yakutat to these camps. "Mud Bay is at the
mouth of Icy Bay, on the left side going in. It has a
narrow entrance. The anchor won't hold there. The
bottom is quicksandlike. . . . The mountain sheep
[goats] are like sea gulls right in Icy Bay on the Mud
Bay side." A White man, "Tiny" Mike Sullivan, had
a cabin on the point, and Ed Herman started a road-
house near by. Oil from the drilling is said to have
killed all the fish in one of the streams (MJ). Still
earlier, when the prospectors were first investigating
the area, one native who hunted there refused the
handsome offer of $20 a day for taking canoe loads of
freight to Icy Bay, because he knew that the white
men would litter the ground with tin cans, frighten
away the game, and start forest fires through their
carelessness.
Icy Bay is still a favorite seal hunting area, and some
of the Yakutat men make regular excursions here, be-
fore or after the fishing season. On his second expedi-
tion to Mount Saint Elias, Russell (1893, p. 26),
climbed from the old mouth of the Yahtse River to
the Chaix Hills, where he noted
"a broad game trail which had evidently long been
used by bears, wolves, foxes, and mountain goats.
This well beaten thoroughfare skirts the foot of the
hills for several miles, and, as we afterwards learned,
is continued across the glacier 6 or 8 miles north-
eastward to the Samovar Hills. [He also noted the
luxuriant strawberry patches on the old beaches
near the mouth of the Yahtse River, where they
covered a triangular, parklike area, about 4 miles
square.] In July and August it is one great straw-
berry meadow, where luscious berries may be
gathered by the bushel. The Yakutat Indians visit
this natural garden in summer and they have
temporary houses near at hand in which they live
during the strawberry season. Bears, too, are fond
of the fruit, and their trails were seen everywhere
through the berry covered plain and along the
adjacent shore." [Ibid., p. 12.]
The vegetation along the edge of the Malaspina Glacier
in the Icy Bay area formed a dense forest of spruce,
alders, cottonwood, salmonberries, huckleberries, devil-
club, and ferns (mostly Asplenium) (ibid., pp. 20-21).
A number of Yakutat Indians told Goldschmidt and
Haas (1946, pp. 73-74) about Kffackqwan claims to Icy
Bay and about the hunting cabins some of the Yakutat
people had there. One of my friends told me: "In May,
you can see mountain goats any place around back of
Icy Bay. My father would start from Galyix [or
gAlyAx, Kaliakh River] and go the whole way back of
Icy Bay in the summer time. All young fellows would
do this?just camping. My father told me how he liked
hunting way behind the mountains. It was always
sunny there?no rain?just sunshine all the time."
Icy Bay to Copper River
The coastal lands extending westward about 100
miles from the Kwac?qwan boundary at "Big Valley"
near Icy Bay to Strawberry Point in Controller Bay
belonged to the Garyix-Kagwantan. Beyond them
lived the Tcicqedi, considered to be an offshoot from
them. In going west of Icy Bay we are not only enter-
ing the territory of another sib, but, in some respects,
entering that of another "tribe," since the inhabitants
were less influenced by Tlingit culture and language
than were their relatives at Yakutat. The Garyix-
Kagwantan are the people whom Emmons (1903,
pp. 231 f.) called the "Guth-le-uk-qwan," whose
territories were described as "extending west from
Cape Yaktag, through Controller Bay, and including
Kayak Island." (See Birket-Smith and de Laguna,
1938, pp. 340 ff., for discussions concerning their
identity.) In his later notes, Emmons refers to the
same people as the "Qwolth-yet-kwan," distinguishing
them from the Yakutat Tlingit, although they were
dominated by the latter. Both renderings of the name
seem to refer to the Kaliakh River, where one of their
most important villages was located. Their original
144?
6I?|? 143? 142?
!n
141?
?161?
Zfti ?
y/Vc
i WKOLTHIETH
Cape Yaka+aga
Cape Suckling
G U I, F O F A L A S K A
PROBABLE ROUTE OF THE PROSPECTORS
O S IO 15
S C A L E IN M I L E S

IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 99
language was Eyak, and even in the early 20th century,
when they were practically extinct, they still spoke
both Eyak and Tlingit. These people, like the Copper
River Eyak, were subjected earlier and much more
intensively to the disintegrating effects of Russian and
American contacts than were the Yakutat. In fact,
they had almost ceased to exist as a separate people
by the beginning of the present century. Those who
were drawn to Katalla and then to Cordova have
suffered the fate of the Eyak (Birket-Smith and de
Laguna, 1938, pp. 356-361). The descendants of others
who came to Yakutat have merged with the local
population, and it is through them that the Yakutat
people base their claims to the rich oil lands of Cape
Yakataga and Katalla.
According to the Coast Pilot (9, 1955, p. 89), the coast
between Icy Cape and Cape Yakataga is backed by a
line of stratified mountains, from 3,000-6,000 feet high,
their steep lower slopes clothed with dense thickets of
alders and other bushes. There has been considerable
prospecting and drilling for oil along the 15-mile stretch
between Umbrella Reef and the lowland just west of
Cape Yakataga. West of the cape the land slopes much
more gently, and there is a wider area between the edge
of Bering Glacier and the sea. West of Kaliakh River,
the terraine becomes low and swampy, until one reaches
the stratified ridge of Suckling Hills, which extend for
about 9 miles northeastward from a point about 2%
miles north of Cape Suckling. The latter is a low,
wooded point, but along the face of the hills west of it
there are sheer bluffs, 100 feet high. Between Cape
Suckling and the mouth of Kaliakh River, and about
20-25 miles west of the latter, Bering Glacier comes
down to tidewater at a lagoon called Seal River.
The entire stretch between Icy Cape and Cape
Suckling is about 67 nautical, or 77 statute, miles on a
straight course. It was somewhere along this shore that a
Galyix-Kagwantan youth found the wreck of a Russian
ship, the first vessel ever seen, hi which was a sole
woman survivor (see p. 256). Another informant
vaguely located the wreck as near Point Manby, much
farther east. Although differing in details, the native
story suggests the report received by Lieutenant
Puget m 1794 when he met Purtov at Yakutat Bay.
The Russian told him about a dangerous rocky shoal
about 15 miles long, and about 63 miles off a place
called "Leda unala," which Puget believed was Van-
couver's Point Riou. As Dall and Baker (1883, p. 213)
have pointed out, there is no such Russian word as
"unala," although "ledi-anoi" means 'icy.' The shoal
was apparently the same as the "Bajo Pamplona" of
the Spanish, sighted by Arteaga's expedition in 1779,
but incorrectly located (Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, p. 194;
vol. 2, p. 481; Jordan, 1958, pp. 147-148).
"Portoff himself had been on this shoal, taking
sea otters, and stated that the first discovery of it
was owing to a Russian galiot having had the mis-
fortune some years before to be wrecked upon it;
two of the crew were drowned, but the rest escaped in
then* boats. Since that period an annual visit had
been made to it for the purpose of killing sea otters,
which are there met with; and as it generally proves
advantageous, Portoff meant to stop there on his
return." [Vancouver, 1801, vol. 5, p. 386.]
Later the Spaniards told Vancouver himself about
this dangerous "Roca Pamplona," placing it S. 41?E.,
26 leagues from Cape Suckling, or about 8 miles from
the position indicated by Purtov to Lieutenant Puget
(Jordan, 1958, p. 148). (See map 24, p. 162.)
Vancouver suggests further that the shoal may have
been responsible for the loss of the Sea Otter under
Captain Tipping, who was lost in the summer of 1786
after leaving Captain Meares hi Prince William Sound.
"The Russians, it seems, hi navigating this coast
make but little use of the compass, even in steering
for the above shoal; on such occasions they depart
from some particular point on the coast, shape a
course by the land, and never fail to hit upon some
part of the shoal; and hence arises the probability
of its being extensive, as has been already men-
tioned." [Vancouver, 1801, vol. 5, p. 388.]
Davidson (1869, p. 148) quotes Tebenkov to the
effect that: "In 1794 Mate Talin, in the ship Orel
(Eagle), saw it and named it after his vessel but did
not determine its position." Apparently the navigators
of the Russian-American Company could not agree as
to its existence. One reported it as a "three-pointed
rock," and as such it is indicated on Tebenkov's chart
VII, while another insisted that he had sailed close by
its supposed position on a clear day without seeing it.
Although no one has since sighted any bar or rock hi
this area, including Davidson who headed the U.S.
Coast Survey party aboard the U.S. Revenue Steamer
Lincoln which looked for the shoal hi 1867, Davidson
himself (1869, p. 149) concluded that: "The circum-
stantial evidence appears too strong to doubt the exis-
tence of this rock." In this, his opinion was sharply
disputed by Dall and Baker (1883, pp. 213-214), and
since various searches failed to discover any reef or
shoal in these waters, "Pamplona Rock" was omitted
from subsequent Coast Pilots and charts.
Recent bathymetric surveys, however, have revealed
the existence of a submerged ridge, some 15 miles long,
lying at right angles to the shoreline, and some 30-odd
nautical miles south of Cape Yakataga, that is, hi the
locality described by Purtov and also quite close to
where Arteaga had sighted the shoal (making reasonable
corrections in his observations). Although this Pam-
plona Searidge is now covered by some 400 feet of
water, it is considered quite likely that it formed a reef
100 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
or rocky shoal in the late 18th and early 19th centuries,
but later sank, perhaps gradually or perhaps suddenly
during an earthquake (Jordan, 1958).
The Pamplona Searidge is of interest to us not only
because it seems to fit the general locale of the Galyix-
Kagwantan tradition of a wrecked ship, but also the
halibut fishing grounds where Raven tricked Bear into
killing himself (p. 868; Swanton, 1909, pp. 1-7).
Cape Yakataga is called Tayisli, 'Little Adze,' or
Tayis, 'Splitting Adz,' because of its shape.
Inside the cape is Raven's 'Canoe Road,' (yakw deyi).
There is a long reef here, and it is the only possible
landing place on this part of the coast, according to our
informants. The Coast Pilot (9, 1955, p. 89) warns that
"landing is possible only with occasionally smooth
seas." Emmons reported a sea otter camp here in 1887,
and said that boulders had been rolled out of the way to
make places on the beach where canoes could be drawn
up, hence the name 'canoe road.' The big breakers or
ground swells on the reef are Yel dutc or Yel t'utc ('Raven
black'?). Raven's wife was afraid of them, but since he
reassured her that they would not break, they don't
actually do so, and that is why one can go in and out
with a canoe, I was informed. The landing place was
made by Raven who came here with his wife, and here
they quarreled. "Up to this day a man always has to
quarrel with his wife when packing" (MJ). She threw
his adz ashore to make the point, and he threw her sew-
ing basket overboard. It is now a rock full of clams and
sea urch'ns, and is called Yel nasA 'ayi. The marks left
where Raven dragged his fish rack to the shore can still
be seen.
These associations with Raven remind us of features
at Dry Bay and Cape Fairweather, and the episode is
evidently one to which Galushia Nelson, our Eyak
informant at Cordova, alluded in his story of how
Raven made the world (Birket-Smith and de Laguna,
1938, p. 259).
At Cape Yakataga there is now a small airfield, post
office, and a few houses. I do not know whether any
natives live here. The salmon stream at Yakataga is
called 'Black Bear' in Eyak (tsiiyyuu), according to
Harrington.
The Duktoth River which enters the sea just west of
Cape Yakataga is called Gexta'al, and is particularly
important as forming the last lap of a trade route, or
"shortcut," from the interior, by means of which
native copper in rough bar form was brought to the
coast, tradition records. The barrier of glaciers which
would have to be crossed, consisting of the eastern
edge of the Bering Glacier, the central part of the
Bagley Ice Field, and the latter's northern arm, the
Tana Glacier, at altitudes of 2,000-5,000 feet, seemed
so impassable that I consulted the late Don Miller of
the U.S. Geological Survey, who was very familiar with
this whole region. He informed me (letter of October 30,
1957): "The site reported on the Duktoth River as a
trading place for copper brought from the interior is
plausible as this route over the Bering and Tana
Glaciers to the Chitina Valley was followed by several
prospectors in the early 1900's, the first attempt
apparently having been made on the basis of the native
legend." He was kind enough to furnish me (letter of
December 6, 1957) with references to Moffit (1918,
p. 77), to field notes of A. G. Maddren of the U.S.
Geological Survey, and to information which he himself
had collected. These reports refer to trips made by
prospectors in 1905 and 1906, possibly also in 1907,
after an unsuccessful exploration in 1904. The length
of the journeys across the ice took 3, 10, 16, and 18
days, perhaps depending upon the particular routes
chosen. The prospectors might line a skiff up the
Duktoth River, then follow up a small tributary to the
northwest which heads in a divide about 200 feet above
the surface of Bering Glacier. This place (or a nearby
locality) was called "Natural Arch." From here the
route mounted the glacier, between Mounts Steller and
Miller, until a point on the middle of the Bagley Ice
Field was reached.
It was then possible to continue in one of two direc-
tions. The first way led past a 4,000-foot nunatak,
"Spruce Island" (?), slightly east of north, to Granite
Creek, at what was called "North Landing"(?), where
the creek was crossed. From here, there was an easy
pass to the Kiagna River, a tributary of the Chitina,
and a scene of some gold excitement at various times.
Or, one could take the longer but perhaps smoother
route to the northwest, descending the Tana Glacier,
then following down the Tana River to the Chitina
River, and thus to the Copper River. Moffit (1918,
p. 77) notes that one of the parties who crossed the
icefields to Granite Creek "saw evidence that the
Indians knew this route to the coast." A second party
found a piece of split wood about 2 feet long on a
moraine on Bering(?) Glacier, which they thought the
Indians had left.
It should be noted that to the Atna Indians, the
Chitina River, the big eastern tributary of the Copper
River, is the 'copper river,' T6Edi'na', and the Tana
River is the Ltana'. The latter is transposed into
Tlingit, and is used for a man's name, curiously enough,
by the Tl'trknaxAdi, as idaxim or Ldaxin (properly,
Lta-hin). In one story, Swanton (1909, pp. 163-165)
renders the name as Ldahi'n, but in his version of the
Kwackqwan migration story, reference is made to a
"valley called Ltaxe'n, leading down to Copper river,"
where the emigrants had left behind a valuable copper
(1909, Tale 105, p. 354). The Kwackqwan believe that
their ancestral name, Gfnex, refers either to the Brem-
ner or to the Little Bremner River, tributaries to the
145
1-60?
145"
MAP 17.?Controller Bay.

IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 101
Copper River that rise near the Tana River. None of
our Atna informants, however, was sufficiently ac-
quainted with localities below Chitina for us to check
the names of these rivers.
It is probable that the Kwaclsqwan migration
followed the route up the Tana Glacier, over the
Bering Glacier, and down the Duktoth River. The
great terraced steps on which they rested and sang
during their descent toward the shore were features
which Belcher (1843, vol. 1, pp. 76, 81-82) noticed on
the Bering Glacier near Cape Suckling.
Kaliakh River, from which the local Eyak-speaking
Galyix-Kagwantan derive their name, drains the
western part of Bering Glacier. It was here that the
Kagwantan came, drifting in canoes, during the
Flood, and landed because they were attracted by
the beautiful mountain above the river. This is Kul-
thieth or "Robin"(?) Mountain, called T6Awa.?, which
was described as striped with all pretty colors (banded
sedimentary rocks?), as if it had been painted, and
was bright where the water ran down. There was
formerly a village, G l^iyA or GatyAX> on the Kaliakh
River near this mountain, reported by informants and
by a resident of Cape Yakataga to Don Miller. Harring-
ton gives kalyAx as the Eyak name for the river.
According to Krauss, galyAx means 'the lowest' of a
series. One of my informants who had visited this area
as a boy in 1900 saw the remains of a large old-style
house on the west side of the river. This was the
Beaver House of the Galyix-Kagwantan, and the
village their "capital town," where they defended
themselves against an Aleut attack. The famous
Teqwedi from Yakutat, ^Catgawet, is said to have
fought beside the local chief, his father-in-law. The
Kwacl:qwan also lived here. In 1900, I gather, the
main settlement was at Yakataga Village.
This area is traditionally rich in furs, especially
beaver and sea otter, but was too small to support a
large population. In consequence, the Tcicqedi (Eagles),
"cousins" of the Kagwantan, who had followed them,
had to live "farther west in the swampy place." Later,
when the Kagwantan multiplied and spread into Con-
troller Bay and to Bering River, they continued to
use the Kaliakh country for hunting. The Tcicqedi
were given territory near the mouth of the Copper
River, by their Raven fathers, the Copper River
"GanAxtedi." Later, the "GanAxtedi" took back some
of their land, because the Tcicqedi were getting too
many furs. The last two sibs are represented among
the Copper River Eyak.
Billy Jackson (1883-1951) told Goldschmidt and
Haas (1946, p. 74) that his people, the Kwaciqwan
(traditionally spouses of the Galyix-Kagwantan),
used to go to
". . . a river called gaLgox which belonged to the
Kagwantan. It is about eight miles west of Yakutegi.
We went up to the head of the river and had houses
at the mouth and at the head of the river. One of
these houses belongs to my brother and me. My
brother was there last in 1911. Nobody goes up there
now except a man named Sawak, a Tlingit from
Katalla [the informant's nephew.]"
On a stream, Tcuqe or Djuke, entering the Kaliakh
River from the north, Yakategy John, who built
the Wolf Bath House at Yakutat, used to put up
fish. There were presumably other fishing and hunting
camps in the area about which we were given no specific
information.
Emmons (MS.) mentions the tradition of an ancient
village, "She-ta-ha-na-ta," somewhere west of Yaka-
taga, but otherwise not located, which was swept away
by an advance of the ice, or by a flood of glacier melt
water. It may be in the Kaliakh River area, or possibly
on the Bering River (see below). Krauss suggests that
the name "She-ta-ha-na-ta" may be Eyak for 'north-
ward (upstream) he lives' (ci-da' gAlAtah).
On the cliffs at Cape Suckling are said to be faces,
some turned sidewise, and also arms and legs. These
were made by Raven, who "did a lot of funny things
around there, shaping the land," it is said. Captain
Belcher who sailed eastward along this coast in 1837
reports (1843, vol. 1, p. 77): "In one direction from the
southward, Cape Suckling exhibits on its lower profile,
the brow, nose, and lips of a man. It is a low neck,
stretching out from a mountainous isolated ridge, which
terminates about three miles from it easterly, where
the fiats of the ice pyramids just aluded to terminate"
[i.e., the evenly cracked steps on Bering Glacier].
A man who has walked from Cordova to Yaka-
taga said that there was a cave at Cape Suckling, with
rock crystals, but that these did not seem to be valued
by the natives. This is evidently 'Raven's House,' Yel
hidi. The same man said that he had been told that
there were whale bones on top of "Cape Suckling
Mountain."
At Controller Bay one leaves the exposed coast and
again enters somewhat sheltered waters. We may con-
sider the eastern limit of this area to be Cape Suckling,
from the base of which the low sand dunes stretch west-
ward 7 nautical or 8 statute miles, to form Okalee Spit,
even though the cape itself is exposed. Similarly, Kayak
Island, which with Okalee Spit shelters Controller Bay
from the south, thrusts itself far into the Pacific. This
is an island some 20 miles long, narrow, and rising in
the middle to peaks about 1,390 feet high. The western
edge of Controller Bay is formed by the smaller Wing-
ham and Kanak Islands. The eastern shore of Controller
Bay is low and swampy, with quicksands reported
near the mouth of one of the main streams which drain
102 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
into the bay from the western edge of Bering Glacier.
Bering River enters the bay from the north, and from
here until one reaches the edge of the Copper River
delta beyond Cape Martin, the north shore is low but
backed by higher hills, and is scalloped into three small
bays, from east to west: Redwood Bay, Strawberry
Harbor, and Katalla Bay.
Controller Bay was an area claimed by both Chugach
and Indians (see pp. 18-19; and Birket-Smith and
de Laguna, 1938, pp. 17, 341-354). There is no question
but that the Tlingitized Eyak were established in the
area at the end of the 18th or beginning of the 19th
century, and that there were Chugach on Kayak
Island at the time of Bering's discovery. The extent
of the Chugach holdings and the validity of their claims
are naturally disputed by both sides. Dr. Krauss (letters
of December 20, 27,1966, and January 9, 1967) believes
that the Eyak were on the mainland snores of Controller
Bay, becoming progressively more Tlingit acculturated,
while the Chugach were on the islands of Controller
Bay, from which they were finally expelled by the
Tlingit and Tlingitized Eyak.
As observed by a former native resident of Katalla,
when asked why so many places in Controller Bay had
"Aleut" (Chugach) names: "The Aleut tried to take
the land away from us. They are the strongest and
smartest nation. My tribe [Tcicqedi] chased them back
to Hinchinbrook Island [in Prince William Sound].
This was long before the Russians came," said my
informant. Actually, this may have been about 1792,
only a few years before the Russians established them-
selves at Yakutat, but, of course, the enmity between
the Eyak and the Chugach is traditional and there
were probably plenty of battles before that. In any
case, the 19th-century population in the Controller
Bay area seems to have been mixed, for there were not
only Eyak-speaking Galyix-Kagwantan, Tcicqedi, and
others, but Tlingit-speakers from Yakutat, and one
very old lady remembered as a child hearing Atna
spoken at Chilkat on Bering River (KDI).
Controller Bay was evidently an area in which Raven
was active. I have already mentioned his cave house
and the faces in the rock at Cape Suckling. Kayak
Island was a whale which he harpooned, and Wingham
Island was his kayak (see below). Okalee Spit was
Raven's harpoon line, sometimes called Yel xaxtl'i oi
xotl'i (probably Yel xukth', referring to the line from
the shaft to the float). A rock between the base of the
spit and Cape Suckling was Raven's float, Yel kAtsis.
Okalee River, which enters Controller Bay just
north of Okalee Spit, was the site of a Galyix-Kagwan-
tan settlement, Qaxtale (pronounced 'axdAlih by the
Eyak, but probably of Chugach origin, according to
Krauss). Here was a Beaver House, where a woman
shaman revived some boys who had been stabbed by
their uncle, the chief, for being cowardly (see p. 714).
This happened about 1860-70(?). Now all that can be
seen near the mouth of the river is one old log cabin
and the remains of two others.
As is well known, it was Cape Saint Elias, the
conspicuous southern point of Kayak Island, some
1,600 feet high, that was Bering's landfall in 1741.
The spot where Steller landed and found a semisub-
terranean Chugach house or cache was near the south
edge of the promontory on the northwest side of the
island, at about latitude 59?55' N. The Russians
landed at the stream on the northwest shore, near
longitude 144Q30' W. Bering's fleet master, Khitrov,
explored Wingham Island just north of Kayak Island,
where he found a summer hut of planks. For an account
of what the Russians found and what they left in
exchange, see the descriptions in Golder, 1925, and the
interpretation in Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938
(pp. 341-351).
Emmons denies that there was ever a permanent
village on Kayak Island, but thinks it was a camping
place for sea otter hunters. This is corroborated by the
Chugach whose camp had been visited by Steller, as
reported to Sauer and Sarychev in 1790, and by the
Chugach that Zaikov's expedition met in Controller
Bay in 1783. However, the Chugach interpreter with
Ismailov and Bocharov, who visited Kayak Island in
1788 reported that both Chugach and "Ugalak mutes"
(i.e., Ugalenz, or Eyak-speakers), used to visit the
island when hunting sea otters. In mid-July, 1794, the
Chatham found a "village that had been recently
deserted" (presumably for the summer) on the low,
wooded shore "near the north-east point of Kaye's
island," that is, Kayak Island (Vancouver, 1801, vol. 5,
p. 381). The expedition also visited the bird cliffs on
the western side of Wingham Island, where they se-
cured 60 dozen eggs of "two sorts of gulls, sea parrots
[puffins], shags [cormorants], and curlews" (p. 380).
Kayak Island (Kaye's Island), or "Big Kayak," is
referred to as 'On the Whale,' YaykA, and it is said
that one can smell the fat on it. The meat is black and
the fat is white. Raven's harpoon is stuck into it some-
where. Lemesurier Point, at the northeast end, is the
'Whale Head,' Yay ca. A crack where "steam" comes
out is the whale's blowhole. Also on the island, is a
"Spirit House," S'ege qawu hidi, literally 'dead person's
house.' This is probably a cave. It is slippery in front
of the "house," and if you fall when walking past, you
must scream like a fox, or you will die. A human
"spirit" (ghost) lives there, and the rock looks like a
curtain tied up for a door. There is a high cliff on the
island, too, down which fall rocks like marbles. Raven
said, "Don't drop on anyone's head," so they don't.
They fall all around you when you walk, but they
don't hit you.
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 103
A man who was well acquainted with Kayak Island,
having carried mail to the lighthouse at Cape Saint
Elias for 5 years, and who had also walked along
both sides of the island, was able to confirm some of the
above information. The place where pebbles drop is
probably near the lighthouse, for once when he was
walking there, a tiny pebble fell off the 1,400-foot cliff,
bounced, and struck his companion on the knee. "So
the Raven didn't stop that." Just north of Steller's
hill on the west side (Golder, 1925, vol. 2, fig. 4), and
barely above high water mark, is a big cave, the inside
of which is stained brown as if painted. This may be
the ghost's house. There is no crack emitting steam,
but near the middle of the eastern shore where big
boulders have fallen down, the surf that comes in is
thrown up like a whale's spout. There is a lot of white
rock on the island, but my informant had never de-
tected any smell. Now, the island is overrun with
martens, abandoned after an unsuccessful venture in
fur farming.
In 1886, Seton-Karr (1887, p. 147, p. 157 and illus-
tration) visited a small settlement, "Kaiak," on "Kaiak
Island," where some Scandinavians had a trading post
(pi. 68). This was "picturesquely situated behind
cliffs, facing the mainland, sheltered by the two islands
Kaiak and Mitchell [Wingham]." There were a few
Indian huts, corresponding in style to the Chugach
summer smokehouses, although the names of the sea
otter hunters whom he met, at least those that could
be recognized, seemed to be Tlingit (p. 158). The
language was a mixture of "Chilcat, Russian, and
Chinook," and although the Indians "designate them-
selves as Chilcats [from their main village on Bering
River] . . . [they] are known to the traders as Coloshes"
(pp. 160 f.)- Reference in this account is also made to
"the point of Little Kaiak you see just opposite," so
that we cannot be sure whether the post was on the
northern end of Kayak Island, or was the settlement
called Kayak on Wingham or "Little Kayak" Island.
Wingham Island is a low, wooded island about 4%
miles long, lying north of "Big" Kayak Island, and
was supposed to have been Raven's kayak, pronounced
kayak by a Tlingit^speaker, and qiyAq (giyAg) by an
Eyak-speaker. This was recognized as a Chugach word.
Harrington's informant gave the name thaattl'a&t for
"Small Kayak" or Wingham Island. My Tcicqedi
informant claimed the island for his sib, but others
reported that it belonged to the Galyix-Kagwantan,
who used to come there in spring for seals, halibut,
cod, and black seaweed. There was a Beaver House
at the old village, built of Seattle lumber, and was still
standing in 1900-1908. There was also a Galyix-
Kagwantan cemetery nearby. The White people were
already here at the time the Beaver House was built,
and had a cannery. The village is called "Kayak" on
the charts and is located on the southern part of the
east coast. There was probably a Raven house here
also, since Galushia Nelson, a Cordova Eyak, remem-
bered going to a potlatch on "Kayak Island" when he
was only 8 years old, to which all the Copper River
Eyak were invited by the Yakutat Tlingit (Birket-
Smith and de Laguna, 1838, pp. 181 f.). Undoubtedly
this was at Kayak village on "Little Kayak" or Wing-
ham Island, and we may assume that the hosts were
Kwac?qwan.
Emmons (MS.) reported an old village site, "Tark
Hart," on the northeast point of "Little Kayak Island,"
with 10 log cabins in 1888. By 1903 it was only a stop-
ping place for steamers.
According to Moser (1899, pp. 129-133), 20 canneries
were built in Alaska in 1889, of which 4 were near
the Copper River delta, but of these only 2 were still
functioning 10 years later. One cannery was built by
the Central Alaska Company on Wingham ("Little
Kayak or Mitchell") Island in 1889, but moved away
the following year. On the same island was the cannery
of the Peninsula Trading and Fishing Company which
put up packs in 1889 and 1890, and then was moved
to "Coquenhena" (Kokenhinik) on the Copper River
delta where it was operated until a change in the
river channel forced its abandonment in 1897. More
permanent were the two canneries in Prince William
Sound: Odiak near Cordova, and Orca farther up the
channel. However, all drew upon the same runs.
Moser (1899, pp. 132 ff.) describes the "wanton fishing"
of Eyak Lake near Cordova, and reports how the
Copper River Indians rejoiced when the Coquenhena
cannery was closed, for in 1896 they were on the
verge of starvation for lack of fish. A Yakutat man
(born 1893) remembers going to Kayak when he was
4 or 5 years old and walking over the rusty cans left
at the abandoned cannery site. His family would go
there in the spring, then move to Bering River in
August to put up salmon. Already the native population
was declining, and because he was the only little boy,
so lonely without any other child with whom to play,
some White prospectors coming through from Yakataga
with dog teams gave him two pups.
Kanak Island, low and flat and about 3% miles long,
does not seem to have been inhabited until it, like
Wingham Island in recent years, was turned into a
fox farm. It is called "Egg Island," or Ginlq, said
by an Eyak-speaker at Yakutat to be an "Aleut"
word. Harrington rendered this as Kinnak, and
Krauss reports the Eyak pronunciation as ginAg,
although it was probably derived from the Chugach
word for 'fire' (kiniq).
The most important settlement on Controller Bay
was on the firm ground just west of the mouth of Bering
River. This was Chilkat, or Djilqat (Harrington,
104 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
tjilkhaat), meaning 'salmon cache' in Tlingit, and
apparently named in imitation of the Chilkat tribe on
Lynn Canal in southeastern Alaska. It was inhabited by
Galyix-Kagwantan, Tcicqedi, and, according to Em-
mons, by the "GanAxtedi." He noted that the first sib
had Wolf House and Beaver House here, the Tcicqedi
had Eagle House, and the GanAxtedi had Raven House;
all were in ruins by the beginning of the century. Many
Kagwantan are buried here.
According to my informants the "original" houses
had been farther up the river, even above Bering Lake.
When the river flooded, Beaver and Wolf Houses were
washed down to the south side of the lake, below
Skookum Mountain. A place called 'Anakwe, said to be
an Eyak name (probably not, according to Krauss),
was where the beavers had built their den, and there
a flood had drowned them all, leaving only the single
little beaver from whom the Galyix-Kagwantan ac-
quired the Beaver crest and the Beaver's mourning
song, now used at potlatches (1952, 7-1-B; pp. 254-256).
Apparently the original Beaver House of the sib was
built at the same place and suffered the same fate.
The Tcicqedi had a house on the center of the south
shore of Bering Lake, opposite Poul Point, perhaps at
the spot to which Beaver House and Wolf House had
drifted. There was a fishing place at "Smoke Salmon
Stream" up Bering River, where they used to put up
fish in August. On the mountains above Bering River
many Kwackqwan men (visiting hunters, relatives of
the owners?) were killed in a big snowslide, presumably
about 1900. This mountain was called 'Ukwyanta.
Billy Jackson (1883-1951), a Kwaclqwan man who
was born in Cordova, his mother's home, and whose
father was a Galyix-Kagwantan man, told Gold-
schmidt and Haas (1946, p. 73):
"There was a place just below Cordova [sic]
called djiLgat where I smoked salmon and hunted.
We got black and brown bear, fox, land otter, king
salmon and berries. I left there in 1911 but have been
back a few times to hunt. There were five smoke-
houses when I was there about four miles up the
river. This place belongs to the Kagwantan tribe."
Moving westward along the north shore of Controller
Bay from Chilkat, one comes first to the shallow in-
dentation of Redwood Bay, behind Point Hay or
"Pete's Point." The point is apparently called Tsadli-
yat, said to be a Chugach word. Krauss reports, how-
ever, that it is Eyak, meaning 'in a stone (container)'
(tsadla-ya'd), an expression commonly applied to
bodies of water. Beyond this again is Strawberry
Harbor and Strawberry Point. The last is called in
Tlingit 'Where They Dig Spruce Roots,' Xat
'AdulsEl'yE, and was formerly an important settlement.
The "second" Beaver House was built here, after the
destruction of the first on Bering River. This was an
old-style building, belonging to Helen Bremner's
mother's mother's mother's brother. Until recently an
old war canoe is said to have been visible near the
foundations. The "third" Beaver House was the one
built on Wingham Island, but when the earlier one on
Strawberry Point fell down in 1908, it was replaced by
a frame building built by Chief John and his nephew
John Bremner, and was named both Beaver House and
Wolf House. There is also a Galyix-Kagwantan cemetery
on the point. The descendants of these men now live at
Yakutat, and it is through them that the native claims
to the oil lands are based. Even when the last Beaver
House was being built, White men were disputing
Indian land rights, but a friend of Chief John, a White
man named Frank Laughton, is said to have helped
him to establish his title before Judge Wilson(?) at
Katalla. The house was built not only to honor the
ancestors, but "to hold the land for the Kagwantan"
(Harry K. Bremner).
"The oil people have driven the natives away. The
ground is just soaked with oil. My mother's uncles
can't make a fire, except on a sandy place. They use
the moss to start the fire. They can't drink water
from there. They can drink Bering River, but not
water around Redwood Bay. . . . In Katalla Bay,
between Katalla and Strawberry Point, even when
the high tide comes in, there's a blue flame of fire.
But even in the southeast storm, it disappears. You
can light it again with a match.' (Helen Bremner.)
[cf. Martin, 1907.]
From Strawberry Point to Copper River, the ter-
ritory belongs to the Tcicqedi.
Katalla, on the western side of Katalla Bay near
its head, is now only a village. Landing is difficult
because the sea generally breaks on the bar in front
of the Katalla River, and on the beach to the west
"with southeasterly or southwesterly winds, landing
is impracticable" (Coast Pilot, 9, 1955, p. 92). The
settlement is called Qatana. (Note that n and I are
frequently interchanged by Tlingit speakers.) This
was occupied by the Galyix-Kagwantan, Tcicqedi,
and GanAxtedi. About 1870(?), the Tcicqedi had an
Eagle House, also known as On-a-Platform House,
with two carved house posts.
When the Copper River Railroad was being built
to bring down ore from the great copper mines at
McCarthy and Kennicott on the upper Chitina River,
it was expected that Katalla would be the salt water
terminus. An informant, who had been here as a
boy, said, "Katalla was only a tent town in 1907,
but the next year there were big saloons. The boom
didn't last long." Another, who has lived in Katalla
all his life, told me that at one time there were 4,000
people in Katalla and 14 fancy saloons, with real
mahogany bars and beautiful glassware. Although the
IN THREE PARTS HOMELAND OF THE YAKUTAT TLINGIT 105
right-of-way had been cleared, trestles built over the
sloughs and rivers from Katalla to Copper River,
and even some of the rails laid, it was found impossible
to build the needed breakwater at Katalla. So the
railroad was put in from Cordova, where there is an
excellent harbor, even though the route is longer. As
soon as the decision was made in faver of Cordova,
Katalla became a ghost town, the saloons and stores
with all their contents abandoned. This happened
before the steamer Portland was wrecked on Katalla
beach in 1910. At Katalla were also 17 producing oil
wells, a refinery and an absorption plant, finally closed
in 1929.
Some of my Yakutat informants had worked on
building the railroad, and in this way met the Chitina
Atna from whom the Kwackqwan were descended.
A small Tcicqedi village on the "Salmon River"
between Katalla and Cape Martin was called Kuxutliya,
or KAxotleya, an Eyak name (MxunlAyah), meaning
'tooth' according to Krauss. The lake here is called
Lake Kammtla on the map.
Just west of Katalla Bay between Palm Point and
Cape Martin lie the two Martin Islands: Whale, and
Fox or Kiktak, the outer island on which the light is
located. The latter is known as QrxtAq, the Chugach
name for "island" as pronounced by an Eyak-speaker
at Yakutat (See Birket-Smith 1953, p. 237; qiqertuAq,
'island').
The Tcicqedi village on Cape Martin is QixtAqlAq,
'Behind Martin Island,' as pronounced in Eyak, or
GixtaqdAq according to a Tlingit-speaker. (Harrington
records these names as kiixtAk and kiixtAk-lAkt;
Krauss as gixdAg and gixdAgUg, confirming my deri-
vation.) I was also told that inland from Cape Martin
was an old forest. Long ago, when looking for mink
signs, a man came upon an old, old native graveyard,
consisting of grave houses, which he believes had
been established long before White people. There
was someone in Cordova who had heard about it and
wanted to dig there, but my informant threatened to
report him to the authorities if he violated the graves.
This man had not heard about the village at Cape
Martin, however.
Seton-Karr (1887, p. 164) stopped at this village in
1886 on his way from Yakutat to Nuchek. "The Indian
village is partially fenced with stockading; the houses
are merely single-roomed, but of moderate size. Long
ago, there was a fur-trading post here, but it was
abandoned." This sketch (pi. 69) shows the buildings
to be of ordinary log cabin construction.
There has been some question as to whether this
settlement should be classed as "Eyak" or "Tlingit."
Apparently Eyak was spoken here in 1884, although
Tlingit from Yakutat used to come to the trading post
265-517?72?TOL VII, pt, 1 9
(Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 22-24). A
precise distinction however, should not be attempted,
although west of this point we are certainly dealing
with the classic Eyak among whom Tlingit influence
was far less pronounced than among their relatives
east of Cape Martin.
All of the area between Cape Martin and the edge
of Prince William Sound at Point Whitshed, about 50
statute or 43.5 nautical miles, lies behind the chain
of low sand islands, 4 or 5 miles offshore, which have
been formed by the vast silt deposits brought down
by the Copper River, and its companions, the eastern
most of which is the Martin River. Since this area has
been described already by Birket-Smith and myself
(1938), I will add here only the additional items of
information obtained at Yakutat.
From Katalla, a trail led behind the mountains
(i.e., Lone Baldy, about 1,200 feet high) to another
Tcicqedi village on Softuk Lagoon. This was called
in Tlingit Saxw1iall: or SAxwdAq, 'Behind the Cockles'
(in Eyak sahwlAg, according to Krauss). It was supposed
to have been the first settlement established by the
Raven GanAxtedi, a branch of the Atna Ginexqwan
who had become separated from their relatives when
crossing the glacier, and who turned westward to the
Copper River while the others went east to Yakutat.
A camp on Martin River, S'a'diqe, was used for
hunting in fall and spring. This is Tsa'di-q, from
tsa-dA-'e'-q, meaning in Eyak 'on the place of (frequently
absent?) mud flats,' according to Krauss. In 1886,
Seton-Karr noted two Indian houses on a point, ap-
parently in this locality, where the Indians were hunting
seals (1887, p. 168).
A Tcicqedi camp at the mouth of the Copper River
was called KagAn blni, Tlingit for 'Stickleback River.'
This is Kokenhenik where the cannery was established,
1890-97.
On a western branch of the Copper River was the
Eyak town of Alaganik, known at Yakutat as
'AnAXAnlq. Krauss derives the Eyak name 'AnAxAnAg
from the Chugach alaaaanaq, 'mistake' (or 'wrong
turn'?), a common Eskimo place name. It came to the
Eyak via the Tlingit who transformed the I to n.
This was a GanAxtedi village, where also lived some
"TlukwaxAdi" (not to be confused with the Raven
sib of the same name at Dry Bay).
The present town of Cordova and the former native
village near by called Eyak (no distinction was made
at Yakutat) were both known as '1-yaq, and the in-
habitants as 'I-yaqqwan. According to Krauss, the
name 'i-ya^g is in origin a Chugach place name. The
sibs that lived here were the Raven GanAxtedi and
Quslke'di (or Kuslkedi) and the Eagle Tcicqedi. Many
older Yakutat people had visited Cordova in their
youth, and now some of the men go there for commercial
106 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
fishing. But the Eyak community is gone. territory, as well as for tribes and peoples, should be
The Copper River itself is known to the Yakutat as compared with the Eyak versions recorded in Cordova
'Iq hfni ('iq hfni), and the Atna as 'Copper Diggers' in 1933 (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 543-
'Iq kAhaqwan. (See Boas, 1917, p. 155, 'eq, 'copper'; 545). I am grateful for the corrections and explanations
p. 134, kA-yl-ha, 'to dig.') supplied by Dr. Michael E. Krauss (letter of December
All of these names for places in and near Eyak 20, 1966).
Through Alien Eyes: A History of Yakutat
108 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
18TH-CENTURY EXPLORATION
The First Explorers (1741-83)
The first Europeans to visit the Gulf Coast of
Alaska were members of the Imperial Russian ex-
pedition under "Captain-Commander Vitus Bering,
the Dane" (Golder, 1922-25). From our point of view
the most important person aboard Bering's ship, the
Sv Petr (St. Peter), was the German-born naturalist,
Georg Wilhelm Steller, then attached to the Imperial
Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, to whom
"we are indebted . . . for some of the most reliable
information concerning the Russian discoveries on the
American coast" (Bancroft, 1886, p. 54).
Bering sailed from Petropavlosk, Siberia, on June 4,
1741, accompanied by the Sv Pavel (St. Paul), under
Capt. Alexei Chirikov, in order to discover and explore
the reported American mainland to the eastward; but
the two ships became separated on June 19, and
Chirikov sailed toward the east, encountering the
Tlingit on Chichagof Island, while Bering wandered
to the northeast. Landfall was made by the Sv Petr
on July 16, when Mount Saint Elias and its range
were sighted. On July 20, the Sv Petr reached Cape
Saint Elias, as Bering named the southern promentory
of Kayak Island in Controller Bay, and anchored
under its western shore. Steller landed at a cove
(subsequently named for him) on the west side of
Kayak Island, while Fleet Master Sofron Khitrov
investigated nearby Wingham Island. A native hut
was visited at each of these localities, although the
inhabitants were absent or had run away, and since
Bering refused to linger off Kayak Island even long
enough to fill the water casks, only meager information
was secured about the natives of Controller Bay
(Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 345-350).
Chirikov, meanwhile, had sighted land near what is
now Dixon Entrance and followed the coast northward
to latitude 57?50' N., off the northern end of Chichagof
Island. Here he sent a boat ashore, probably into the
treacherous waters of Lisianski Strait, and, when it
failed to return, dispatched the second. Neither was ever
seen again, nor are we ever likely to know whether the
crews were lost in the tidal currents or were captured
by the Tlingit, who afterward came toward the ship
in two canoes in what the Russians interpreted as a
hostile manner. Having waited a week and being with-
out small boats, the only means of landing on American
soil, Chirikov could do nothing but set sail for Siberia.
On his return voyage he, too, sighted the snowy crest
of Mount Saint Elias. (Bering's expedition is fully
documented in Golder, 1922-25.)
The direct effect of Bering's expedition upon the
Gulf Coast natives could only have been slight, aside
from the green cloth, iron kettle, iron knives, iron pipe
and tobacco, and Chinese beads that were left in the
hut on Kayak Island (Birket-Smith and de Laguna,
1938, p. 350); but the ultimate indirect effects were
incalculable. On the homeward voyage the Sv Petr was
wrecked on one of the Commander Islands between
Alaska and Kamchatka (named for Bering, who died
there), and here the survivors found the sea otter. Not
only did they eat the flesh, but preserved the skins,
and when the castaways finally succeeded in returning
to Kamchatka with their furs it was the high prices
paid for sea otter pelts that led within a year to what
Bancroft (1886, p. 99) has aptly called "the swarming
of the Promyshleniki," destined to overwhelm the
newly discovered lands and their inhabitants.
Controller Bay was later known to have been con-
tested by the Chugach Eskimo of Prince William Sound
and the Eyak Indians, but it would appear that the
semisubterranean hut visited by Steller on Kayak
Island was a summer camp of the Chugach, although
we can be less certain about the plank house on Wing-
ham Island (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938,
pp. 341-352; Birket-Smith, 1953, pp. 8-9, 18-20; de
Laguna, 1956, pp. 9-10). At this time the Eyak were
presumably living at the mouth of the Copper River
and probably along the Gulf Coast east of Cape Suckling.
Perhaps they also lived on the mainland shores of
Controller Bay, even though a branch of the Chugach
also claimed the islands. Later in the 18th century,
however, the Eskimo were driven from Controller Bay,
and only Eyak were to be encountered from the eastern
edge of Prince William Sound and the Copper River
all the way to Yakutat, where the first Tlingit were
met, apparently expanding westward. Nor should we
forget that a branch of Atna Athabaskans had come aa
permanent settlers to the coast and that their relatives
on the middle Copper River made annual trading trips
to the Eyak and the Chugach.
The multiplicity of tribal groups and the complex-
ities of population movements often make it difficult
for us to identify the natives encountered by the various
European explorers, especially since the Russians, who
came to know them be3t, often lumped together all the
tribes from the "Vancouver Sounds" (southeastern
Alaska) to "Chugatz Bay" (Prince William Sound),
and even the Athabaskans of the hinterland, under the
one term "Kolosh," although more careful authors
recognized the linguistic differences between the Kaigan
(northern Haida), Sitka Kolosh (Tlingit), Ougalentz
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 109
(Eyak), Mednovtze (Atna), and so on (Tikhmenev,
1863, vol. 2, pp. 340-342). Thus, Tebenkov (1852, pp.
32, 33, 35; cf. Davidson, 1869, p. 56) asserts that the
Ugalentz, numbering 1,300 (!), live between Chugatz
Bay and Yakutat, while from Yakutat to latitude 52?
N. lives a tribe who call themselves "Klinkit" or
"people," but who are known to the Russians as
"Koloshi." But even the local vocabularies or native
place names recorded by early explorers may be no
sure guide to tribal identity, for, according to Davidson
(1901 b, p. 44), Tebenkov:
"says that every year the Tchugatz, (Prince William
Sound) and the Yakootat Indians meet at the Copper
River to barter; and that the Russians first learned
of the shoal water between the mainland and Kayak
Island, and off the delta of the Copper River from
them. He further states that all places east to Yak-
outat bay have each four names; given by the
Tchugatz [Chugach Eskimo], the Oogalentz [Eyak],
the Copper River Indians [Atna Athabaskans], and
the Koloshes [Tlingit]; and that the name Kayak is
Koloshian."
Although Tebenkov was writing in the middle of the
19th century, much of his information was derived
from earlier sources, and I have no doubt that his
statement applies with equal validity to conditions in
the 18th century.
But not all our difficulties of geographical and tribal
identification are due to native movements, disputed
territorial claims, or multiple designations for the same
place. The European explorers were equally guilty of
confusion, especially when they tried to claim the same
territory for their respective sovereigns, name the same
landmarks in honor of their own friends and patrons,
or, when they thought they were following in another's
track, carelessly applied formerly-used names to the
wrong localities. Inaccuracies in latitude and longitude,
compass bearings and distances, and too sketchy
tracings of the coast line, even when a map is appended
to a journal, often make it impossible for us to determine
the position of a ship or to identify a landfall. Thus,
according to Fleurieu, writing in 1798 (1801, vol. 1,
p. lxxviii): "We see that, in 1779, the Spanish were
still reduced to trust to the dead reckoning and already
for ten years past, the French and the English deter-
mined the longitudes at sea, either with the help of
astronomical clocks or time-keepers, or by the observa-
tion of the moon's distance from the sun and stars!"
But even the chronometer, newly invented, was still
not perfected in the 18th century.
Furthermore, we must not forget that in the Gulf of
Alaska the compass variation is extreme, magnetic
north ranging from 27? E. of true North well offshore to
31? E. in Yakutat Bay, with varying annual rates of
change, necessitating the replotting of the compass
roses for each new edition of the U.S. Coast and Geo-
detic Survey charts. We simply do not know the
magnetic readings used in the late 18th century,
unless we can trust the figures given when astronomical
observations were made on shore. Wagner (1937, vol. 1,
frontispiece) published a map showing the range of
magnetic variation by isogonic lines ranging from 15?
E. on a great arc Unking San Diego and Umnak Island,
20? E. between Cape Mendocino and Karluk Bay
(Bristol Bay), 25? E. from the Strait of Juan de Fuca
to the southeastern point of Cook Inlet, and 30? E.
from Whale Bay (south of Sitka) to Cape Yakataga.
It is stated that the "variation [is] increasing 1' an-
nually." However, the chart is not dated, and this
hardly agrees with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic
Survey chart No. 8402 (Cross Sound to Yakutat Bay)
on which the variation is given as 29?15' E. (as of
1950), with an annual decrease of 3'. According to Dall
and Baker (1883, p. 210): "The variation of the compass
[at Yakutat] in 1791 was 32?24' easterly; it is now
[1880?] believed to be about 30?16'."
Nor must we forget that longitude was measured
from different meridians (Greenwich, Paris, Madrid,
Toledo, San Bias, Okhotsk, etc.), some of which were
themselves inaccurately determined. (See the list in
Wagner, 1937, vol. I, p. 10, in which some of these are
reduced to the meridians of Greenwich and Toledo.)
To further confuse us, the Spanish league measured
17% to a great circle degree, whereas the marine league
of the French was 20 to a degree, and the Russian
verst (about 0.66 of a statute mile) was 104.5 to a
degree (Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, p. lxvii; Coxe, 1803,
p. xiv). The marine league of the French, British,
and Americans all equaled 3 nautical miles, of which
there were 60 to a degree; but since the degrees taken
as a measure themselves varied, so did the nautical
miles differ by a few feet. A standard international
nautical mile was not adopted until 1954! Moreover,
the common or English statute mile is still shorter,
there being between 69 and 69.5 to a "degree" of lati-
tude; modern U.S. Coast Pilots furnish conversion
tables for nautical and statute miles, since confusion
between the two might lead to catastrophic error.
These discrepancies in measurement, however, would
pose no serious problems for us except when trying to
identify a locality poorly described, or perhaps a shore
seen only indistinctly through Alaskan mists.
While Russian hunters were pushing eastward along
the Aleutian Islands to Kodiak, the Spaniards came
to take an interest in the lands north of their posses-
sions in California. In 1774 an expedition under Pilot
Juan Josef Pe"rez Hernandez, in the Santiago or Nueva
Galiria, with Esteban Jose" Martinez as second pilot,
was sent out from San Bias by Don Antonio Maria
Bucareli y Ursua, Viceroy of New Spam, to explore
110 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
and take possesion of the coast as far north as latitude
60?, in order to forestall Russian expansion.27
Fr. Crespi and Fr. Tomas de la Peiia Savaria served
as chaplains.28
Perez probably did not reach even latitude 55?
N., as he claimed, although he sighted Forester Island
in Alaska ("Santa Christina"), and did a little trading
with some Haida near Cape Knox on Graham Island,
and with the Nootka near Nootka Sound.
The so-called Second Bucareli Expedition was dis-
patched the following year, under 1st Lt. Bruno de
Hezeta, commanding the schooner Santiago, with Juan
Pe'rez as second and CristoVal Reville as pilot. The
Santiago was accompanied by the small schooner Sonora,
under 2d Lt. Juan de Ayala, with Franscisco Antonio
Mourelle (or Maurelle) as pilot. Second Lieutenant Juan
Franscisco de la Bodega y Cuadra succeeded to the
command of the Sonora, when de Ayala had to relieve
the commanding officer of the supply ship, San Carlos,
when the latter went insane. The San Carlos explored
San Francisco Bay, while the Santiago did not go
north of latitude 47?41'. The Sonora, however, visited
and named Bucareli Bay on the west coast of Prince of
Wales Island, and, more importantly, had contact with
the Tlingit at or near Salisbury Sound ("Puerto de los
Remedios") ,29 On this voyage, Mount Edgecumbe ("San
Jacinto") was sighted, as was Cape Edgecumbe ("Cabo
del Engafio"), and the entrance to Sitka Sound ("En-
senada del Susto," or Bay of Terrors). The ship also
anchored in a small harbor just north of Cape Edge-
cumbe ("Puerto de Guadalupe"). The Sonora apparent-
ly reached latitude 58? N., just a few miles south of
Cross Sound.
Fr. Benito de la Sierra and Fr. Miguel de Campa Cos
were chaplains on board the Sonora. The journal of the
former has been translated by A. J. Baker, and pub-
lished with introduction and notes by Henry R.
Wagner (Baker, 1930).
The journal kept by the pilot Maurelle (or Mourelle)
was more important, since an English translation was
published by Dames Barrington in 1781 and a year
27
 This expedition, and that of 1775, are summarized in
Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, pp. LXIV-LXXI; Galiano, 1802, pp. xcii-
xciii; Bancroft, 1884, vol. 1, pp. 150-166; 1886, pp. 194-202;
Krause, 1956, p. 16; Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 172-179. Eber-
stadt, 1941, pp. 31-35, follows Bancroft.
28
 For translations of their journals, see Griffin, 1891. Gorinly
(1955) gives citations of many published and unpublished
journals and other original documents, and of their translations,
pertaining to the Spanish voyages of 1774, 1775, and later years.
29
 Dall and Baker (1883, p. 159) identify this with Salisbury
Sound, named by Portlock in 1787, or the "Bay of Islands" of
Cook and Lisiansky. Wagner (1937, vol. 1, p. 176) believes it
is "Sea Lion Bay" (Sealion Cove), 2 miles south of the entrance
to the sound.
later in German by Pallas (1781-83, vol. 3, pp. 198-273).
Bairington's version was reedited by T. C. Russell in
1920.
While these voyages of the Spanish give us our first
information about the Indians of the northern North-
west Coast, the first explorer to visit the Gulf of Alaska
after Bering was Capt. James Cook, with the Resolution
and the Discovery, on his third and last voyage. In
May 1778, he sailed up the coast after a visit in Nookta
Sound, and saw and named Mount Edgecumbe and
the "Bay of Isles," Cross Sound, Cape Fairweather,
and the two great giants of the range, Mount Fair-
weather and Mount Saint Elias. Although Cook gave
different names to features which the Spanish had
previously visited, and of course named differently, he
seems to have known something about the Spanish
explorations of 1774 and 1775 and their claims to the
Northwest Coast, since he had orders not to investigate
the shores between latitudes 45? and 65? N., but to
concentrate on making discoveries north of this point.
Nevertheless, he did begin his discoveries at Nootka or
"King George's Sound," where he traded with natives.
Unfortunately, from here northward he seems to have
kept well out to sea. Thus he passed the mouth of
Yakutat Bay some distance from shore and did not
approach it. A few days later, however, he came to and
named Cape Suckling and "Comptroller Bay," and
also landed on the south point of Kayak Island, which
he named "Kaye's Island" for the King's chaplain.
Here he deposited a bottle containing a notice of his
discovery and a few coins. He noted the island (Wing-
ham) north of Kayak Island.
It is regrettable that this excellent observer en-
countered no natives along the coast of Alaska until
he entered Prince William Sound and still later the
great inlet which today carries his name. Captain
Cook was certainly unaware that he had actually
landed at Bering's Cape Saint Elias, and he mis-
takenly gave the name "Beering's Bay" either to
Yakutat Bay or to some (apparent?) opening near
it, thereby initiating a series of confusions in geo-
graphical nomenclature. Even the Russians had no
idea where Bering had touched the American coast
and carelessly applied the term "Bering's Cape St.
Elias" to Cape Clear (the southwestern point of Mon-
tague Island in Prince William Sound), to Cape Suck-
ling, or even to a nonexistent point between Icy Bay
and Yakutat Bay, vaguely confusing Mount Saint
Elias with the cape. (See Coxe, 1803, p. 304 note;
Alaskan Boundary Tribunal Atlas, 1904.)
Bancroft (1886, p. 204) believes that Cook's "Beer-
ing's" or "Behring's Bay" was Yakutat Bay. Davidson
(1901 b, p. 43) at first concurred, but later (1904, pp.
53-54) argued that although Cook had seen the en-
trance to Yakutat Bay, he did not name it, and that
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 111
he was actually southeast of Yakutat Bay (i.e. off
Dangerous River) when he thought he saw the bay
where Bering had anchored, mistaking the gap in the
mountains flanking Yakutat Glacier for the opening
of a bay, since he was too far off the coast to see the
low foreshore. Dall (Dall and Baker 1883, p. 207 note,
p. 205 note) denies that Cook saw Yakutat Bay at all
and believes that it was Dry Bay with its rocky knob
["Bear Island"] that Cook named "Beering's Bay."
If Cook's latitudes were accurate, as Wagner (1937,
vol. 1, p. 186) believes, then this must have been the
bay that Cook named, although Wagner himself thinks
it was Yakutat Bay. The subsequent namings and
renamings of Yakutat Bay and Dry Bay are indicated
in due course.
The following year, 1779, the Spanish, ignorant of
Cook's discoveries, sent their Third Bucareli Expe-
dition northward from San Bias.30 This expedition
had been planned in 1776, with the hope of preceding
Cook, but was so delayed that it did not reach the
Northwest Coast until after the latter's death in
Hawaii. It consisted of the frigate Nuestra Senora del
Rosario, commonly known as La Princessa, under
Lt. Ignacio Arteaga, accompanied by the frigate Virgen
(or Nuestra Senora) de los Remedios, better known as
La Favorita, under Lt. Francisco de la Bodega y Cuadra.
An account of the voyage, written in Spanish by
Ensign Antoine Maurelle (Francisco Antonio Mourelle),
second captain on La Favorita, was obtained by La
Perouse in Manila, 1787, and an extract from it was
published in the latter's own report (1798, vol. 1, pp.
345-364; 1799, vol. 1, pp. 242-255 of the English trans-
lation). According to T. C. Eussell (1920, p. ix) this
excerpt and Maurelle's journal of 1775 as published by
Barrington are both "filled with errors."
This Spanish expedition spent from May 3 to July 1
in exploring Bucareli Bay, trying to avoid trouble with
the natives, and trading with them. From the Tlingit
there (Henya), they purchased three little boys and
two little girls, and then sailed northward, closely
following the shore. We cannot be sure whether they
aaw Mount Saint Elias, but "on the 17th of July
arrived at Cape San Elias, sailed around Kayak Island,
found the shelter which it afforded and declared that
this gulf (seno) was manifestly the exact locality which
ao Summarized by Fleurieu, 1801, pp. LXXXIV-XC; Navarette
in Galiano, 1802, pp. c-cn; Bancroft, 1884, vol. 1, pp. 172-173;
1886, pp. 217-221; Krause, 1956, pp. 17-18; Wagner, 1937, vol.
1, pp. 191-196. Although I have not consulted it, there is a
MS. translation by G. F. Barwick in the Provincial Archives,
Victoria, B.C., of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Cuadra,
"Expeditions in the years 1775 and 1779 towards the west coast
of North America," from Annuario de la Direcci6n Hidrografia,
Afio III, 1865. For the voyage of 1779, see also the translation
by Walter Thornton, S.J. (1918).
had been seen by Captain Bering" (Davidson, 1901 b,
p. 43, from a Spanish MS. in his possession). Wagner
(1937, vol. 1, p. 193) states that their "Cabo St. Elias"
was actually Cape Suckling. Kayak Island was named
"Carmen," and "Cuadra, in his journal, expressed the
conviction that a large river must enter the sea between
Carmen Island and the harbor of Santiago [probably
Port Etches on Hinchinbrook Island in Prince William
Sound], thus correctly locating Copper River, which
both Cook and Vancouver failed to observe" (Bancroft,
1886, p. 219). While exploring the southern part of
Kayak Island, the Spaniards encountered some natives
who appeared friendly and generous, but whom their
Tlingit "interpreters" (the children bought at Bucareli
Bay) could not understand. These natives appear to
have been Chugach, for it is they who persuaded the
Spaniards to enter the port of "Santiago."
Among the most disputed discoveries of this voyage
was the "Pamplona Bank," a shoal reported to be about
half a league in circumference and about 12 leagues from
the coast, located, as nearly as dead reckoning could
fix it, south of Cape Yakataga, where indeed a sub-
merged ridge does exist. Could this have been above the
surface in the 18th century? (see pp. 99-100).
The expedition sailed as far as the entrance to Cook
Inlet, but failed to encounter the Russian sloup Kliment,
which was then off Kodiak Island. While Maurelle
gives us good descriptions of the southern Tlingit and of
the Chugacb, there is unfortunately nothing on the
natives of Controller Bay.
The importance of these explorations, and of those
made by the Russians at this time, was not simply the
extension of geographical knowledge, although the
general trend of the whole coast from California to Icy
Cape in Bering Sea and from Attu to Turnagain Arm
was thereby established, and some areas (Cook Inlet,
Prince William Sound, the west coast of Chichagof
Island, Bucareli and Nootka Sounds) were fairly well
explored. This is because the Spanish charts were not
made public at that time, and the Russians established
on Unalaska Island had no wish to exchange geograph-
ical information. Rather, it was the prompt publication
of Cook's third and last voyage, despite Admiralty
efforts to keep the Spanish in ignorance by withholding
publication, which made known to the world the rich
sea otter herds encountered along the American main-
land. (See Wickersham, 1927, pp. 343-349, for the many
editions of Cook's voyages, including unauthorized
private journals, official reports and translations, be-
ginning with an anonymous publication in 1781. The
last was attributed to both John Ledyard and John
Rickman, but neither ascription seems likely to Wagner
(1937, vol. 1, p. 189)). Furthermore, the actual wealth
in furs brought home by these explorers stimulated
112 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
further voyages by the Spanish, French, and British
Governments, as well as private trading ventures in
which the "Boston Men," newly freed from British
restrictions, were to take part. The Russians, and es-
pecially the company founded by Grigor Ivanovich
Shelikhov and Ivan Golikov in 1783, hastened to extend
their operations from Kodiak to the the mainland. The
inevitable consequence of this was to be conflict be-
tween the Kussians and the Kolosh or Tlingit, who
could not be enslaved as readily as could the Aleut, or
even the Koniag and Chugach. In 1784, Shelikhov es-
tablished a post on Three Saints Bay, Kodiak, from
which expeditions were dispatched to hunt and trade
for furs, and to exact them from the natives as "tribute."
Zaikov and Other Russian Expeditions to the
Mainland (1783-88)
Russian expansion, 1783-88, brought the Russians
and their Aleut hunters into direct contact with the
Chugach, Eyak, and Tlingit. According to Bancroft
(1886, pp. 238-239): "the fierce Thlinkeets of Comp-
troller Bay, Yakutat, and Ltua [Lituya]" so terrified
the "docile Aleut hunters" that they were rendered
"unfit even to follow their peaceful pursuits without
an escort of four or five armed Russians to several
hundred hunters."
Of the earlier Russian expeditions, one of the most
important was that of several private traders under the
leadership of Potap Zaikov in 1783.31 This is because
Zaikov gives us information on the Chugach and be-
cause his subordinate, Nagaiev, discovered the mouth
of the Copper River.
This expedition to the mainland was directly in-
spired by the information which Zaikov had obtained
from Captain Cook about Prince William Sound. The
Russians went in three ships, the Sv Alexei under
Eustrate Delarov (the Greek merchant in charge of
Shelikhov's post on Kodiak), the Sv Mikhail under
Dimitri Polutov (who was to commit outrages upon
the Chugach), and the Alexandr Nevski under Zaikov
himself. On July 27, the ships entered a small cove on
the north end of "Kaye's Island" which the Russians
later learned, from natives they captured, was called
"Kayak." These captives were apparently Chugach
who came here to hunt but had no permanent homes
31
 Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Supplement, pp. 1-8, contains an
"Extract from the Journal of the Steersman Potap Zalkoff,
kept on the ship 'St. Alexander Nevsky' in 1783" (Petrofi's
translation in the Bancroft Library from which I quote by
permission of the Director). This information is summarized in
Bancroft, 1886, pp. 186-191.
on the island (Bancroft, 1886, p. 187 and note 27).
Among the items reported by Zaikov was that the
Chugach appeared to have fragments of green bottle
glass; "in their huts we also found earthen vessels
dried in the fire, similar to common crockery made in
the country of clay"; and that the Chugach also
possessed "a blanket made of white wool, similar to
sheep's wool, plaited and fringed . . . [and] orna-
mented with yellow and coffee color" (Tikhmenev,
1863, vol. 2, Supplement, pp. 2, 5, 6).
Nagaiev explored the delta of the Copper River,
which was called "I-oullit" by the Chugach, who ap-
parently used to ascend it for a journey of 20 days in
their baidars (large skin boats), until they came to a
place where many people lived and where they obtained
native copper in trade or sometimes found pieces of it
for themselves (ibid., p. 6).
The Russians found no habitations on the mainland
except one small settlement on the coast, discovered by
Nagaiev, from which the occupants had fled. Nagaiev
also met and traded with a large body of Indians, ap-
parently Chugach from Nuchek, from whom he ob-
tained many garments of sea otter fur. Although the
natives "attacked" him, he was able to return with the
four women and two children whom he had captured.
It is probably safe to assume that the Russians had
been the aggressors.
[Meanwhile] "the Americans [Chugach] on the
ship said that the Shugatch were engaged in a quarre
or war, but that they traded with five tribes o
Americans. 1st the Kaniags, i.e. the inhabitants of
Kadiak Island, 2nd the Kinayans, living in the bays
and coves situated between Kadiak Island and
Shugatch Bay [Kenai Peninsula Eskimo, and Tanaina
Athabaskans?], 3rd the I-oulits, living on the river
described above, 4th with the people living east of
Kadiak, on the American coast, called Lakhamites,
5th with the Kolosh tribes living east of them, who
all go out with them and undertake large parties at
various times of the year, in large bidars." [Tikh-
menev, 1863, vol. 2, Supplement, p. 7.]
Bancroft (1886, p. 191, note 32), who had access to
Zaikov's MS. journal in the Sitka Archives, refers to
the fourth group as "a tribe living on the coast of the
mainland from Kyak Island eastward, called Lakhamit
(the Aglegmutes). . . . " These are almost certainly
Eyak-speakers, but although the name given above
seems to be a corruption of Tlaxa (Yakutat Bay) with
the Eskimo ending -miut (people of). Nor can we be
sure whether the "Kolosh" were Tlingit already set-
tled at Dry Bay or Yakutat, or were perhaps trading
and raiding parties from farther away. According to
Bancroft (ibid.), "Nagaief also correctly stated that the
Yullits, or Copper River natives, lived only on the
upper river, but traded copper and land-furs with the
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 113
coast people for seal-skins, dried fish, and oil."
Prom Controller Bay the Russians returned to Prince
William Sound, where they wandered about, pillaging
and raping, until the Chugach, reinforced by the
Tanaina from Cook Inlet and Koniag Eskimo from
Kodiak, succeeded in killing Polutov and his party but
spared Zaikov and Ms men. The rest of the Russians
spent the winter in Zaikof Harbor on Montague Island,
where nearly half of them died of scurvy.
It is important to emphasize that although Zaikov's
own journal, according to Bancroft (ibid.), accurately
describes the country and its people, it is also said to
furnish "proof positive that his visit to Prince William
Sound in 1783 was the first made by him or any other
Russian in a sea-going vessel." However, from Cook,
and perhaps from the Spanish, the Chugach had ob-
tained beads and other things. We should also remember
that Cook himself found that the Chugach and Cook
Inlet natives already in 1778 possessed blue glass beads
and iron, and there is no reason to suppose that such
articles, which could have been derived from Russian
sources through intertribal trade, had not also passed
to the Yakutat before any Europeans themselves
reached that remote bay (de Laguna, 1956, pp. 60-61).
Already, too, "an old bayonet and pieces of other iron
implements" had been seen in the hands of the Queen
Charlotte Islanders by Juan Perez in 1774, "which
the pilot conjectured must have belonged to the boats'
crews lost from Chirikof's vessel somewhere in these
latitudes in 1741" (Bancroft, 1886, p. 196). Chirikov's
boats had actually been lost so much farther north
that this explanation is unlikely. Moreover, the friar
Juan Crespi who was with P6rez noted that the Haida
women wore bracelets and rings of iron as well as copper
(cf. Rickard, 1939, pp. 25-26). The Sitka Tlingit of
Puerto de los Remedios in 1775 seem to have had only
"long and large lances pointed with flint" (Maurelle,
1920, p. 45), but at Bucareli Bay in 1799 the Tlingit
not only received "glass beads, bits of old iron, etc."
from the Spaniards in return for furs (Maurelle in
LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 245), but already were
armed with "lances, four yards long, headed with
iron; knives of the same metal, longer than an European
bayonet, but not common among them" although they
still used stone adzes (ibid., p. 247). Bodega here also
saw bracelets of copper and iron. Rickard (1939) has
discussed at length such iron and copper objects among
the Indians of the Northwest Coast, arguing that be-
cause they had already found and used iron in drift-
wood, they were acquainted with its usefulness and
hence eager to obtain it in trade. I have also interpreted
as drift iron the iron found at the site on Knight
Island in Yakutat Bay, especially in view of native
traditions about finding and shaping such iron (see
pp. 233, 256; de Laguna et al., 1964, pp. 88-90).
260-517?72?TOI. VII, pt. 1 10
Of greater ethnological interest to us than the
explorations of Zaikov and Nagaiev in 1783-84 was
the expedition to Yakutat and Lituya Bays of Ismailov
and Bocharov in 1788, although they had been pre-
ceded by LaPerouse (1786), Dixon (1787), and Colnett
(1788). Davidson (1904, p. 48) makes the statement
that: "We may reasonably assume that the Russian
fur hunters had been in Yakutat even before Cook's
time," (i.e. 1778), yet I can find no evidence to support
this assumption, nor even that they had come " . . .
certainly before the advent of La P&rouse." The pres-
ence of iron and glass beads in the hands of the natives
of Lituya Bay in 1786 (LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, pp.
369-370), and of iron at Yakutat Bay in 1787 (Beres-
ford, 1789, p. 168), may mean no more than that these
were articles of Russian origin handled in that inter-
tribal trade which we know existed along the coast,
as indeed LaPerouse himself concluded (cf. also Ban-
croft, 1886, pp. 239-240). Beresford (1789, p. 240),
who visited Yakutat Bay, Sitka Sound and other
places on the Northwest Coast as Dixon's supercargo
in 1787, observed with respect to beads:
"These ornaments were undoubtedly introduced
here [Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound] by the
Russians, who have constantly traded with these
people for many years past, and beads have been
generally used in barter, so that if we make this
a rule for judging how far the Russians have had
a direct intercourse on the coast, it will appear
that they have not been to the Eastward of Cape
Hinchinbrook: and I think this conjecture far from
improbable."
Although Beresford was not aware that beads had
been seen in Lituya Bay, his estimate of Russian travel
seems reasonable.
Dall and Baker (1883, p. 202), however, state
unequivocally: "The bay [Lituya] had been visited by
Russian hunting parties before LaPerouse, who found
the frame of one of their baidars there (although he
did not recognize the fact). . . ." This is probably
based upon Tebenkov (1852; quoted by Davidson,
1904, p. 58), for he had written: "The bay had been
visited by the Russian American ships before La-
Perouse; but the entrance was too dangerous for their
vessels, and no sea otter visited the bay. Moreover, it
is destitute of fish, except for the halibut in spring and
summer."
Although this is hardly an accurate description of
Lituya Bay (pp. 93-95), and the Russian American
Company was not founded until 1799, it is, of course,
quite possible that a Russian ship did stand outside
the entrance to the bay, as stated in Yakutat native
tradition (pp. 258-259). Yet it is more reasonable to
agree with Bancroft (1886, p. 258 note 5) that "We
have no evidence of the advance of Ismailof's boats to
114 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
the point [Lituya Bay] previous to the arrival of the
French frigates [of LaPerouse]. The sealskin covering
of a large canoe or bidar discovered here would point
to visits of Aglegmutes [Eyak] or Chugatsches." Or,
we might add, "of Yakutat natives," since they also
claim to have had skin boats.
In fact, we simply do not know whether the various
Russian traders and hunters were active between 1784
and 1788 along the Gulf of Alaska, even though there
are certain suggestive passages in Shelikhov's report of
his travels, 1783-87,32 which are worth consideration.
Thus Shelikhov himself wrote, under the date of
March 7, 1786:
"As I was now disposing all things for my de-
parture [from Kodiak to Siberia], for the further
prosecution of the discoveries which were not
completed the foregoing year, I sent five Russians
to build a fortress at Cape St. Elias, with a view as
well to assist them in this undertaking as to con-
ciliate the inhabitants of the districts stretching from
that point to the 47th degree of latitude, I dispatched
with them a thousand men, consisting of Konaghi
natives of Kuktak [Kodiak], and other islands,
together with seventy inhabitants of the Fox
Islands [Aleutians], to raise crosses on the coasts,
and to bury in the earth pot-sherd, the bark of
birch tree, and coals [i.e., to take possession of the
land]." [Coxe, 1803, pp. 288-289.]
On May 19, Shelikhov learned that "those who had
sailed to Cape St. Elias began their work, and left a
party to finish the fort, which I ordered to be con-
structed in that place" (ibid., pp. 289-290).
During this period, the Russians were chiefly con-
cerned with establishing or consolidating positions on
Afognak and Shuyak Islands in the Kodiak group, and
on Cook Inlet ("Bay of Kinaigisk"), against active
native opposition, and while Shelikhov certainly
wanted explorations to be made "from the 60th to the
40th degree of north latitude" (ibid., p. 291), because he
left orders to that effect, it is highly improbable that
the "Cape St. Elias" to which he refers was as far away
as Kayak Island. In fact, as Coxe (ibid., p. 304 note)
points out, Shelikhov referred to the south point of
Sukha (Montague Island in Prince William Sound) as
Bering's "Cape St. Elias."
LaPerouse (1786)
In 1785 the French government dispatched Com-
modore Jean Francois de Galaup, Comte de LaPerouse
on a scientific voyage around the world in the frigate
L'Astrolabe, accompanied by La Boussole under Vis-
comte de Langle.33 Chinard (1937, p. xi, my transla-
tion) observes that ". . . one can boldly affirm that no
other scientific expedition of the eighteenth century
had been prepared with more care and with a more
scrupulous method: the instructions given to Laperouse
could and should be the object of a separate study."
Louis XVI was, for example, particularly concerned
that relations with any natives encountered should be
friendly and peaceful. Questionnaires prepared by
various specialists and by the scientific academies in-
cluded anthropological and ethnological topics, as well
as those pertaining to other branches of natural history
and science. These questionnaires and instructions
(1784-85) not only indicate clearly the extent of knowl-
edge and the scientific problems that predominated on
the eve of the French Revolution, but indicate that this
voyage "deserves to mark a date in the annals of
geography and science" (Chinard, 1937, p. xn, my
translation). These documents also seem to be pre-
cursors to those which President Jefferson was to give
about 30 years later to Captains Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark. In addition, LaPerouse's expedition
included some 17 engineers, scientists, and artists. All
of these circumstances make his reports of much value
to us, and they were fortunately sent back to France
before the tragic disappearance of the expedition in
the South Pacific in 1788.
Early in the morning of June 23, 1786, LaPerouse's
ships were approaching the American shore, and "As
the mist cleared away, a long chain of mountains
covered with snow burst at once upon our sight. . . . We
distinguished in these the Mount St. Elias of Behring,
with it's summit rising above the clouds." (LaPerouse,
1799, vol. 1, p. 358.) Below was apparently the outwash
plain near Icy Bay or the moraine-covered end of the
Malaspina Glacier. The ships seem to have made
landfall somewhere between Icy Bay and Yakutat
? Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, pp. 165-204; Coxe, 1803, pp. 269-301.
For an account of the publication of these "Travels," see Okun,
1951, ch. 2, note 2.
33
 Quotations from LaPerouse's account are taken from the
English translation (1799), for while I have consulted the
original French edition, edited by Milet-Mureau (1798), and
that edited by Chinard (1937), I have felt that a contemporary
translation of an 18th-century French naval officer's report
would be more accurate than my own. Summaries of the voyage
may be found in Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, pp. CII-CXVI; Krause,
1956, pp. 17-18; Russell, 1891 b, pp. 58-60. There are a number
of careless inaccuracies in Bancroft, 1886, pp. 255-259.
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 115
Bay, at "Pointe de La Boussole," M and anchored off
the mouth of Yakutat Bay on the 27th. A boat from
each ship was sent in to look for an anchorage, but
found none; nor were any natives encountered. Ap-
parently it was the northwestern shore of the bay
near Cape Manby which was explored, for this was
found exposed to winds from the southsouthwest to
eastsoutheast, and a landing was made with difficulty.
LaP6rouse named Yakutat Bay "Baie de Monti" after
the officer who commanded the landing party. Follow-
ing the usage of Galiano (1802), the name is now
applied to the sheltered arm leading in on the south-
eastern part of the bay, which unfortunately de Monti
did not discover.
The ships again followed the coast toward the south-
east, and after attempting to determine the exact
position and height of Mount Saint Elias, came to the
mouth of Dry Bay, which LaPe"rouse (1799, vol. 1,
p. 362) at first believed was "the bay to which captain
Cook gave the name of Behring." It was evident, however,
that they were off the mouth of a river of considerable
size, the two large entrances to which were obstructed
by sandbars "on which the sea broke with such violence,
that it was impossible for our boats to get near. Mr
de Clonard spent five or six hours to no purpose in
search of an entrance; but he saw smoke, a proof that
the country is inhabited" (ibid., p. 363). A large basin
or lagoon was seen inside, but no native huts or canoes.
LaP^rouse thought that this might have been the place
where Bering [sic; read Chirikov] tried to land and lost
his boats in the rough water, and so named the Alsek
River "Riviere de Bering," confident that no "Bering's
Bay" existed.
On July 1 and 2, Cape Fairweather and Mount
Fairweather ("Beautemps") were passed and the ships
came to "what appeared to be a very fine bay" (ibid.,
p. 364), that is, Lituya Bay, to which LaP6rouse gave
the name "Port des Francais." Three small boats, sent
to explore the bay, entered and left in safety, but
when the ships tried to follow, the ebb tide was so
strong that they could make no headway against it.
The following morning, July 3, the ships shot into the
bay on the end of the flood tide, but as LaP?rouse
observed: "During the thirty years that I have followed
the sea I never saw two vessels so near being lost"
(ibid., p. 367). A good anchorage was eventually found
on the western shore, farther from the dangerous
entrance, and later the ships moved behind the island
in the middle of the bay.
31
 Dall and Baker (1883, p. 206, note) identify this as Point
Manby, but it seems to be too far west. I t may be a point just
west of Sitkagi Bluffs, or even what then corresponded to Point
Riou at Icy Bay.
From July 3 to 30, when the vessels sailed for Nootka
Sound and California, explorations were made of Lituya
Bay and the neighborhood, and, as is well known, on
July 13 LaPerouse had the misfortunate to lose the two
pinnaces of his frigates, with their whole complement of
21 officers and men, in the terrible tidal currents at
the mouth of the bay. The second pinnace had gone to
attempt the rescue of the first; the jollyboat, which
had also been swept through by the ebb, escaped the
breakers and was able to reenter the bay when the tide
turned. In memory of this loss, LaPerouse erected a
wooden monument on the south point of the island in
the bay, which he named in consequence "Isle du
Cenotaphe," and buried an account of the tragedy in
a bottle at the foot of the monument.
Of chief interest to us are the observations made by
LaPerouse on the Indians of Lituya Bay; his account
should be compared with the Indian tradition of his
visit as recorded by Emmons (1911) near Juneau in
1886. What may be a very abbreviated version of the
same story was heard at Yakutat in 1949 (pp. 258-259).
We may anticipate by stating that the Indians of
Lituya Bay were Tlingit. Certainly the words for num-
bers are Tlingit, as are those for 'labret' kentaga
(?ent'a?a); 'face' kaaga (q& ya, 'someone's face'); 'seal's
tooth' or 'teeth,' without distinction between singular
and plural, kaourr6 (qa 'uxu, 'someone's tooth,' not
"seal's tooth"); 'chief (not "friend") alcaou ('anqawu;
for n is often pronounced like 1); 'hair of the head'
khlrleies (xis, 'snarls'). Yet 'sea otter' skecter is cer-
tainly not very similar to the Tlingit yuxt6 or ylxwtc
(LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, pp. 409-411). However, there
is nothing in the customs or objects of material culture
observed which was not Tlingit. Moreover, according
to Emmon's informant, LaPerouse's arrival was wit-
nessed by a party of Hoonah Tl'uknaxAdi from Grouse
Fort in Icy Straits, and parties from Hoonah and
Chilkat used to stop at Lituya Bay on their way to
Yakutat to trade for copper (Emmons, 1911, p. 297).
The first dealings with the Indians seem to have been
most amicable, for while still outside the mouth of
the bay:
"We soon perceived some savages, who made signs
of friendship, by displaying and waving white man-
tles, and different skins. Several canoes of these
Indians were fishing in the bay, where the water
was as smooth as in a basin. . . . [LaPerouse, 1799,
vol. 1, p. 365.]
"During our forced stay at the entrance of the
bay [before the anchorage was shifted to Cenotaph
Island, July 4], we had been continually surrounded
with the canoes of the savages, who offered us fish,
skins of otters and other animals, and different
little articles of their dress, in exchange for our iron.
116 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
To our great surprise they appeared well accustomed
to traffic, and bargained with as much skill as any
tradesman of Europe. Of all our articles of trade,
they appeared to have no great desire for any thing
but iron: they accepted indeed a few beads [rassades];
but these served rather to conclude a bargain, than
to form the basis of it. We at length prevailed on
them to take pewter pots and plates: yet these had
only a transient success, iron prevailing over every
thing. They were not unacquainted with this metal.
Every one had a dagger of it suspended from the
neck, not unlike the criss of the Malays, except that
the handle was different, being nothing more than
an elongation of the blade, rounded, and without
any edge. This weapon had a sheath of tanned leather,
and appeared to be their most valuable moveable.
As we examined these daggers very attentively,
they informed us by signs, that they made use of
them only against the bears and other wild beasts.
[Evidently the Indians were trying to assure the
French that their intentions were friendly.] Some
were of copper, but they did not appear to give a
preference to these. This metal is pretty common
among them: they use it chiefly for collars, brace-
lets, and various other ornaments; and they also
point their arrows with it." [Ibid., p. 369.]
LaPerouse speculates correctly that the Indians
might have obtained and shaped native copper, but
that it was highly unlikely they had access to virgin
iron, and they certainly could not smelt iron ore. He
believed that they could forge it, and observed that
their iron was "as soft and as easy to cut as lead"
(ibid., p. 370). He also points out that "the day of
our arrival we saw necklaces of beads, and some little
articles of brass . . ." which the Indians could not
have made (ibid.). After considering the possibility
that the iron, copper, and brass might have come
from American traders, Hudson's Bay Company agents,
or from the Spanish, LaPe'rouse concludes that they
were most probably of Kussian origin. It does not
occur to him that the iron might have come from
drift logs or wreckage.
"Gold is not an object of more eager desire in
Europe, than iron is in this part of America, which
is another proof of it's scarcity. Every man, it is true,
has a little in his possession; but they are so covetous
of it, that they leave no means untried to obtain it."
[Ibid., p. 370.]
The behavior of the natives, especially at first,
might give some indication as to whether they were
familiar with Whites.
"On the day of our arrival, we were visited by the
chief of the principal village" (ibid.). This was probably
the village with cemetery or "morai" on the southeast
shore of the bay, between Harbor Point and the hills
called The Paps. LaPeYouse's chart indicates another
village on the opposite shore, just inside La Chaus6e
Spit, where a trail ("Chemain de la Pecheet du Morai")
ran northwestward just behind the rocky beach to
the lagoon at the mouth of Huagin Eiver ("Kiviere
aux Salmons"), where there was another settlement.
Farther up the northwestern side of the bay, just beyond
the first hill, was a fourth village at the mouth of a
stream.
The chief seems to have come aboard with the usual
ceremony.
"Before he came on board, he appeared to address
a prayer to the sun. He then made a long harangue,
which was concluded by a kind of song, by no
means disagreeable, and greatly resembling the
plain chaunt [plein-chanf\ of our churches. The
Indians in his canoe accompanied him, repeating
the same air in chorus. After this ceremony, they
almost all came on board, and danced for an hour
to the music of their own voices, in which they are
very exact. [This seems to have been the usual
Tlingit method of greeting strangers, or at least
Europeans, with whom they wished to trade (pp.
141, 142, 347).] I gave the chief several presents, which
made him so very troublesome, that he daily spent
five or six hours on board; and I was obliged to
repeat them very frequently, or he would go away
discontented, and with an air of threat, which
however was not very formidable." [Ibid.]
One wonders whether it was not the usual expectation
that when one chief visited another he should not be
permitted to return home without a gift, as at a
potlatch.
We can see that neither the French nor the Indians
appeared to be afraid of each other and that no demand
was made on either side for the exchange of hostages.
In this connection we should note that the Spanish
in Bucareli Bay in 1779 did not find it necessary to
exchange hostages in order to trade, although they
did keep their arms by them, and shut their eyes to
petty thefts. However, when some valuable objects
were taken, they would temporarily seize "either some
canoe or some person of distinction until the stolen
object was returned" (Maurelle in LaPe'rouse, 1799,
vol. 1, p. 250). In 1787 Dixon was able to trade at
Yakutat and Sitka without exchanging hostages; nor
did Colnett have to resort to this device at Yakutat
the following year.
The exchange of hostages is a matter of some in-
terest, since Bancroft (1886, p. 236) argues that?
"The custom of interchanging hostages while
engaged in traffic was carried eastward by the
Eussians and forced upon the English, Americans,
and Spaniards long after the entire submission of
Aleuts, Kenai, and Chugatsches had obviated the
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 117
necessity of such a course in the west. Portlock was
compelled to conform to the custom at various
places before he could obtain any trade, but as
a rule four or five natives were demanded for one
of two sailors from the ship."
Yet when Portlock (1789, pp. 261, 266, 269, 284-286)
in August 1787 had to yield to the requests of the
Tlingit at Portlock Harbor (Chichagof Island) and
Sitka to send a man ashore, this seems to have been
largely so that the Indians, often including the chief
himself, and as many volunteers as Portlock would
accept, could spend the night on board ship, where they
were well entertained. Nevertheless, Portlock found
that on a few occasions when he refused to exchange
hostages the natives became alarmed and would not
approach the ships. Still, the pleasure with which they
received the sailor, usually Joseph Woodcock, the fond-
ness which they seemed to have for him, and their
consideration of his wants do not suggest the kidnap-
blackmail tactics of the Eussians. However, the Tlingit
of Portlock Harbor had abeady been to Prince William
Sound, where they had fought the Chugach (ibid., p.
260), and may have learned to exchange hostages there.
If the exchange of hostages had indeed been adopted
by the Tlingit from the Russians or from the Chugach,
this must have been because it resembled the Tlingits'
own aboriginal custom of exchanging hostage-ambassa-
dors in peace-making ceremonies between Tlingit sibs
(see p. 150), and there is no reason to suppose that
this did not antedate Russian influence. Indeed, Wood-
cock was evidently called 'deer' ("cow-aka-na?hostage
or friendship" [kuwakan], ibid., p. 293), treated with
the ceremonious behavior accorded to such officials, and
also expected to observe their special taboos (i.e.,
against whistling), although Portlock thought that his
hosts were afraid that his whistling was a signal for
his friends to take him away (ibid., p. 285).
Although Tlingit behavior toward the first European
navigators seems to have varied between patterns sug-
gestive of ceremonious trade and those based upon
peace making, all evidence would tend to confirm
LaP6rouse's statement that: "The port was never seen
by any navigator" (1799, vol. 1, p. 366), or at least the
conclusion that no European vessel had previously
entered it.
As soon as the French ships were anchored by
Cenotaph Island they were visited by all the natives in
the bay. Here the French had set up their observatory
for checking their position and the two chronometers
(which, incidentally, had been used by Captain Cook
and had been presented by the British Government).
Here also, the saibnakers, smith, and coopers were
working. These activities, as well as the tools and equip-
ment spread about, must have drawn the Indians like
flies to honey. They came with canoe loads of sea otter
furs, which were traded for hatchets, adzes, and bars of
iron. (These skins were later sold in Macao, China, and
the entire proceeds distributed among the enlisted men
on the two frigates, as we learn from a letter of
LaP6rouse, quoted by Fleurieu, 1801, p. cxm note, p.
cix.) Salmon were first traded for pieces of old iron
hoops, but soon the natives "would not part with this
fish unless for nails, or small implements of iron"
(LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 371).
Unfortunately, the observatory and tents on the
island were not safe from pillage.
"As all the Indian villages were on the main-land,
we flattered ourselves, that we should be in security
on the island, but we were soon convinced of our
mistake. Experience had already taught us, that the
Indians were great thieves; but we did not suspect
them of sufficient activity and perseverance, to carry
into execution difficult and tedious schemes. In a
short time we learned to know them better. They
spent the night in watching for favourable oppor-
tunities to rob us: but we kept a strict watch on
board our vessels, and they were seldom able to get
the better of our vigilance. I had established also the
Spartan law: the person robbed was punished; and
if the thief received no applause, at least we reclaimed
nothing, to avoid all occasion of quarrel, which might
have led to fatal consequences. That this extreme
mildness rendered them insolent I will not disavow:
but I endeavoured to convince them of the supe-
riority of our arms; for which purpose I fired a
cannon, to show them, that I could reach them at a
distance, and pierced with a musket-ball, in presence
of a great number of Indians, several doubles of a
cuirass [wooden armor] they had sold us, after they
had informed us by signs that it was impenetrable
to arrows or poignards. Our fowlers, too, who were
good marksmen, killed birds over their heads. I am
well assured, that they never thought of inspiring
us with fear; but their conduct convinced me, that
they believed our forbearance inexhaustible. In a
very little time they obliged me to remove the
establishment on the island. They landed upon it in
the night, on the side next the offing; crossed a very
thick wood, which it was impossible for us to pene-
trate in the day; and creeping on their bellies like
snakes, almost without stirring a leaf, they contrived
to steal some of our effects, in spite of our sentries.
[This is obviously deduction, since the maneuvers of
the natives were not observed.] They even had the
address to enter by night into the tent where MeS8rs
de Lauriston and Darbaud, who were on guard at
the observatory, slept; and took away a silver-
mounted musket, and the clothes of the two officers,
which they had taken the precaution to place under
their pillow, without being perceived by a guard of
w - \ . ; ..*;?.? ?>?
. da Caenotapte
MAP 18.?Lituya Bay aa seen by LaPerouse. "Part of the Plan du Port des Francais (Lituya Bay); engraved map 19 in the LaPerouse
atlas, Paris, 1797." Figure 5 in Donald J. Orth's "Dictionary of Alaska Place Names," Geological Survey Professional Paper
No. 567 dated 1967. In his bibliography, Orth refers both to the English 2-volume edition of 1799 and atlas folio, and to the
French edition of i volumes with atlas folio. This detail was evidently from the French atlas.
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 119
twelve men, or even awakening the officers. This
theft would have given us little uneasiness[!], but
for the loss of the original paper, containing all our
astronomical observations since our arrival at Port
des Francais.
"These circumstances were no impediment to our
taking in wood and water. All our officers were
continually on duty with the boats, at the head of
the different working parties, which we were obliged
to send ashore. Their presence, and the order they
maintained, were checks upon the savages." [Ibid.,
pp. 372-373.]
As can be seen from the above, although the Indians
seemed to feel free to pilfer, they were as careful as the
French to avoid any open aggression. Why then did
they steal? Was it simply the uncontrollable reaction
to the sight of undreamed of riches, or was it perhaps
an attempt to get restitution for something of which
they felt they had been legally deprived? Or, was it a
combination of motives? The next passage suggests an
answer.
"The day after this excursion [to the head of the
bay], the chief came on board better attended, and
more ornamented, than usual. After many songs and
dances, he offered to sell me the island, on which
our observatory was erected; tacitly reserving, no
doubt, to himself and the other Indians, the right of
robbing us upon it. It was more than questionable,
whether this chief were proprietor of a single foot of
land: the government of these people is of such a
nature, that the country must belong to the whole
society; yet, as many of the savages were witnesses
to the bargain, I had a right to suppose that it was
sanctioned by their assent; and accordingly I ac-
cepted the offer of the chief, sufficiently aware,
however, that many tribunals would find a flaw in
the contract, if ever the nation should think proper to
litigate our title, for we could bring no proof, that the
witnesses were it's representatives, or the chief the
actual proprietor of the soil. Be this as it might, I
gave him several yards of red cloth, hatchets, adzes,
bar iron, and nails, and made presents to all his
attendants. The bargain being thus concluded, and
the purchase money paid, I sent to take possession
of the island with the usual formalities, and buried
at the foot of a rock several bronze metals, which
had been struck before our departure from France,
with a bottle containing an inscription recording our
claim." [Ibid., p. 375.]
While LaPe'rouse doubts the legality of this trans-
action and hesitates to believe that the Tlingit were
sophisticated enough to treat real estate as an alienable
commodity, we now know that land belonged to sibs
(or their segments) for whom the chief acted as ad-
ministrator; that with the consent of the group he
could give away territorial rights, as at Angoon (Gar-
field, 1947, p. 441; de Laguna, 1960, pp. 133-134)
and on the Gulf of Alaska (see p. 254), or sell
them. Indeed, it was through purchase that the Kwack-
qwan and the Drum House Teqwedi acquired their
lands in the Yakutat area (see also the version recorded
by Swanton, 1909, Tale 105, p. 356; and pp. 232, 252).
"Land" for the Tlingit included, of course, not simply
the actual land, but offshore waters, and the rights
to gather wild products (cf. Niblack, 1890, p. 335).
What is significant about the Angoon and Yakutat
transactions is that these transfers of territorial rights
were made in order to resolve conflicts. This is partic-
ularly clear in the purchases of Knight Island and
Humpback Creek in Yakutat Bay, which were under-
taken expressly to prevent further trouble between
the owners and the Kwaclqwan who had been picking
strawberries and catching fish in places where they
were tresspassing without invitation. According to the
Tlingit, rights to exclusive use extended over many
resources that the European would consider free: fresh
water, driftwood, marine mammals and fish, land game,
and wild plants, all of which LaPe'rouse's men were
taking (LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, pp. 371, 376, 394-
395). We should also note how the Sitka Tlingit of
"Puerto de los Remedios" bitterly resented the Spanish
helping themselves to fresh water, wood, and fish;
at first insisting on payment for this, then retiring
when they could not frighten the Spaniards (Maurelle,
1920, pp. 45-46).
I suggest, therefore, that the chief who sold Cenotaph
Island to LaPe'rouse was acting for the Tl'trknaxAdi (or
DAqdentan, or XafikA'ayi?however the sib that
owned Lituya Bay was then called), and that this was
an attempt to regularize and settle peacefully an
unpleasant and potentially dangerous situation. The
sale would also serve as payment for what the French
had already taken illegally. Of course, it is practically
certain that not all the Indian men in Lituya Bay
belonged to the same sib (see the list of resident sibs on
pp. 20, 218). Others, therefore, may have felt that they
had rights which also had been invaded, and for which
due compensation had not been made. Or, some
individuals may have felt, anyway, that to rob the
French was fair sport. Of course, to get the better of
the foreignor (gunana) in sharp trade was simply
ordinary Tlingit business practice, and was a somewhat
different matter. There is no doubt that the Indians
regarded the French as "suckers."
The Tlingit methods of trading with the Dry Bay
people are illustrated in a myth recorded by Swanton
(1909, Tale 32, p. 160). In this, the Tl'irknaxAdi
simply took an Athabaskan and announced that he
was to be a friend and trade partner. "They would take
away a person's goods and then give him just what
120 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
they wanted to. The Athabascans were foolish enough
to allow it." This high-handed procedure should also be
considered in connection with pilfering from the French.
The day after the sale of the island, the two boats
were lost at the entrance to the bay.
"Some canoes of the savages came now to inform
us of the fatal accident. These rude unpolished men
expressed by signs, that they had seen both our
boats sink, and that to render them assistance was
utterly impossible. We loaded them with presents;
and endeavoured to make them understand, that
all our wealth would not have been too ample a
compensation for him who had saved a single man.
"Nothing could be more powerful in awakening
their humanity. They hastened to the sea-shore, and
spread themselves over both sides of the bay."
Yet when LaPerouse sent his own parties also to
search the shores, he still felt it necessary to retain on
board "a sufficient number of men to have nothing to
fear from the savages, against whom prudence required
us to be constantly on our guard." (LaPerouse, 1799,
vol. 1, p. 380.)
According to M. Boutin (the officer whose jollyboat
was caught by the tide but escaped), as his craft was
approaching the eastern side of the entrance, looking
for survivors, he saw some men on shore "making
signals by waving their cloaks" (ibid., p. 383). It is
not clear whether these Indians were warning the boat
away from the still dangerous tidal currents or were
trying to explain that the other boats were lost without
survivors. At any event, when the jollyboat was able to
reenter Lituya Bay at slack tide, the Indians "made
signs, that they had seen two boats overset . . ."
(ibid., p. 384).
In order to make sure that no survivors were left
behind, although all hope had been abandoned, La-
Perouse moved the ships to an anchorage closer to the
entrance, on the western side of the bay, apparently
opposite the inner of the two villages on that side.
Here they remained for about 2 weeks before sailing on
July 30.
"Our stay at the entrance of the bay procured us
much information respecting the manners and cus-
toms of the savages, which it would have been im-
possible for us to have acquired at the other anchor-
age. Oui vessels were moored near their villages, we
visited them several times a day, and every day we
had reason to complain of them, though our conduct
towards them continued uniformly the same, and
we never ceased to give them proofs of gentleness and
good-will." [Ibid., p. 388.]
It should be remembered that LaPerouse had paid
nothing for rights in this part of the bay.
On July 22, the Indians brought fragments of one
of the lost boats which they had found on the eastern
shore, "and informed us by signs, that they had in-
terred the body of one of our unfortunate companions
on the strand, where it had been thrown up by the
waves" (ibid.). LaPerouse almost certainly misunder-
stood. The Tlingit would never have buried a corpse,
and would probably not even have cremated it unless
ceremoniously requested to do so. Since such funeral
services for their own dead were performed by members
of the opposite moiety from the deceased, it is hard
to see how the Indians in the 18th century could have
worked out such a fictitious relationship with the
French.
However, three French officers set off for the sup-
posed grave with the Indians "whom we had loaded
with presents." They walked for 7 or 8 miles over
stones, probably along the boulder-strewn shore
southeast of the bay, "while every half hour the guides
demanded a fresh payment, or refused to proceed;
and at length they stole into the wood, and made
their escape. The officers discovered too late, that
their report was a mere trick, framed to obtain presents"
(ibid., p. 389).
So concludes LaPerouse. But while there is no ques-
tion but that the Indians were exploiting the situation
to their own advantage, how did they view it, and what
was their justification?
In the first place, according to LaPerouse himself, the
natives of Lituya Bay wore no moccasins. "Though
they go barefoot the soles of their feet are not callous,
and they cannot walk over stones" (ibid., p. 400). It
is no wonder that they kept demanding extra compensa-
tion during a walk of 7 or 8 miles over rough boulders.
Their feet must have been very painful when they
finally slipped into the forest with its soft mossy carpet.
It is also probable that the Indians had been fearful
of touching the body, had left it on the beach, and then
had run away when they discovered that the tide had
claimed it. It must be remembered that the Tlingit
believe that those who drown turn into the dread Land
Otter Men, monsters that lurk to kidnap those lost in
the woods or in peril on the water, in order to transform
them into animals like themselves (p. 744).
In addition, such disasters as shipwreck, especially of
the magnitude as that suffered by the French, are
attributed by the Tlingit to supernatural causes. The
Tlingit themselves have also lost canoes at Lituya Bay
(pp. 273-276), and Emmons, as we have seen (p. 94),
reports that such wrecks are believed due to the male-
volence of the Spirit of Lituya Bay, Qa Li-tu'a (Man
of Lituya) who lives in its depths and resents trespass.
All so drowned are supposed to become his slaves,
assuming the form of bears. To the fear of the Land
Otter Men, should we not add a healthy awe of the
Lituya Bay Spirit and his slaves, and an understandable
reluctance to interfere with one of his victims?
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 121
But LaPerouse, by now embittered by the tragedy,
is in no mood to forgive. "We were not surprised at the
account they gave us of the stratagem of the savages,
who in knavery and theft were unparalleled" (La
Perouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 389).
It was while searching the beach for wreckage that
the French discovered the fishing village at the salmon
stream (Huagin River), and also the cemetery or
"morai," for which the Polynesian term was used,
"because it is more suitable than tomb [tombeau] to
convey the idea of an exposure to the open air" (ibid.,
p. 389 note). The French investigated the contents
(see p. 539), but
"replaced everything with scrupulous exactness, add-
ing presents or iron instruments and beads. The
savages, who witnessed this visit, showed a little
uneasiness; but they did not fail to take away the
presents left by our travellers without delay. Some
others of us, going to the place the next day out of
curiosity, found only the ashes and the head. They
placed there some fresh presents, which experienced
the same fate as those of the preceding day. I am
convinced that the Indians would have been pleased,
had we repeated our visits several times a day."
But LaPerouse in the next sentence states that "they
allowed us, though with a little repugnance, to visit
their tombs," so these investigations evidently were
not welcome (ibid., p. 390). The behavior of the French
in putting something with the remains of the dead,
though done openly, was in fact exactly what Tlingit
witches are supposed to do in secret (see pp. 730-732),
so that the reason why the natives removed the presents
is not as obvious as LaPerouse assumed.
The Indians, however, would not let the French
approach their huts, "till they had sent away their
wives, who are the most disgusting beings in the
universe" (ibid.).
"These women, the most disgusting in the world,
covered with stinking hides, often not even tanned,
were still capable of exciting desire in the breasts of
some persons, not of the most delicate taste. At first
they raised difficulties, and declared, by signs, that
they should hazard the loss of their lives: but when
they were overcome by presents, they wished the
sun to be witness of their actions, and refused to
retire into the woods" (ibid., pp. 403-404).
One wonders whether it was only slave women who
had intercourse with the French, as was the case with
Malaspina's men at Yakutat (see p. 145).
LaPerouse continues to give a severe and unfavorable
account of the natives at Lituya Bay. As the first
French editor, Milet-Mureau observes (1799, vol. 1,
p. 399 n.): "In the lines of this picture the reader will
trace the painful impression of the recent loss, which
was related in the preceding chapter." And Chinard,
his modern editor (1937, p. 41, n. 4, my translation),
also complains, after consulting anthropological au-
thorities on the Tlingit: "On the whole, Laperouse
agrees with other voyagers. It seems, however, that
he has pushed his painting far towards the black."
Indeed, he pictures the Indians as predators, like the
wolf and the tiger, "at war with every animal," and
inhabiting the land "only to extirpate every thing that
lives and moves upon it" (1799, vol. 1, p. 396). They
are not at all as the fireside philosopher had pictured
man close to the state of nature?who retains his
natural goodness. Rather, they are "savage, deceitful,
and malicious," as LaPerouse has learned from "melan-
choly experience." Yet he has refrained from using
force "to re pell the injustice of these savages, and
teach them, that there is a law of nations, which is
never to be violated with impunity" (ibid., p. 398).
Then follows a catalog of their shortcomings:
"Some of the Indians were continually about our
ships in their canoes, and spent three or four hours
before they began to barter a little fish, or two or
three otter-skins, taking every opportunity to rob
us, catching at every bit of iron that could easily be
carried off, and examining particularly in what way
they could deceive our vigilance during the night. I
made the principal persons come on board my
vessel, and loaded them with presents; yet these
very men, whom I so particularly distinguished,
never disdained to steal a nail or an old pair of
breeches. Whenever they assumed a smiling and
cheerful air, I was sure they had stolen something,
though I very often pretended not to see it.
"I had particularly recommended caressing the
children, and gratifying them with little presents.
The parents were insensible to this mark of kindness,
which I thought must be felt in every country:
the only reflection it excited hi their minds was,
that, by asking us to accompany then1 children,
they would have an opportunity of robbing us;
and for my own information I several times pro-
cured myself the pleasure of seeing the father avail
himself of the moment when our attention appeared
most engaged by his child, to hide under his garment
of skin whatever was within his reach.
"I sometimes assumed an appearance of wishing
for trifles of little value belonging to Indians whom
I had just loaded with presents; but I always made
this trial of their generosity in vain." [Ibid., p. 398.]
"We never landed except in force, and armed.
They greatly dreaded our muskets, and eight or
ten Europeans together were sufficient to awe a
whole village. Our two surgeons being so imprudent
as to go a shooting alone were attacked. The Indians
endeavoured to snatch their fowling-pieces from
them, but could not succeeed: two men being suffi-
122 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
ciently formidable to them, to make them retire.
The same thing happened to Mr de Lesseps, the
young Russian interpreter; but fortunately the crew
of one of our boats came to his assistance. These
acts of hostility appeared to them so natural, that
they did not desist from coming on board, and
never suspected the possibility of our making re-
prisals." [Ibid., p. 399.]
[Nor are the natives more amiable in their dealings
with each other:]
"Their arts are considerably advanced, and their
civilization in this respect has made great progress;
but in every thing that polishes and softens the
ferocity of manners, they are yet in their infancy.
The manner in which they live, excluding every
kind of subordination, renders them continually
agitated by vengeance or fear. Choleric and prompt
to take offence, I have seen them continually with
the poignard unsheathed against each other.
Exposed to perish with hunger in the winter, when
the chace cannot be very productive, they live
in the summer in the greatest abundance, as they
can catch more fish in an hour than is sufficient
for their family. The rest of the day they remain
idle, spending it in gaming, of which they are as
passionately fond as some of the inhabitants of our
large cities. This is the grand source of their quarrels:
and I do not hesitate to pronounce, that this tribe
would be completely exterminated, if the use of
any intoxicating liquor were added to these
destructive vices." [Ibid., p. 397.]
"I will admit, if you please, that it is impossible
for a society to exist without some virtues; but I
am forced to confess, that here I could not perceive
any. Always quarreling among themselves, indif-
ferent to their children, absolute tyrants to their
wives, who are incessantly condemned to the most
laborious occupations, I observed nothing among
these people to mellow the tints of the picture."
[Ibid., pp. 398-399.]
Although LaPerouse found "no trace of anthropoph-
agy," he is quite ready to believe that the Indians
would be cannibals when they took a prisoner in time
of war (ibid., p. 411).
Dr. M. Rollin of the Boussole also found that these
people "are audacious thieves, extremely irascible, and
most of all to be dreaded by strangers" (LaPerouse,
1799, vol. 2, p. 360).
Despite his obvious display of prejudice or of
natural provocation, LaPe'rouse gives us a most inter-
esting and full description of Indian summer camp life
and occupations, the details of which are discussed in
the appropriate ethnographic chapters. He deduces
correctly that each household of 18 to 20 persons was
under the leadership of its own head or chief, and was
independent of the others in the village with respect to
its activities. Futhermore, he believes that the bay was
"a station for trade, inhabited only in the fishing
season" (ibid., vol.1, p. 407). This is because he has seen
whole villages coming and going (see passage quoted on
p. 93), because of the skin boats that had come to the
bay (see p. 123), the quantity of skins which the
Indians had to trade, and their possession of iron and
other objects of European origin.
"I think I may venture to affirm, that this place
is inhabited only in the summer, and that the Indians
never pass the winter here. I did not see a single hut,
that afforded shelter from the rain; and though there
were never three hundred Indians collected in the
bay at one time, we were visited by seven or eight
hundred others. . . . [Ibid., pp. 399-100.] It is
probable, that we saw but a very small part of these
people, who in all likelihood occupy a considerable
space along the sea-shore; visiting in summer the
different bays in search of food like the seals, and in
winter retiring farther within the land, to hunt
beavers and other animals of which they brought us
the spoils." [Ibid. p. 400.]
Anthropometric measurements and other obser-
vations were made by M. Rollin, M.D., the chief
medical officer of the Boussole (1799, vol. 2, p. 356-
372). These are summarized by LaPe'rouse as follows:
"The stature of these Indians is much the same
as ours. [The men averaged 5 feet 3 inches, according
to Dr. Rollin, (ibid., p. 371)]. Their features vary
considerably, and exhibit no peculiar characteristic
marks except in the expression of their eyes, to
which gentleness is an utter stranger. The colour of
their skin is very brown, because it is incessantly
exposed to the air: but their children are born as
fair as ours. They have, it is true, less beard than
Europeans [but LaPe'rouse knows from bis own
observations that no American Indians are naturally
beardless; those who lack beards have eradicated
the hair.] The frame of their body is slight. The
weakest of our seamen would have thrown the
strongest of the Indians in wrestling. I saw some
whose swelled legs seemed to indicate the scurvy,
though their gums were sound. I suspect that they
never arrive at any very old age; I saw but one
woman that appeared to be sixty; and she enjoyed
no privileges, but was obliged, like the rest, to
submit to the various labours imposed on her sex."
[LaPe'rouse, 1799, vol. 1, pp. 404-405.]
LaPe'rouse concludes that the inhabitants of Lituya
Bay are not Eskimo, but Indians, "having evidently
one common origin with all the inhabitants of the
interior part of Canada and North America" (ibid.,
p. 405). As compared with the Eskimo, they are
"much taller, thin, and not at all robust" (ibid., p. 406).
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 123
As compared to the California Indians who were
later seen, Dr. Rollin (LaPe'rouse, 1799, vol. 2, pp.
356-357) finds that those of Lituya Bay
"are taller, stronger made, of a more agreeable
figure, and are capable of much greater vivacity
of expression. They are superior to them also both
in courage and in intellect. They have rather a low
forehead, but more than that of the southern
Americans, black and lively eyes, much thicker
eye-brows, nose of the usual size and well formed,
only a little widened at the extremity, thin lips,
moderately large mouth, fine and very even teeth,
the chin and ears perfectly regular.
"The women also have the same advantage over
those of the southern tribes before mentioned,
having greater mildness in their features, as well
aa more grace in the form of their limbs.
"Their faces indeed would be tolerably agreeable,
[if it were not for their large labrets.] This whimsical
ornament not only disfigures the look, but causes an
involuntary flow of sailva, as inconvenient as it is
disgusting.
"In general the complexion of these people is
olive, with their nails, which they wear long, of a
lighter shade; but in different individuals, and in
different parts of the same individual, the tint of
the skin varies, according as it is more or less ex-
posed to the sun and the influence of the atmosphere.
"Their hair is neither so coarse nor so black as
that of the southern Americans, chestnut coloured
hair being very common among them. They have
also more beard, and the arm-pits and parts of sex
are less scantily provided." [Ibid., pp. 358-359.]
Their teeth are naturally even aDd sound. While
the natives "are extremely filthy in their manner
of living; yet, among these people, instances of the
itch, or even traces of this disorder are rarely to be
met with." [Ibid., p. 370.]
There is thus no evidence yet of the European
diseases which were to visit these people, although
Portlock (1789, pp. 270-273) discovered that the
Spanish in 1775 had spread smallpox among the Sitka
Tlingit that had apparently wiped out whole families.
One of the most interesting discoveries made in
Lituya Bay was the frame of a large boat like an umiak
with a skin cover, not a dugout like the canoes of the
local Indians.
"In the course of our inquiries respecting this
custom [praying while going through the entrance
to the bay, quoted on p. 93], we learned, that
seven very large canoes had lately been lost in this
passage, while an eighth escaped. This the Indians
who were saved consecrated to their god, or to the
memory of their comrades. We saw it by the side
of a morai, which no doubt contained the ashes of
some who were ship wrecked. [LaPerouse, vol. 1,
p. 390.] [It was this umiak, the skin covering of
which] was reposited in the morai, by the side of
the coffers of ashes; and the frame of the canoe
remained naked near it, raised upon stocks." [Ibid.,
p. 391.]
LaPerouse was tempted to take the skin cover, and
believed that this could have been done without the
knowledge of the Indians, since this part of the bay was
not inhabited. "Besides, I am well persuaded, that the
persons shipwrecked were strangers" (ibid.), probably
"Esquimaux" from the neighborhood of the Shumagin
Islands and "the peninsula explored by Cook" (ibid.,
p. 407).
The strangers may have been Chugach from Prince
William Sound, but if so, it is not very likely, al-
though not impossible, that they would have cremated
their dead, unless, as I have already speculated, this
was a special custom reserved for those who had died
by drowning (Birket-Smith, 1953, pp. 89-91; deLaguna,
1956, pp. 88-89). The Yakutat people, however, lived
much closer to Lituya Bay and were accustomed to
visit it. Both the large skin-covered canoe (pp. 330-331)
and the repository for ashes or "morai" (pp. 539-542)
were at home in their culture in the 18th century.
The Lituya Bay natives described by LaPerouse
may be taken as typical of the northern Tlingit who
were pressing northwestward along the Gulf of Alaska
to trade with the Athabaskans and Eyak-speakers, or
to acquire new territories in which to settle. Although
Lituya Bay in 1786 seems not to have been a permanent
place of residence, it evidently received a more estab-
lished settlement later, for the Denver Art Museum
acquired the painted rear partition cf a house, believed
to have been at Lituya Bay. This screen, dating from
about 1825, depicts the story of how Raven taught the
people to catch and preserve fish (Malin and Feder,
1962, figs. 2, a, b). Such a screen could have come only
from a permanent "named" lineage house. Perhaps
some of those who once lived in this house are today
represented by descendants at Yakutat.
Dixon (1787)
The first known exploration of Yakutat Bay was
made in 1787 by Capt. George Dixon, commanding the
Queen Charlotte, in the course of a voyage around the
world with Capt. Nathaniel Portlock of the King
George, in 1785-88.35 Both Dixon and Portlock had
35
 Summarized by Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, pp. CXXIX-CXXXIV;
Bancroft, 1886, pp. 261-265; Krause, 1956, pp. 20-22.
27
Mm A Q
* to Aji %K
MAP 19.?Chart of Port Mulgrave as surveyed by Capt. George Dixon in 1787. (Beresford, 1789, opp. p. 70.)
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 125
served under Captain Cook, 1776-80. The expedition of
1785-88 was a commercial venture undertaken for the
King George's Sound Company, formed in London by
Kichard Cadman Etches and other merchants for
developing trade between the Northwest Coast, China,
and Great Britain. Portlock and Dixon sailed from
England in 1785, spent the following summer trading on
Cook Inlet and fighting contrary winds along the
Northwest Coast that prevented landing, and then
wintered in the Hawaiian Islands. The following year,
1787, both vessels returned to Prince William Sound.
Portlock in the King George remained for some time at
Port Etches, sending his longboat on fur-trading expedi-
tions as far as Cook Inlet, and then sailed down the
coast, where, as already indicated, he met the Tlingit
at Portlock Harbor on the west coast of Chichagof
Island and also at Sitka Sound. He had not, however,
sighted either the opening to Yakutat Bay or Cross
Sound, and in late August left the Alaskan coast.
Meanwhile, Dixon in the Queen Charlotte had pre-
ceded Portlock across the Gulf of Alaska, sighting
"Kaye's Island" on May 15, and Mount Saint Elias on
May 18. On May 22 he discovered an inlet which he
determined to explore in the hope of finding natives
with whom to trade. This was Yakutat Bay, which he
entered the afternoon of the following day, after sending
the whaleboat under the second mate, Mr. Turner, to
find a suitable harbor. While the ship waited offshore
they saw a single native fishing in a canoe at the mouth
of the bay, and Mr. Turner reported not only a good
harbor but "a multitude of inhabitants" (Dixon, 1789,
p. 85). The wind failing, the ship was towed into the
entrance of Monti Bay, where she anchored for the
night in 65 fathoms of water over a muddy bottom, less
than a mile from shore, apparently between the mouth
of Ankau Creek and Point Turner on Khantaak Island.
"During the time we were warping into the bay,
several canoes came along-side us, [writes Beresford,
the supercargo on the Queen Charlotte]. We accosted
the people with some of the words in use amongst
the natives of Prince William's Sound, but they had
not the least idea of their meaning: indeed it was
pretty evident at first sight, that these people were
a different nation, from the construction of their
canoes, which were altogether of wood, neatly fin-
ished, and in shape not very much unlike our whale-
boats." [Beresford, 1789, p. 167.]
[Early next morning, May 24] "we saw a number
of the natives on the beach, near the entrance of this
creek [Ankau], making signals for us to come on shore:
a smoke was also seen, which proceeded from behind
some pines, at a small distance round the point."
Mr. Turner was sent in the whaleboat to see whether
this would be a convenient anchorage. "He found a
number of inhabitants, and two or three temporary
huts" (ibid., p. 167). According to Dixon's shorter
version, edited by "C.L." who seems to have been
overfond of superlatives, there were "a great manj'
Indians" urging the Europeans to come ashore, and at
the village (on the northwest side of Ankau Creek,
farther upstream than the present ANB Cemetery),
"there were a great number of inhabitants, and some
temporary huts" (Dixon, 1789, p. 85).
This settlement, as well as two on Khantaak Island,
are clearly shown on Dixon's sketch map of "Port
Mulgrave" (Beresford, 1789, opp. p. 170). Dixon, how-
ever, applied this name to the whole of what we now
call Monti Bay and the sheltered waters behind Khan-
taak Island, whereas on modern charts "Port Mul-
grave" is reserved for the small harbor on the island,
between Point Turner and Pyramid Point and opposite
the present site of the "Old Village" of Yakutat. It was
here that the Queen Charlotte dropped anchor when
Ankau Creek was found too small to accommodate
her. Although Dixon adopted "Port Mulgrave" as the
official name, he seems to have first used the expression
"Foggy Harbour," at least in reporting his discovery
to Captain Colnett later that summer. Dixon gave the
name "Admiralty Bay" to Yakutat Bay as a whole,
and "Cape Phipps" to what we now call Phipps Penin-
sula, thereby honoring again Constantine John Phipps,
Baron Mulgrave. A point on Khantaak Island honors
his second mate, James Turner. Dixon also named
Point Carew, the northernmost point of Phipps
Peninsula.
The new anchorage in Port Mulgrave was "within
pistol shot of the shore, and very near two large Indian
huts" (Beresford, 1789, p. 168). These stood between
the fresh water pond and the harbor beach, exactly
where the village (S'uskA) was located in the 19th
century, and where the old graveyard is now.
Trade promptly began with the inhabitants.
"The people seemed very well pleased at our
arrival, and a number of them presently came along-
side us. They soon understood what we wanted, and
an old man brought us eight or ten excellent sea
otter skins. This circumstance, together with our
having as yet seen no beads, or other ornaments, or
any iron implements, gave us reason to conclude,
that no trading party had ever been here, and conse-
quently that we should reap a plentiful harvest; but
our conjectures on this head were built on a sandy
foundation; for on a further acquaintance with our
neighbours, they shewed us plenty of beads, and
the same kind of knives and spears we had seen in
Prince William's Sound; and as a melancholy proof
that we only gleaned after more fortunate traders,
what furs they brought to sell, exclusive of the
small quantity just mentioned, were of a very
inferior kind." [Beresford, 1789, p. 168.]
126 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
The trade goods seen in Prince William Sound had
been blue glass beads and Kussian iron knives and
weapons (ibid., p. 147).
Before we assume from this that the Russians or
some other Europeans had already been to Yakutat
Bay, we should consider the evidence offered by Port-
lock of intertribal trade between Prince William Sound
and some region, or people, whom the Chugach called
"Wallamute." These were probably Eyak-speakers,
who lived "considerably beyond Comptroller's Bay to
the Eastward." It was from the latter that had come
garments of sea otter fur, not whole pelts such as the
Chugach themselves marked specially for trade. Port-
lock was purchasing these garments in Prince William
Sound from the Chugach at the same time that Dixon
was discovering that the natives in Yakutat Bay had
practically no furs to offer.
While we cannot know with certainty who the
"Wallamute" were (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938,
p. 357 and citations), it is intriguing to speculate
that Portlock and Dixon may have been competing
with each other for furs from the same source. Prince
William Sound had become a center for trade; since
the previous year it had been visited by Shelikhov's
party on Montague Island, Lowry in the Captain
Cook with Guise in the Experiment, Tipping in the
Sea Otter, and Meares in the Nootlca (the last wintered
miserably in the sound), all eagerly seeking furs (Ban-
croft, 1886, pp. 259-262; de Laguna, 1956, p. 10).
It must have been clear to the astute Eskimo, if they
had not already learned from Cook in 1778, from the
Spanish in 1779, and from the Russians in 1779, 1783-
85, that there was an active demand for furs. These
were sought by the Chugach in intertribal trade. We
may assume, therefore, that European goods were
moving eastward along the Gulf of Alaska to be bar-
tered like slaves and native copper. I suggest that
it was native middlemen who had anticipated Dixon.
Moreover, the demeanor of the Yakutat natives did
not suggest previous direct contact with Europeans,
and Dixon himself believed that "we were the first
discoverers of this harbour" (Beresford, 1789, p. 170).
While Dixon remained at Port Mulgrave, the ship
was visited frequently by people from the village on
Ankau Creek, "but they belonged to the same tribe
with our neighbours, and possessed very few furs of
any consequence" (Beresford, 1789, p. 168). Hoping
to meet with more Indians, Dixon went out with the
longboat to explore the nearby harbors, on July 1,
the first day that the weather cleared, "taking with
him one of the Indians who had frequently been on
board, and who was a tolerably intelligent fellow, as
a guide" (ibid., p. 169).
To judge by the chart, this exploration was confined
to the sheltered waters behind Khantaak Island, up
through Johnstone Passage, perhaps as far as Krutoi
Island, a distance of about 10 nautical miles from the
anchorage. On this short excursion, which lasted only
from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, Dixon
"found several huts scattered here and there, in various
parts of the sound, but they were mostly inhabited by
people whom we had already seen; and there was not
a single skin of any value amongst them . . ." (ibid.,
p. 169). One of the settlements, according to the sketch
chart, was on the west side of Johnstone Passage, about
Sy2 nautical miles northeast of the village at Port
Mulgrave; that is, it was on the eastern side of
Khantaak Island, or rather on the unnamed island just
to the east, which is separated from it only at high
water. This may be what our informants called QadAk.
"The number of inhabitants contained in the whole
sound, as near as I could calculate, amounted to about
seventy, including women and children" (Beresford,
1789, p. 171), or "did not, perhaps, exceed seventy or
eighty" (Dixon, 1789, p. 87), and their dwellings were
judged to be merely temporary structures, the planks
of which could be taken away in a canoe and erected in
a different spot. In this, Dixon's observations coincide
with those of LaPe'rouse in Lituya Bay. (For a descrip-
tion of the houses, see p. 311.)
Not far from Ankau Creek, and about 1% miles from
the vessel (probably somewhere near Ankau Point and
the modern cemetery), Dixon discovered a cemetery,
apparently similar to the type of "morai" seen by
LaPerouse. (The descriptions are quoted on p. 539.)
Dixon often went ashore to shoot wild ducks and
geese, "which not only proved an excellent treat for
us, but at the same time gave the Indians such an
idea of fire-arms, that their behaviour was perfectly
quiet and inoffensive, and they never attempted to
molest us" (Beresford, 1789, p. 171).
On one occasion the whaleboat was sent with seven
hands to fish for halibut just outside Point Carew,
where the natives were then fishing and where they
still fish today. The Englishmen found that "their
success was greatly inferior to that of two Indians,
who were fishing at the same time, which is rather
extraordinary, if we consider the apparent inferiority
of their tackle to our's." Beresford then goes on to
describe the Tlingit halibut hook and method of
fishing (quoted on p. 391), concluding: "Thus were
we fairly beat at our own weapons, and the natives
constantly bringing us plenty of fish, our boat was
never sent on this business afterwards" (ibid., pp
174-175). Halibut was bought from the natives for
"beads and small toes" (ibid., p. 173).
"Toes" were iron adzes (cf. Krause, 1959, p. 19,
note 36). "Toes were the article of trade held in the
first estimation here, and next to these, pewter basons
were best liked."
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 127
"Beads served to purchase pieces of skins that were
of little value; but the deep blue, and small green,
were the only sorts that would be taken in barter"
(Beresford, 1789, pp. 176-177). It was found that to
offer any great variety of articles only confused the
natives and made the transactions even slower than
usual.
Dixon was disappointed in securing only "about
sixteen good sea otter skins, two fine cloaks of the
earless marmot, a few racoons, and a parcel of very
inferior pieces and slips of beaver" (ibid., p. 169).
Beresford hazards that the "marmot cloaks were pro-
cured by these people from some neighbouring tribe"
(ibid., p. 176). It took, however, about 10 days, or
until June 3, before
"we found the natives scanty stock of furs not
only exhausted, but that they had stripped them-
selves almost naked, to spin out their trade as far
as possible. This tedious delay was occasioned by
the slow, deliberate manner in which these people
conduct their traffic. Four or six people come along-
side in a canoe, and wait perhaps an hour before
they give the least intimation of having any thing
to sell; they then, by significant shrugs and gestures,
hint at having brought something valuable to dispose
of, and wish to see what will be given in exchange,
even before their commodity is exposed to view, for
they are particularly careful in concealing every
thing they bring to sell. Should this manoeuvre
not succeed, after much deliberation, their cargo
is produced, and generally consists of a few trifling
pieces of old sea otter skins, and even then, a con-
siderable time is taken up before the bargain is
concluded; so that a whole day would frequently be
spent in picking up a few trifles. Such, however,
was our present situation, in regard to trade, that
we patiently submitted to the tantalizing method of
these people, in hopes that something better might
possibly be brought us; but finding they were
stripped almost naked, and not the most distant
probability of any better success, Captain Dixon
determined to leave this place the first opportunity."
[Ibid., pp. 169-170.] [He sailed the next day.]
These delaying tactics, which irritated the English,
were of advantage to the natives because they served
to keep in port the interesting strangers who constituted
a market for halibut. These were not only good bar-
gaining tactics, but were enjoyed by the natives, since
the Yakutat find pleasurable the actual handling of
wealth. Moreover, holding back items and stealthy
peeking at goods to be offered in trade were char-
acteristic of the Southern Tutchone Athabaskans with
whom the Chilkat Tlingit traded (Olson, 1936, p. 213),
and we might assume that this behavior would be
equally characteristic of the Tlingit themselves, or of
the Tlingitized Yakutat, if the situation were reversed
and wealthy strangers came to visit them. However,
we should note the contrast in speed of trading displayed
by the Tlingit of Sitka ("Norfolk") Sound, whom the
Queen Charlotte visited later in June (Beresford, 1789,
p. 182).
The information in Beresford's report is insufficient
to show whether the natives in Yakutat Bay were
Tlingit in 1787, although it is clear that much of then-
culture was Tlingit. They understood neither the words
of Tanaina Athabaskan nor of Chugach Eskimo, which
the English had picked up in Cook Inlet and Prince
William Sound, but seem to have replied in a different
language, about which we are told nothing except that
"it appears barbarous, uncouth, and difficult to pro-
nounce: they frequently used the word Amcou, which
signifies a Friend, or Chief ['anqawu, 'chief, rich man,'
evidently used flatteringly], and their numerals reckon
to ten; but I was not able to procure any farther speci-
men of their language, as they are very close and un-
communicative in their dispositions" (ibid., p. 172). In
referring to the language heard at Sitka Sound, Beres-
ford observes that "I have some reason to think it is
nearly the same with that at Port Mulgrave" (ibid.,
p. 191), but unfortunately we are not offered a com-
parative vocabulary.
In comparing the Yakutat natives with the Tlingit
of Sitka, Beresford found that the latter "seemed far
more lively and alert than those we had left at Port
Mulgrave" (ibid., p. 181). Although at first civil
enough, they soon showed themselves ready to pick
pockets and to steal, and "indeed they could scarcely
be restrained from these proceedings without violence"
(ibid., p. 184). This was not a charge made against the
natives of Yakutat. "These people [Sitka Tlingit] in
their make, shape, and features, are pretty much the
same with those we saw in Port Mulgrave;" and in
many particulars had the same customs (ibid., p. 186).
Yet, "The manners and disposition of the people here,
approach nearer to those in Cook's River, and Prince
William's Sound, than our friends in Port Mulgrave;
but this may, perhaps, in some measure, be accounted
for from their enlarged society, and their constant
intercourse with each other" (ibid., p. 187). We should
add that the Sitkan method of trading was as cere-
moniously carried out as at Lituya Bay, and that each
chief managed or controlled all the transactions of his
people, taking "infinite pains to dispose of their furs
advantageously" (ibid.). This type of organized trade
had not been noted at Yakutat, although Malaspina
was to experience something of it (see p. 143).
My impression is that the Yakutat Indians described
by Beresford were already largely Tlingit, but not
completely so. Their behavior suggests more the sub-
dued and amiable Athabaskans than the self-confident
128 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Tlingit. They had not yet been completely "organized"
to trade, an innovation ascribed by my informants to
the great ^atgawet, a wealthy shaman of Tongass
extraction (see p. 245). That the Yakutat could speak
Tlingit but were rather reluctant to give a vocabulary,
suggests a little linguistic insecurity, and reminds us of
the reactions of Dr. McClellan's Southern Tutchone,
who knew that their old Athabaskan words were no
longer "correct," but who were also acutely aware
that their Tlingit was faulty. However, we should not
attempt to make too much of this last point, since
Beresford was notoriously unsuccessful in learning any
Haida, his efforts to pronounce words in that language
being greeted with a "sarcastic laugh" or "silent
contempt" by the Queen Charlotte Islanders. Although
he describes the latter as "never of a communicative
disposition" (ibid., p. 227), Beresford himself may have
been particularly gauche or antagonizing.
In addition to giving some ethnological details about
the Yakutat Indians, Beresford describes their appear-
ance as follows:
". . . they in general are about the middle size,
their limbs straight and well shaped, but like the
rest of the inhabitants we have seen on the coast,
are particularly fond of painting their faces with a
variety of colours, so that it is no easy matter to
discover their real complexion; however, we pre-
vailed on one woman, by persuasion, and a trifling
present, to wash her face and hands, and the alter-
ation it made in her appearance absolutely surprised
us; her countenance had all the chearful glow of an
English milkmaid; and the healthy red which
flushed her cheek, was even beautifully contrasted
with the whiteness of her neck; her eyes were black
and sparkling; her eye-brows the same colour, and
most beautifully arched; her forehead so remark-
ably clear, that the translucent veins were seen
meandering even in their minutest branches?in
short, she was what would be reckoned handsome
even in England: but this symmetry of features is
entirely destroyed by a custom extremely singular,
and what we had never met with before, neither do
I recollect having seen it mentioned by any Voyagers
whatever." [Ibid., pp. 171-172.]
Alas, the lovely lady wore a large labret! (For a de-
scription, see p. 434.)
This woman's lip ornament is distinctively Tlingit,
rather than Eyak or Athabaskan. As far as archeolog-
ical evidence would indicate, it was absent from Yakutat
in late prehistoric times (de Laguna et al, 1964, pp.
163-164). Abercrombie (1900, p. 394) in 1884 recog-
nized the labret as alien to Yakutat, although he erred
in stating that it was never worn. It is probably sig-
nificant that Beresford noted that this ornament was
not worn by all the women at Port Mulgrave, "but
only those who appeared in a superior station to the
rest" (Beresford, 1789, p. 172). Is this evidence that
would confirm Yakutat traditions that their chiefs
sought brides of suitably high rank among the Tlingit?
(see p. 233).
After leaving Yakutat on June 4, Dixon sailed
straight out into the Gulf, then turned almost due east
to strike the coast at what he called "Norfolk Sound"
(Sitka Sound). After trading here he sailed again
June 23, and reached "Queen Charlotte's Islands"
before the end of the month, naming these islands after
bis ship, and the channel north of them after
himself. After successful trading at various points on the
west coast, he rounded their southern end and explored
Hecate Strait as far as "Cape Darymple" on Banks
Island. Then he turned toward Nootka Sound, off
which, as we shall see, he met Capt. James Colnett,
the next explorer of Yakutat Bay.
Colnett (1788)
In the summer of 1788, three separate expeditions
were to come to the Yakutat Bay area, the first two
following each other closely into the bay, but failing
to meet. The third stopped briefly only on the coast
near Dry Bay.
The first of these voyagers was Capt. James Colnett,
in the ship Prince of Wales, acting for the King George's
Sound Company.36 Colnett had been a midshipman
on Cook's second voyage, and a lieutenant on his
third. As he himself wrote in 1798 (pp. i-n), he had
been "engaged in various commercial undertakings on
the North-West Coast of America, during a period
of seven years . . ." and had ". . . searched the
coast from 36? to 60? North, the inland part of which
was before little known to European navigators." His
expedition in 1789 to found a colony in Nootka Sound
is the most famous, for there he and his ship were
seized by the Spanish, who claimed this important
center of the sea otter fur trade for the crown of Spain.
Colnett and his men were held prisoners for 13 months,
and he was not able to return to England until 1792.
It was this high-handed action of the Spanish that
precipitated the so-called "Nootka Controversy" be-
tween Spain and Great Britain, which, as we know,
resulted in the abandonment of all Spanish claims
38
 Summaries are in Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, pp. CXXXV-CXLI;
Bancroft, 1884, vol. 1, pp. 182-184; Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp.
206-207, 213; and in the biographical notes to Menzies' Journal,
by Forsyth, 1923, pp. vm-xv. These sources are not in complete
agreement.
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 129
to the Northwest Coast (Bancroft, 1884, vol. 1, pp.
204-283; Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 210, 216).
Colnett's voyage of October 16, 1786, to November
7, 1888, is far less well known, largely because his
journal has never been published. Excerpts from the
Crown-copyright manuscript in the Public Record
Office, London, are quoted below by the kind permission
of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office.
On this expedition, Captain Colnett in the Prince
of Wales had been accompanied from England by Cap-
tain Duncan in the sloop Princess Royal. Both vessels
were owned by the same company that had dispatched
Portlock and Dixon the previous year. Among the
important persons on board the Prince of Wales was
Lieut. James Johnstone, Colnett's first officer, and
Archibald Menzies, the Scottish botanist, acting as
medical officer. Both of them were later to sail with
Captain Vancouver to the Northwest Coast in 1790-95,
revisiting many of the localities they had explored with
Colnett. The supercargo of the Prince of Wales was
John Etches, brother of the owner.
As Dixon neared Nootka Sound in late August 1787,
he met the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal
leaving this port, and as Beresford (1789, p. 230)
writes: "We learned, to our great joy, that they were
from London, and fitted out by our Owners."
The ships exchanged information about the coasts
they had visited and their varying successes in the fur
trade at different places. John Etches told Beresford
(ibid., p. 231) "that they had been near a month in
King George's [Nootka] Sound, but had done very
little business, having found a ship there called the
Imperial Eagle, commanded by a Captain Berkley,"
who had apparently arrived just in time to spoil their
trade, for this captain boasted of all the furs he had
obtained. Nootka was at that time the center for sea
otter, and already was being stripped of these animals.
(Cf. Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 206 f., for all the traders
there, 1785-86).
"Our meeting with these vessels was very fortunate,
both on their account and our own, What we learnt
from them rendered it entirely useless for us to make
King George's Sound, and Prince William's Sound
being their next destination, we not only could inform
them that nothing could be expected from that quarter,"
but urged "our new brothers in trade" to "make the
N.E. side of Queen Charlotte's Islands, and the opposite
land, which we judged to be the main" (Beresford,
1789, pp. 233-234).
After Colnett and Duncan had spent all night aboard
the Queen Charlotte, "procuring a chart of the coast"
(ibid., p. 234) on which Dixon had marked all his dis-
coveries, the latter sailed directly for the Hawaian
Islands, where he was to meet Portlock. Apparently
the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal took his advice
and went to the east coast of the Queen Charlotte's and
the mainland opposite. I do not know what other local-
ities they may have visited, since the summaries I have
consulted differed, and I have not read that part of
Colnett's journal. Duncan explored this area the fol-
lowing summer so there is confusion between the dis-
coveries of the two seasons.
At any event, after presumably wintering in the
Hawaiian Islands, the two ships returned to the North-
west Coast, Duncan in the Princess Royal to trade in
British Columbia waters as far south as the Strait
of Juan de Fuca. He rejoined Colnett in the Hawaiian
Islands, and both ships proceeded to China. From
here, Duncan with his ship, and the Prince of Wales
with Menzies, under the command of Lieutenant
Johnstone, sailed for England, where they arrived in
July 1789. Captain Colnett, however, remained in
China to organize the expedition to Nootka Sound
which ended so disastrously for him.
After parting with Duncan hi the spring of 1788,
Colnett had sailed into Prince William Sound, where
he remained from April 26 to May 24, trading with
the natives in various localities, including the Green
Islands and Port Etches. From the latter place the
supercargo tried twice to go to Controller Bay, but
succeeded only in circumnavigating Hinchinbrook
Island. While at Port Etches, John Etches and a
John Hutchins carved their names and the date, May 9,
1788, on a tree where it was seen shortly afterward
by Captain Douglas in the Iphigenia (Meares, 1790,
p. 316). About May 22, Colnett moved the Prince of
Wales to Captain Cook's Snug Corner Cove, farther
up the sound, where he traded with a number of natives,
including one who called himself "Portlock."
Colnett's manuscript, especially the portion dealing
with Prince William Sound and the neighborhood,
contains some excellent descriptions of places and
people, and some neat sketches, although the latter
are unfortunately in faint pencil. Some of his sketch
maps are fairly good, but on others the distances are
exaggerated, or important features, the Copper River,
for example, are omitted. He furthermore often ne-
glects to note the latitude and longitude of his position.
A minor difficulty in understanding his manuscript
is due to his use of commas instead of periods, and
to his failure to capitalize the first letter of a new
sentence. These I have in some cases supplied, and
to make reading easier I have also broken the almost
continuous text into paragraphs.
On May 24, Captain Colnett sailed for "Foggy Har-
bour," as he called Yakutat Bay. "Portlock," the Indian,
at his request was taken for a short distance down the
coast, being put off in his boat somewhere off the Copper
River. The supercargo went in a boat into Controller
Bay from the west, while the Prince of Wales stood into
130 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
the eastern entrance to pick him up. The weather was
bad and the ship had to seek shelter behind Cape
Suckling. There is no mention of natives here, and
Colnett did not like the place. "I might have anchored
off Cape Suckling," he writes, "& searched for a port
but as circumstances were at present no time on my
side was to be lost to prevent the Natives of Foggy
Harbour disposing of their skins to the Russians as I
was informed they had the year before." Information
about Yakutat Bay had been obtained from Dixon.
By May 31, Colnett was off the entrance to "Foggy
Harbour" where he waited until June 3, until the long-
boat returned. The latter had been all the way to Cape
Fairweather but had failed to find the harbor marked
on their chart. The only one resembling it was the
harbor on the east side of "Beering's [Yakutat] Bay,"
where they now anchored. According to Colnett's sketch
chart and description of the place, his anchorage was
just inside the northeast point (Strawberry Point) of
Khantaak Island, opposite the channel between Otmeloi
and Kriwoi Islands, not at Dixon's anchorage. "Foggy
Harbour" was so called by Dixon, Colnett reports, but
is not as far east as Dixon put it. It is situated among
many islands, the "Foggy Isles," on the east side of a
deep bay that runs in toward the northeast, with Mount
Saint Elias to the west. "Should suppose it is Bearing's
Bay." Colnett's map and description of Khantaak
Island and of the shelter behind it are a little more
complete and accurate than Dixon's although Colnett
remained in Yakutat Bay only until June 9.
Colnett was disappointed in trading.
"Several Indians came on board with nothing but
old skins. Several signified that they had had two
ships lately among them & purchased all they had,
& that the Crews and Commanders wore large caps &
were remarkably stout. Some canoes that the long
boat fell in with to the westward gave them the same
information."
What were these ships? Do the reports refer to
Dixon's Queen Charlotte the year before and, if so, what
was the second ship? We have no records of any other
visits to Yakutat. Colnett assumes that the ships had
called there, but might not the Yakutat natives have
encountered them in Prince William Sound?
Colnett determined to leave, even though the Indians
seemed to promise that much would soon be forth-
coming in the way of trade, for he felt that he had
already been in "Foggy Harbour" long enough for
them to have brought out any skins they might have.
Colnett seems to have been rather tolerant of their
pilfering, contrasting them with the Chugach whom he
had already described as "much addicted to thieving
& very artful in their dealing [,] seldom selling their
Furs till they had found means to steal something."
[As to the Yakutat natives:] "Their wishing one
to remain might be only a decoy to give them an
opportunity to thieve[.] They did not seem so great
adepts at it, as our former acquaintances on this
coast [Chugach], but we soon grew familiar to them,
& they could not divest themselves of the natural
failing of all Indians to take what ever they fancied
& opportunity offered.
"[No para.] This was the case of an Indian that
stole the sailmaker's fishing line & he too rashly
caught up a musket & shot the man, but it was done
with a degree of cruelty, for he fired twice [.] I was
not on deck myself or would have endeavoured to
prevent it, & those whose business it was in my
absence, looked on with greatest unconcern; a few
canoes remained along side some time afterwards but
next morning only one was seen . . .
". . . Before leaving the Port the leading man of
the canoe that remained with us had a helmet Cap
given him."
[Some of Colnett's observations about Yakutat
are shrewd and illuminating:]
"If I might Judge of the inhabitants from the
number I saw there were not above 200; I think
their residence is farther to the Southward and
Eastward and [they are] only here at certain seasons
of the year to hunt, fish, and trade. We learnt of the
natives here & at Prince William Sound that they
traded with each other, each remarking & with a
degree of contempt, the Cut lips of the men to the
North [where Chugach men wore labrets] & the large
Mouth pieces of the Women to the South [presum-
ably at Yakutat]. All the European articles I saw
was a file with Hunsberg [?] on, & a pair of Russian
or Dutch scissors. They shewed us very little Iron,
but from the familiar method of receiving us, should
suppose European visitors were common.
"[No para.] At this place appears to commence a
different nation from those reside to the North.
Besides the difference of the sex in wearing the lip
pieces, their Canoes are all of wood & of an opposite
Built, & three or four kinds of them; & I believe
belong to different tribes, as there was a variation
also in then* languages, several counting numbers
not with the same name & when ask'd where resided
pointed different ways."
[Unfortunately no vocabularies are given. Al-
though these observations suggest the mingling of
Tlingit and Eyak-speakers, the multiplicity of canoe
types is characteristic of Yakutat (see p. 330):]
" . . . one kind of their canoes resembled a neat
built ship, Galley fashion thus?[sketch] and may
hold three or four men, the most seen in them there.
Others resembled a half Moses dug out of a Log.
The two larger kind [:] one Charlotte Isles built [,]
the other like a Butchers tray cut out of a solid piece
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 131
of timber carrying from 20 to 30 people [.] Their
Baggage [,] women and children are transported in
those [,] I suppose in inland navigation for they
seem'd greatly alarm'd at the gentlest breeze when
any dist. from the shore. [Cf. fig. 25, p. 335.]
"[No para.] The Women and men in persons &
Customs resemble those of the Charlotte Isles but
their language had not the least similarity. Habita-
tions I saw none, but the remains of some Huts on
several parts of the Shore [:] temporary dwellings
& summer residence."
Colnett seems to have liked Yakutat, for he
writes of it:
"On the whole the pleasantest place I had met
with on the coast. The shores in every part were
full of Currants, Gooseberries, Strawberries, Ras-
berries, apple Trees, & wild peas all in bloom, & the
natives till the man was shot, brought salmon &
Halibut. I saw no fresh water, but have not the
least doubt there was plenty on the High land to
the North."
He appends sketches of the lowland at the entrance
to "Foggy Harbour" and of Mount Saint Elias as seen
from the anchorage.
The Prince of Wales sailed from "Foggy Harbour"
on June 9. That day, when about 9 leagues (27 nautical
miles) offshore,37
"the Officer of the Watch informed me a Boat was
coming off with a Flag. For a long time took it for
a Russian launch, but on drawing near prov'd to be
a Canoe with three sticks up as masts[;] on two of
them were tails of large birds hanging by a string &
on the middle stick a strip of skin."
The hoisting of a tuft of white feathers on the end
of a long pole, which looked like a white flag at a
distance, seems to have been a Tlingit "emblem of
peace and friendship," an invitation to trade, which
Beresford (1789, p. 180) had described at Sitka Sound
the previous year.
Colnett continues:
"Some few skins and pieces were bought off them,
& another soon joined us; in both were 30 men[,]
women & children; one of the men had his dress
trim'd with Chinese money, & also shewed a piece
of new striped Flannel. At midnight they left us."
This encounter presumably took place somewhere
off the shore between Ocean Cape and Situk River.
The next morning, June 10, the breeze freshened
from the west,
37
 Colnett's estimate of the distance is excessive; perhaps he
failed to see the low foreshore.
"but a large smoak being observ'd on a beach,
shortened sail & hauled in for it, at the same time
a Canoe was observ'd pulling after us with a piece
of skin on a staff, hove too; two Canoes Join'd &
some skins & pieces were purchased. . . ."
This second encounter was probably somewhere
offshore between Situk and Ahrnklin Rivers, since his
observations at noon would put him off the mouth of
Ahrnklin River or Dangerous River, from which posi-
tion he sketched what appears to be Yakutat Glacier,
as seen above the lagoon at the mouth of the river.
However, we cannot be sure, for he makes an obscure
reference to the bluff at Cape Suckling. Colnett seems
to have tacked about, apparently at one time sailing
toward Icy Bay, for he notes that Mount Saint Elias
towers to a great height and looks conical. In any
case, he must have resumed his voyage toward the
southeast, for on the night of June 11, he found an
anchorage in latitude 58?30', 4 or 5 leagues (12 or 13
nautical miles) from Cape Fairweather. This position
is impossible, for Cape Fairweather is in latitude
58?48', which means that Colnett had either miscalcu-
lated his position by 3' or had underestimated the
distance. However, as Dall (Dall and Baker, 1883,
p. 202) has warned, Harbor Point, the southeast
entrance to Lituya Bay, when seen from the south or
southeast, "is very likely to be mistaken for Cape
Fairweather." If Colnett did make this mistake, a
distance of 12 nautical miles southeast along the coast
from Harbor Point would bring him to a possible
anchorage at about the correct latitude.
As the ship was proceeding southeastward down
the coast, a little after noon the next day,
"a Canoe was observ'd pulling after us . . . with
a skin on a pole. Brought too. On their Joining us
had not the least Inclination to trade requesting us
to return back to the westward. At this time a point
to the Eastwrd making like an inlet & some smoak
on it, hoisted the Boat out & the 2nd mate went to
examine it. At 8 the Boat returned reporting the
place to be a small Bay of 3 fs [fathoms] of water
but unsafe to stop in, so much Ice coming down
from a run of water above it. At this place was a
house & garden neatly fenced in, & European plants
growing [!], but only saw 8 women, a lad & a boy.
A skin & a piece was procured from them. This Bay
is six or 7 leagues from Cape Fairweather."
Where was this place? A distance of 7 leagues or
21 nautical miles from Harbor Point at Lituya Bay
would be about a mile from Icy Point, behind or east
of which lies Palma Bay with several sheltered coves.
We know from Goldschrnidt and Haas (1946, p. 95)
that, in later days, the DAqdentan from Hoonah used
to have a place called Ganexa, east of Icy Point,
perhaps at the Kaknau Creek of modern charts.
132 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
More puzzling than the locality visited, is the men-
tion of the fenced garden and European plants. Fenc-
ing might be an aborginal trait, since the cemetery
near Ankau Point was described by Beresford (1789,
p. 175) as marked by "a number of white rails,"
constructed with order and regularity, a description
which might apply to a fence. However, Malaspina,
Suria, and LaP6rouse make no mention of fences at the
cemeteries on Yakutat and Lituya Bays, and Suria
does not include them in his paintings of the cemetery
at Ankau Point. But the "European plants" defy
interpretation, and unfortunately there is no indica-
tion that Menzies saw them. Could Colnett's mate
have seen native tobacco? This seems to have been
cultivated by the Tlingit, and was noted at Yakutat
by Dixon. It is hardly credible that the Tlingit should
already have acquired other domesticated plants, since
the Russians had not yet attempted to introduce them
into Alaska.
When the ship's boat returned from this mysterious
bay, it was found that "nothing would entice the
canoe along side to trade. After detaining us 8 Hours
took from them two Skins & some strips & paid them
double what we gave in fair Barter & they left us
perfectly satisfied."
The ship stood along the shore until "Cape Fair-
weather" or Harbor Point was judged to be some 7
to 10 leagues distant, and later, that night(?), a fire
was seen a little to the west of the bay in which the
boat had landed.
Early the following morning a canoe again came
off, from which another skin and one or two garments
were purchased. The ship was estimated to be in
latitude 58?20' N., with the little bay bearing N22W,
8 miles distant, with Mount Fairweather on the same
bearing. If these observations are accurate, the little
bay with the fenced garden would have been on the
north or northwest shore of Palma Bay.
By June 13, Colnett came in sight of Cross Sound;
he saw a smoke and was joined by three canoes, which,
however, had only three poor skins to trade. Portlock
and Dixon had warned him that he would get little
here. From another canoe he obtained two or three
more furs. Then he sailed on to Sitka Sound, observing:
"The Natives also very friendly. Not a canoe
came along side but invited us in to their dwelling
promising plenty to eat, & that our canoe would be
sheltered from wind & sea. Not that we understood
a syllable of their language, but we had now so
long been conversing by signs & tokens that after
gaining a little knowledge of their language found
we had seldom been mistaken."
It is a pity that Captain Colnett with his apparent
liking for the country and the natives did not leave
us a fuller description of what he saw.
Ismailov and Bocharov (1788)
About 2 weeks after Colnett had left Port Etches
in May 1788, the Russian galliot Trekh Sviatiteli (Three
Saints) entered it, and was to follow close behind the
Prince of Wales to Yakutat and beyond.
It will be remembered that Shelikhov had been
anxious to establish posts in Prince William Sound,
Cook Inlet, and on other parts of the Alaskan main-
land, including the Gulf Coast. Although Shelikhov had
returned to Siberia, Eustrate Delarov had been left
behind at Kodiak to carry out the former's plans.
Furthermore, Gov. I. Yakoby of Irkutsk had sent
secret instructions on June 21, 1787, to Shelikhov,
Samoilov, and Delarov, that the agents of the company
should bury tablets claiming the land for Russia,
especially at places where prior European vessels had
obtained rich hauls of fur. "These tablets were supposed
to be buried so 'that not only were the native inhabitants
not to see them, but they were also to be hidden from
every one of our Russian workers, so that, by keeping
this secret, the inhabitants might be prevented from
guessing that the tablets were placed there in the
present time'" (Okun, 1951, pp. 14-15, from
Tikhmenev, 1863, Suppl.). Accordingly the naval
pilots Ismailov and Bocharov were sent from Kodiak
in May 1788, to explore the coasts of Alaska and to
claim such areas for the Tsarina's crown. In addition
to these two naval officers, the expedition consisted
of 40 Russians and at least 6 Koniag interpreters. The
report of their explorations was included in Shelikhov's
account of his own voyage to America.38
In Prince William Sound the Russians learned
through their interpreters that the Chugach "enter
into alliances with the Kinaizi [Tanaina Athabaskans
of Cook Inlet], to the west, and on the east with the
Ugalak mutes" (Coxe, 1803, p. 312). After a brush
with the Chugach on Middleton Island, where the
Russians lost one of the men whom they had captured
in Prince William Sound but seized another, the
Russians sailed for Kayak Island, where they anchored
on June 2 [Julian calendar], again only a few days
behind Colnett. "We were informed by the islander
36
 Shelikhov in Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, pp. 205-249; Shelikhov
in Coxe, 1803, pp. 302-343; also MS. translation of Shelikhov
by Ivan Petroff in Bancroft Library, Berkeley. Summarized in
Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1, pp. 26-27; Bancroft, 1886, pp. 226-270;
Krause, 1956, pp. 28-29. In the reports of February 13 and 14,
1790, sent by Ivan Phil, Governor-General of Irkutsk, to the
Tsarina (Andreyev, 1952, pp. 95-117) the Russian discoveries
of 1788 are lumped together with those made by Shelikhov and
Golikov in 1783.
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 133
[Chugach] who accompanied us that it was not in-
habited [according to Shelikhov in Coxe, 1803, pp.
316-317]; but was occasionally frequented by the
Tchugatski, and Ugalak mutes, for the purpose of
hunting sea-otters." Apparently the ship rounded the
southern point of the island and came up toward
Cape Suckling, where their captive "pointed out a
small rivulet, which is frequented by the Ugalak
mutes, [but] it had no protection from the sea." (Ibid.,
pp. 317-318.)
From the third to the seventh, the Kussians with
their interpreters in skin baidars explored the marshy
coast, finding two small rivers and a larger one. This
river is described as flowing with moderate descent
from the northeast, with a higher ridge of mountains to
the right; it is 200 fathoms wide at the mouth, with
small wooded islands to the right, and a rocky neck of
land on the left. Since the river was blocked by ice
that was just beginning to thaw, the Russians walked
up the bank about 3 versts (about 2 miles), "observed
a hut covered with the bark of trees, and the marks
of human feet; but no inhabitants. Near this river
dwell the Ugalak mutes, who are at enmity with the
neighbouring Koliuski" (ibid., p. 320). Is this Bering
River in Controller Bay, or possibly Kaliakh or Duk-
toth River near Cape Yakataga? The second and larger
of the two small streams had two mouths and a depth of
only one-half of a fathom at low tide. The Russians rowed
up it for a distance of 2 versts (about 1% miles), where
they "observed recent marks of human feet, and others
which resembled those of a dog." On the shore of the
bay they also saw footprints (ibid., p. 319). Since the
Eyak inhabitants of this area were evidently avoiding
the Russians, information about them and about their
relationship with the Tlingit(?) of Yakutat Bay(?)
could only have come from the Chugach hostage.
After leaving this river, the ship sailed southeast
along the shore, sighting the mouth of Yakutat Bay
on June 10, but was prevented from entering by adverse
winds. The following morning, two Russians and six
Koniags went in four baidarkas to explore the bay,
while the galliot stood in toward land with a light
breeze. The baidarkas returned before noon, shortly
followed by two large wooden canoes; in the middle
of each canoe was stood a pole to which sea otter skins
were fastened. The description of these canoes, with
their high, perforated prows (pp. 333-334),matches those
sketched by LaPerouse's expedition in Lituya Bay.
"Each baidar [i.e., dugout] contained fifteen men,
some of whom were clad in the skins of sea-otters,
sables, martens, marmots, and gluttons [wolverines].
Some were dressed in European cloths and linens,
particularly a thin green kind of serge, and varie-
gated printed linens. On approaching the ship,
they pointed to the bay which lay close to the little
islands. As no one could understand their language,
it was conjectured they advised us to enter the bay;
a rope was accordingly thrown out, which they
eagerly laid hold of, and began to tow to the vessel.
For the purpose of assisting them, we hoisted out a
baidar, taking the precaution to furnish the sailors
with arms; in about an hour some natives came
from the shore in two other baidars, and joined
in towing. [Ibid., pp. 322-323.]
[So the ship was brought into the bay and then
into a little harbor on the east side, where she
anchored in 10 fathoms close to the shore, and oppo-
site some native habitations. But since this anchorage
(in Monti Bay?) was not considered safe enough,]
"we towed the ship into an adjacent harbour smaller,
but more secure, called in the language of the country
Yakutat; on the 12th at four in the morning, we
anchored in twelve fathom on a muddy bottom
[in Port Mulgrave?].
"During our stay in these parts we carried on
a friendly traffic with the natives." [Ibid., p. 323.]
[The Russians found that:] "The greater part of
the inhabitants had quitted their winter huts, and
for the purpose of procuring provisions, were gone
out in canoes and boats, which resemble those used
at Kamtchatka [i.e., dugouts]. These people bear
the name of Koliuski [Kolosh], and fix their dwellings
on the banks of the different rivers." [Ibid., p. 324.]
[Presumably this refers to the Ankau and to other
streams southeast of Yakutat Bay where the winter
villages were located.]
In order to secure good water, the ship was moved
farther to the northeast, "between the islands and the
continent" where a suitable brook was found nearby
(ibid., p. 325).
Yakutat Bay is described as "frozen later than the
end of July," which must surely refer to reports of
Disenchantment Bay, or perhaps of visits to it by
baidarka; for it is later stated that: "In every part of
this bay of Yakutat, the air in fine weather is warm,
and it is much sheltered by the forests." The many
fur-bearing animals, as well as all kinds of marine
animals, land and sea birds, and "abundance of sal-
mon," are noted (ibid., p. 325).
In addition to brief descriptions of houses, boats,
weapons, and native dress, we are told that: "The
native Koliuski are in stature not short; they are in
general like the Konaghi [Koniag] of a brown complex-
ion; a few only are fair" (ibid.).
The extent of trade with Yakutat was also judged:
"In time of peace they traffic to the east with the
Tschitskanies, [39] and to the west with the Ugalak
8S
 Chilkat or Sitka Tlingit? "Tschitschchanern" in Pallas,
1893, vol. 6, p. 231.
134 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
mutes [Eyak], and the Tschugatski [Chugach], and
since 1786, with European navigators. [40] They
eagerly purchase different sorts of clothing, iron,
kettles, and stills [Destillierblasen, Pallas, 1793, vol.
6, p. 231]. But they are not so eager for beads and
the like. They daily flocked to the ship in large and
small baidars with their wives and children, and
offered for sale the skins and tails of sea-otters and
beavers, garments made of different skins, ["]
woolen clothes of their own manufacture [Chilkat-
blanket type garments], and purses made of grass
and the filaments of roots. They required in return
for their own garments, different sorts of nankeen,
linen and other shirts, and stills; for the other skins
and articles, ear-rings of blue and red coral, and
blue beads. As there were no settled rules for trade,
they were extremely covetous in bartering, and
peremptorily insisted on an additional present in
every exchange. We saw in their possession several
hatchets, which from then- shape, we supposed to
be procured from some European ship; and the
natives said that in the spring of the year 1788, a
three-masted vessel had anchored near the island,
not far from the bay, and that one of the natives
who visited the ship had been shot with a pistol."
[Coxe, 1803, p. 328.]
The distilling apparatus was presumably desired for
its metal, probably its copper tubing; manufacture of
liquor was not to be attempted by the Tlingit for almost
one hundred years!
The natives were, of course, telling about the shoot-
ing of an Indian by one of Colnett's men. It will be
remembered that Colnett has quitted Yakutat Bay on
June 9 (Gregorian calendar), about 2 weeks before the
Russians entered, thinking that the natives had no more
skins to trade. The latter were probably not deceiving
him when they indicated that they would soon have
something fine to offer, either from new hunts or from
more distant villages, unless the Russians exaggerated
what they were able to obtain.
The Russians also noted that some of the Indians
were wearing "caps, like those of the grenadiers, with
brass ornaments which they procure from Europeans,"
and also reported some amulets of iron, "resembling the
heads of crows, with copper eyes" (Coxe, 1803, pp. 326,
327).
At Yakutat the Russians purchased two 12-year old
slave boys. One was a Koniag who had been captured
at Kodiak by the Cook Inlet Tanaina, sold to the
Chugach, who in turn had sold him to the Eyak, and
the last to the Yakutat. His name was "Noyak-Koin"
("Nojak-Koin," Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, p. 232), and he
became valuable to the Russians because he spoke both
Kodiak Eskimo and "Koliuski" (Yakutat). "The price
of his purchase was four pounds and a quarter of iron,
a large coral, and three strings of beads, and he was
employed as an interpreter" (Coxe, 1803, p. 329).
The other boy was "Nachu-Seynatzk" (probably
Naxusenatsk, although I cannot identify the name),
"a native Tschitskan [who] understood the Tschitskan
[Sitkan] and Koliuski languages. . . ." By this it is
implied that the "Koliuski" of Yakutat was either a
non-Tlingit language, or a dialect of Tlingit, different
from that spoken at Sitka. This boy "was extremely
useful in pointing out many rivers on the American
coast, and particularly the Bay Ltoua [Lituya]." He
was exchanged for the Russian's Chugach hostage, who
had been so prostrated with seasickness that he will-
ingly left the ship (ibid.).
"In addition to his purchases he [Ismailov] ob-
tained a large number of skins from his Kadiak
hunters, who in their bidarkas could go far out to
sea, where the open wooden canoes of the Thlinkeets
did not dare to follow. In order to draw attention
from this rivalry ceremonious visits and exchange of
presents were kept up." [Bancroft, 1886, p. 269.]
This last refers to the meeting of the Russians with
an important Chilkat chief who had come to Yakutat
to trade. Perhaps the wealth of furs secured by the Rus-
sians had been gathered in anticipation of this chief's
visit. The Russians supposed the latter to be the para-
mount chief of the Yakutat area. As they had gathered
from the local natives:
"Besides an inferior Toion [chief], they are all
subject to a superior Toion, who is called Ilchak.
We were informed by the natives that this Toion,
with one hundred and fifty of his subjects, exclusive
of children, visited this place in baidars [presumably
dugouts]. He has two sons, whose names are Nekchut
and Chink, and his principal residence is on the
coast to the south east, much farther than the great
river Tschitskat.[42] It borders on the frontiers of
the people called Tschitskanes, who, Like the Koliuski,
are at enmity among themselves, and often assault
? Does thia refer to LaPe'rouse, to Europeans in Prince William
Sound, or to some unreported vessels in Yakutat Bay?
11
 Sea otter, wolverine, marten, beaver (Pallas, 1793, vol. 6,
p. 232).
42
 "His proper living place is on the coast on the southeast
side, much farther than that near Lituya, on the great river
Tschitschchat" (Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, p. 228). Is this the Chilkat
River? Krause (1956, p. 28) so indicates in one passage, but
in another (p. 65) renders it as "Tschitschat (Tatshenshini)
River," a tributary to the Alsek, on the overland route between
Dry Bay and Chilkat country. This interpretation would make
the "Tschitschat," or "Tschitschchaner" of Pallas, the Southern
Tutchone, not Chilkat or Sitka Tlingit.
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 135
each other. This Toion rules over all the Koliuski,
who inhabit the coast, as far as the bay of Yakutat,
which is the last place in his dominions." [Coxe,
1803, pp. 324-325.]
"Ilchak," whom the Russians erroneously supposed
to be the ruler of Yakutat, was actually Yelxak, the
leading chief of the Raven GanAxtedi sib at the Chilkat
town, Klukwan. In a Sitka version of the QakexwtE
story (Swanton, 1909, Tale 32, pp. 161-165), Yelxak
and his sib become embroiled with the Raven Tl'uk-
naxAdi sib of the Yakutat-Dry Bay and Cross Sound
areas. The latter sent a war party to Klukwan, where
Yelxak lost his life in the fighting. Emmons (1916, p.
15) translates the name "Ilk-hak or Yehlh-kok" as
"Raven fragrance or smell," and states that this is an
ancient and honorable appelation among the GanAxtedi.
In 1885 a man of this name seems to have been chief of
the famous Whale House at Klukwan. One of our in-
formants, who was a very small child in the 1880's,
remembers that her Teqwedi grandfather at Yakutat
used to trade with this chief. Swanton in 1904 recorded
at Sitka an account of a potlatch given at Klukwan by
Yelxak and another chief, to which the Sitka Kagwan-
tan were invited (Swanton, 1908, pp. 438-443).
The Chilkat chief in the QakexwtE story, who may
well be the actual "Ilchak" whom the Russians met,
was the son-in-law of an important Tl'uknaxAdi
shaman, Yel-tlen, "Big Raven." According to my
Yakutat informants, who also know the story (p. 274)
but who are inclined to connect the war party with the
swamping of canoes in Lituya Bay, Yel-tlen was a
shaman who lived at Gusex on the Akwe River. His
daughter, who married Yelxak, was probably a Teqewdi
woman, for her sons, "Nekchut" (Nequt) and "Chink"
(XEn&), had Teqwedi names that are well known at
Yakutat. The first was the honorable name of William
Milton (1888-1950), and the second that of a man who
died between 1910 and 1920.
The great chief, Yelxak, whom the Russians met,
only seemed to rule at Yakutat because of the tremen-
dous prestige accorded any chief of the powerful and
aristocratic GanAxtedi sib and because of the domineer-
ing superiority which the skillful Chilkat traders were
able to attain over the less sophisticated Athabaskan,
Eyak, and Interior Tlingit, with whom they traded.
Even Swanton's storyteller at Wrangell, Katishan,
chief of the Kasqaguedi sib, reports that Yel-tten, on
receiving a gift of tobacco from his Chilkat son-in-law,
said: " 'Chilkat is a respectable place. A lot of respect-
able people live there. They are so good that they give
food even to the people that were going to fight them' "
(Swanton, 1909, p. 162). This surely indicates something
of their reputation. The same impression of Chilkat
wealth and prestige is conveyed in a story told by a
Sitka Kagwantan man in which a man on the way to
Klukwan is warned: " 'It is a notable town. A man has
to be careful what he does there or he will suffer a
great shame' "; and in the same story, a visitor from
Chilkat to the Hoonah town of Grouse Fort is said to
be so wealthy that people were afraid of him (Swanton,
1909, Tale 28, p. 71).
On June 15, then, this great chief, Yelxak, came to
the Russian ship, acompanied by a native artist. He
was entertained in the cabin, and insisted upon being
told all about the royal portraits hanging there.
"Although we had already given the Toion and his
subjects an account of these august personages, we
again gratified his wishes" (Coxe, 1803, p. 330). The
Russians, by their own account, certainly lost no
opportunity to emphasize the benevolence and might
of the Imperial rule, and gave the chief one of the copper
coats-of-arms with which the expedition had been
provided, in order to claim land for Russia. The chief
"was requested to wear it upon the fore-part of his
garment, and it would serve as a mark of fidelity, and
protect his subjects against all foreign ships" (ibid,
p. 331). The chief is reported to have listened to the
discourse on Russian rule "with veneration and aston-
ishment," and "received the coat of arms with extreme
joy" (ibid., pp. 330, 331). The next day he returned
with two elders, proudly wearing the emblem on his
robe of sea otter, this time to request one of the por-
traits. On the engraving of the Grand Duke Paul,
which was given to the chief, the Russians wrote the
following message:
"In June, 1788, the Factor of the company of
Golokof and Schelekof, the pilots Gerassim Ismaelof,
and Dmitri Betscharof, of the galliot the Holy
Fathers, with forty men, being in the bay of Yakutat,
carried on a considerable traffic with the Toion
Ilchack and his subjects the Koliuski, and finally
received them under the protection of the Russian
Empire. As a memorial of these events, we gave the
said Toion a Russian coat of arms, on copper, and
this engraving of his Imperial Highness the successor
to the Russian throne. Orders are hereby given to
all Russian and foreign ships sailing to this place
to treat this Toion with cordiality and friendship,
without omitting the necessary precautions: the
said pilots who anchored here in the galliot from the
11th to the 21st of June, experienced from the
Toion and his people, the most friendly behaviour."
[Coxe, 1803, pp. 331-332.]
It is not clear, however, how the date of their de-
parture from Yakutat could have been written on a
picture given away on June 16!
To make doubly sure of Russian claims over the
area, a copper plate (Number 9) was buried on June 18
near the mouth of the bay, apparently close to Ankau
Creek. According to Bancroft (1886, p. 269, n. 30):
136 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
"Two years later not a trace could be found of the
portraits, medal, or copper plates. . . ."
Although the chief had received the portrait "with
extreme satisfaction, and as customary, with an extatic
shriek," giving in return, "an iron image of a crow's
head, which he considered as sacred; a bag woven from
grass, and striped with various colours; six sea-otter
shirts, also a leathern and [a] wooden table [tablets;
zwey Tajeln, Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, p. 236] which were
painted with diverse colours, and inlaid with stones,"
it is very doubtful that the worthy chief made these
gifts "as proof of his subjection to Russia [!]" (Coxe,
1803, p. 332).
The Russians sailed on June 21, apparently driven by
the wind back toward the west, but hoping to be able to
secure some fresh fish from the river which 18 days be-
fore had been choked with ice. However, since they
found no secure anchorage here they turned eastward
again, passing Yakutat Bay on June 28. Natives came
out in three canoes, evidently mistaking the Russian
ship for another vessel, for when they discovered her
identity, they returned to shore.
The Russians sailed on along the low, sandy coast,
passing the Antlin (Ahrnklin) River, and anchoring the
next night to explore the Ralcho or Kalkhu (Italio),
where they saw footsteps but no inhabitants, The next
morning they passed the Alzec or Altsekh (Alsek
River), "with a little island on the east side [Bear
Island], and sand-banks at the mouth" (Coxe, 1803, p.
336). An onshore wind prevented them from entering
Dry Bay, although they were confident that it was fre-
quented by the "Koliuski." Later that morning they
passed the Rakan-in or Kakan In (K'agAn hini?,,
which "flows under the northeast side of a cape, and is
also frequented by the Koliuski." Beyond this, "the
coast was no longer flat or sandy" (ibid,), and since it
was about 17 miles northeast of Lituya Bay, I suspect
the stream was that just north of Cape Fairweather,
where Waterfall House was built, or else the stream
northwest of that (see p. 91).
On July 1, the Tlingit slave boy pointed out the
mouth of Lituya Bay, "which he informed us contained
many fish, and in which a large ship had not long ago
anchored" (ibid.). After some Koniags in baidars lashed
together, and later Ismailov and 15 men in a large
baidar had explored the opening, the ship finally entered
the bay on July 5.
At first the Russians anchored, as LaPe"rouse had
done, on a rocky bottom too close to the mouth, then
"towed the ship farther into the bay towards a little
island, where two years before, according to the informa-
tion of the Koliuski boy, a foreign ship had anchored."
Some 5 hours later they were visited by the Tlingit,
who came in "three baidars, and other small boats"
(ibid., p. 338).
The chief was "Taiknuck Tachtuiack," or "Taik-
nuch-Tachtujach" (Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, p. 243), who
came accompanied by two elders. He asked, through the
interpreter, whence the strangers had come, and was
given the same kind of speeches and Russian coat-of-
arms that had been given to Yelxak. It is reported that
this chief, too,
"in the most solemn manner, expressed his full re-
liance on the protection of the Russians, and his res-
olution of perservering in his friendly behaviour. . . .
From these circumstances he conceived such an ex-
alted idea of the Russian power, that he not only
received the gift with the highest degree of venera-
tion; but presented nine sea-otter skins, and six sea-
otter mantles, and requested that they might be
forwarded to the all-powerful Empress, as proof of
his gratitude and zeal.
"We then traded with the natives, and exchanged
for their skins and furs [beaver, sea otter, wolverine,
and "sable," (Pallas, 1793, vol. 6, p. 244)], iron-
kettles, clothes, and beads. In the afternoon they re-
turned in their baidars to their dwelling-place, which
was situated about a verst and a half [1 mile] from
the ship. These habitations were temporary summer
huts, while they were employed in procuring fish and
other provisions. Their whiter habitations were sit-
uated on the banks of a small river which falls into
the sea, at the distance of about five versts and a
half. [Here the] dwellings were much larger than the
summer huts." [The mouth of the stream, the Huagin
River?, was so blocked by rocks that even the baidar-
kas had difficulty in entering (Coxe, 1803, pp.
339-340).]
The Russians learned through their Sitkan slave
boy that the previous summer a large ship and been
in the bay but had lost her anchor, which the natives
had hauled out at low water. The chief, "Taiknuck,"
had the anchor brought to the Russians, who found
that it weighed 780 pounds although the ring and
flukes were broken off. The identity of the ship is
unknown, although Coxe (1803, p. 340 n.) erroneously
supposed it to have been Portlock's!
Again, as at Yakutat, the Russians buried another
copper coat-of-arms on the shore of the bay, near
Cenotaph Island, and the next day, July 6, after
anchoring nearer the mouth of the bay, erected a
wooden cross on the cliff above the eastern shore.
Because of the bad weather, the galliot had to put
out two small anchors, one of which, weighing 144
pounds, the natives stole during the night. As a gesture
toward regaining it, the Russians sent some men in
a baidar toward the shore; but the latter prudently
did not attempt to land until morning, and then
searched only along the beach and in the woods, where,
of course, the anchor was not to be found. " . . . and
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 137
as we did not chuse to complain either of the Toion
or his subjects, no further search was made" (Coxe,
1803, p. 342).
It had been observed or concluded that although
the natives of Lituya Bay had their own chiefs, they
were believed to be all subject to Yelxak, and it was
noted that their manners and customs were similar
to those of the Yakutat natives.
Since scurvy had begun to appear, the Russians sailed
on July 9, reaching Kodiak on July 15.
Bancroft (1886, pp. 269, 270, note 31) has stressed
that Ismailov's journal has not a word about Dixon's
previous visit to Yakutat, although he must have heard
of it (as he had evidently heard about Colnett's), and
that Ismailov also fails to mention the monument left
by LaPerouse at Lituya Bay, which indeed, he may
actually have destroyed. At Lituya Bay, "many tools
and implements [were] marked with the royal Jleur de
lis. A small anchor similarly marked was secured."
Bancroft suggests that these omissions probably reflect
the secret instructions which Ismailov had received,
". . . for even business letters from the [Aleutian]
islands to Siberia were in those days frequently tam-
pered with by the authorities of Okhotsk and Kamchat-
ka, and it was to the interest of Shelikof and his partners
to have English claims to prior occupation ignored."
The official reports sent to the Empress by Ivan A.
Phil (or Pil), Governor-General of Irkutsk, on February
13 and 14,1790, about the explorations of the Shelikhov-
Golikov Company, are of interest in this connection.
The discoveries of Ismailov and Bocharov are thus
Us ted:
"Yakutat Bay. This is inhabited by the Koloshes
who border the Chitskanes. In view of the fact that
they have been induced to assume a peaceable atti-
tude towards the Russians, a board was left there,
which is designated on the map by the letter '?,'
also one emblem and, for special reasons, one portrait.
The toyon of the place, in token of his submission
to Russia, brought over a few articles. Considerable
trade was carried on here, and in [1]788 a three-
masted foreign vessel was anchored in the harbor.
In the coastland opposite there are the following
rivers: the Antlin, Kalkhu, Altsekh, and Kakan In.
"Litua Bay. It is inhabited by the Koloshes who
have been brought under domination. One emblem
and one board, number 19, were left there. The toyon,
as a token of his loyalty, made a gift of one sea-otter.
All these islands and bays, as well as those not enu-
merated here but mentioned in the first memorandum
abound in timber and other resources. As for the
inhabitants, they have already become more attached
to the Russian traders than to the foreigners who
used to visit them." [Andreyev, 1952, p. 117.]
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 11
[These same documents stress the friendliness of
the natives and their devotion to the Russian crown:]
"The Koloshes and Chitskanes, who inhabit these
parts [Yakutat and Lituya Bays], have been con-
quored by no one and, in their ignorance, have not
been aroused to oppose your subjects. In spite of
everything, even of opposition to their savagery,
they all with one mind, as a result of the affable
attitide towards them on the part of the Company,
came not only to understand the grandure of Your
Empire but to give themselves up into complete
obedience to it.
"In conclusion it may also be mentioned that the
two emblems with the proper inducements and in-
scriptions which the authorities had given them
stimulated in them a sincere spirit of submissiveness
and a readiness to accept anything proposed to them
on the part of Your subjects. . . . Their frankness
and their peaceable disposition exceed, it seems to
me, the very bounds of probability, inasmuch as,
without fear to speak out plainly, they regarded it
as their direct obligation to satisfy Your subjects as
to their condition and the contacts and trade relations
they had had with other foreign vessels that had
visited them." [Ibid., pp. 99-100.]
We can be certain that none of the Indians or their
chiefs believed that they were pledging submission to
the Tsarina or to the Shelikhov-Golikov Company.
The Tlingit had no conception resembling that of the
Russians concerning the relationship between "rulers"
and "subjects." They were familiar with that between
owner and slave, but no free man became a slave unless
he were captured in war, or might be forced through
starvation to surrender his freedom in return for food.
Certainly Yelxak of the Chilkat and "Taiknuck" at
Lituya Bay were doing nothing of the kind. From their
point of view they were conducting a profitable trade
with due ceremonial procedure. Conceivably, they
thought of the Tsarina and Tsarovich as new trade
partners! One also wonders whether the copper coats-
of-arms so carefully buried by the Russians and evi-
dently later dug up by the natives were considered by
the latter to be some kind of "copper," like those given
and received at potlatches. One might even speculate
that these medals and emblems might have furnished
a prototype for the native 'tinna.'
While it is clear that the Russian reports do not
accurately reflect their dealings with the natives, it is
not so obvious that these accounts are throughout
consciously warped to deceive the Imperial authorities,
as Bancroft suggests. The documents are certainly
worded to create as favorable an impression as possible,
since Shelikhov was then working hard, through his
friend, Governor-General Phil, to secure an Imperial
trade monopoly. However, there is additional, subcon-
138 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
scious double-talk here, a statement of what the Com-
pany would like to believe was the truth, and perhaps
did come to believe: that the natives had voluntarily
submitted to Kussian rule. For if this were true, then
any resistence in the future would be not only ingrati-
tude, but rebellion and treason, justifying any suppres-
sive measures that might be expedient. This view of
the situation, as characteristic of Russian official think-
ing today as it was in the 18th century, must be kept
in mind in considerating the activities of the Russian
American Company and the fate of its colony at Yakutat.
We have no further direct reports of Russian expedi-
tions to the Gulf of Alaska and Yakutat Bay until
Lieutenant Puget met Purtov with a baidarka fleet
there in June 1794. Nevertheless, it is clear from the
account of this meeting, as reported by Vancouver, as
well as from reports of Baranov and Purtov, published
by Tikhmenev, that the Shelikhov-Golikov Company
had dispatched at least one expedition to Yakutat in
1793, and possibly the rival Lebedev Company, which
had a post at Nuchek in Prince William Sound, may
also have gone into the Gulf of Alaska. We cannot,
however, trust the statements about voyages and posts
which either of these Russian companies made to each
other or to foreigners, for their agents did not hesitate
to lie to outsiders about the extent of their operations
in order to frighten off or discourage competition. This
policy is made clear by the misleading reports of
Delarov to the Spanish explorers, Martinez and Haro,
in 1788 (Bancroft, 1886, pp. 271-273). Purtov also
claimed to Captain James from Boston, whom he met
in Prince William Sound in 1793, that "our stations
extended from Kadiak to Ltua Bay" (letter of Baranov
to Shelikhov, July 24, 1793, in Tikhmenev, 1863,
vol. 2, Suppl., p. 44). The next summer Purtov himself
was to discover that the Lebedev agent had apparently
exaggerated to him the extent of that company's
operations (see Purtov's letter, August 9, 1794, in
Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 61). Thus we do
not know what faith to put in Purtov's statement to
Lieutenant Puget in 1794 that hunters of the Shelikhov-
Golikov Company had been taking sea otters on the
"Pamplona Shoal," somewhere off the coast near Cape
Yakataga.
Douglas (1788)
The Trekh Sviatiteli had barely returned to Kodiak
Island, when Capt. William Douglas, in the Iphigenia
Nubiana, sighted Mount Saint Elias on August 2, 1788
(Meares, 1790, pp. 287 ff.; Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, p. 210;
Bancroft, 1886,p.267). Douglas, like Capt. John Meares
in the Felice Adventurer, had sailed from China in
January of that year on a fur-trading venture for the
"Merchant Proprietors," an association of British
businessmen in India and Canton. They sailed under
the Portuguese flag in order to circumvent the monop-
olies of the East India and South Sea Companies. (The
following year their company was to merge with the
King George's Sound Company in the undertaking
which involved Colnett in trouble at Nootka.)
In the summer of 1788, before joining Meares at
Nootka, Douglas had visited Prince William Sound,
where he had seen the inscription left by Colnett's
supercargo at Port Etches. From here he sailed south-
eastward to visit the Yakutat Bay area, August 2 to 5.
According to Russell (1891 b, p. 62), he actually an-
chored inside Yakutat Bay, but I can find no evidence
that he saw Yakutat Bay at all. The weather on August
2 was cloudy; Mount Saint Elias and the shore were
not uncovered until the ship had already passed the
mouth of the bay and seems to have been about 23
nautical miles south of Ocean Cape (Meares, 1790,
p. 321).
[The next morning, August 3], "the jollyboat was
dispatched, with orders to proceed within a mile of
the shore, to examine if there was any appearance
of inhabitants; and about noon she returned, in
company with a large canoe, containing about thirty
Indians. [The ship now anchored in 27 fathoms], and
purchased of the natives several cotsacks or dresses
of sea otter skins, and a pair of gloves of the same.
The extremities of land, when at anchor, bore from
West North West, to East by South half South
distant four or five miles. The observed latitude was
59?10' North, and the longitude 221?27' East [i.e.
138?46' west of Greenwich]. [Meares, 1790, pp.
321-322.] [This suggests a position off the coast
between the mouth of the Ustay-Akwe River and
Dry Bay.]
"Early next morning the people returned, as the
sailors observed, with all their old cloaths, as the
cotsacks they now offered for sale had been much
worn: these articles, however, were purchased, with
a quantity of salmon; and at nine o'clock they
weighed anchor and proceeded along the shore [by
noon reaching a position south of Dry Bay]. The
place where the ship lay was called Tianna's Bay,
in honour of the chief [a Polynesian from Hawaii];
he was indeed much dissatisfied with the present
climate, against the cold of which he could not pro-
tect himself, though he had as much cloathing on
him as he could well carry, and was become very
impatient to return to Owhyhee." [Meares, 1790,
p. 322.]
According to Dall and Baker, (1883, p. 206 and
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 139
accompanying chart; cf. also Davidson, 1869, p. 136),
"Tianna Road," later changed to "Diana Roads," is
the shoal water off the mouth of the Ahrnklin and
Dangerous Rivers.
From this place, Douglas had no further encounters
with the natives until he reached Cape Cross on
Yacobi Island, south of Cross Sound, where he records
how a spirited Tlingit woman, apparently of high rank,
beat into submission a male chief (of lesser rank?)
who interfered with her trading activities. In fact, she
supervised all the transactions of the natives.
It will have been noted that a number of visitors
to Yakutat and Lituya Bays have understood the
natives to report the calls of vessels of which we have
no record. As Fleurieu wrote in 1797 (1801, vol. 1,
p. cxlvii):
"It is probable that the ship-owners of the UNITED
STATES, excited and encouraged by their govern-
ment, have multiplied their expeditions to the
NORTH-WEST coast of AMERICA; but no printed
account has been made known to EUROPE the voyages
that they have undertaken. Hitherto, the Americans
act more than they write; let us wish, for the tran-
quility of the world and the happiness of the human
race, that the faculty of communicating our thoughts
from pole to pole may ever be in their hands only a
means of uniting and enlightening mankind, and
that they may, at no time, abuse it for the purpose
of agitating passions and overthrowing empires."
Malaspina (1791)
Although the Spanish had dispatched a number of
exploratory expeditions to the Northwest Coast be-
tween 1780 and 1790, for the purpose of claiming
lands before the British could do so, none of these
touched at Yakutat, even though several went to
southeastern Alaska or to Prince William Sound (Wag-
ner, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 202-205, 215-222).
However, the Spanish government, since 1783, had
been undertaking a program of scientific exploration
to improve their hydrographic charts, and in 1788,
Alejandro Malaspina, an Italian, and Jos6 Bustamente
y Guerra, both commanders in the Spanish Navy,
proposed an elaborate plan for a voyage around the
world which was to include a scientific investigation
of the Northwest Coast.43 Among the objectives were
43
 Summarized by Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, pp. CLXIII-CLXV;
Martin Fernandez de Navarrete in Galiano, 1802, pp. cxn-
cxxin; Bancroft, 1886, pp. 274-275; Krause, 1956, pp. 23-24;
Russell, 1891 b, pp. 63-66; pis. 5, 6; Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp.
225-229; see Malaspina, 1849 and 1885; Surla in Wagner, 1936,
and Suria's plates in Guillen y Tato, 1932.
to be the collection of "curiosities," i.e., geological,
biological, and ethnological specimens for the Royal
Cabinet, and these scientific investigations were to be
carried out by naturalists, map makers, and artists.
These plans, which remind us of the orders given to
LaPerouse, were approved and two new corvettes
built. The best chronometers were secured for deter-
mining longitude, and Malaspina collected all available
reports of earlier explorers, although he apparently
did not get the best maps. Among those on board
whose work is of most interest to us was Tadeo Haenke,
a noted German botanist, and Tomas de Suria, the
artist, whose pictures and journal give us so much
information about Yakutat.
Malaspina was also enjoined to investigate the
claims made by Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado that he
had discovered the Northwest Passage in 1588, claims
which Philippe Buache had resurrected and supported
in an address to the Academy of Sciences in Paris,
November 1790 (Navarrete and Navarrete, 1849, esp.
pp. 228-250). It was these instructions which led
Malaspina to investigate Yakutat Bay.
Malaspina was ordered also to make a study of the
social, political, and economic conditions of the Spanish
colonies to be visited on his voyage. According to
Wagner (1937, vol. 1, p. 226), Malaspina was "imbued
with the doctrines of Rousseau," and although these
were popular in Europe, Malaspina was far too ready
"to reform everything and everybody," so that "to
turn him loose in such closed possessions as the Spanish
colonies was to invite disaster." It is no surprise, there-
fore, that on his return to Spain he became involved
in a court intrigue and incurred the enmity of Minister
Godoy. As a result, he was thrown into prison, where
he remained for 6 years, until Napoleon secured his
release; moreover, all those who were writing reports of
the scientific results of his expedition were ordered to
abandon their work, and all of this material remained
unpublished for many years. A summary of his voyage
in which only the names of the vessels, not of their
captains, were mentioned appeared in 1802, together
with three of his charts (Navarrete in Galiano, 1802,
and Atlas). A great deal of material relative to this
voyage (journals, notes, drawings, maps) still remains
unpublished in the Museo Naval at Madrid. I am
indebted to Prof. Luis Pericot Garcia of the University
of Barcelona, as well as to the authorities of the Museo
Naval, for copies of many of the pictures drawn at
Yakutat by Tomas de Suria; the Bancroft Library at
the University of California, Berkeley, has also fur-
nished me with copies of some.*1
The two corvettes, Descubierta (Discovery) under
** GuiUSn y Tato, 1932, pis. vi, ix, xi, xm, xiv, xv, by Surta-
pertain to Yakutat.
140 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
"p.
o
13,
03
g
'a.I
o
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 141
Malaspina and the Atrevida (Daring) commanded by
Bustamente, finally sailed from Acapulco May 1, 1791,
and on June 23 sighted Cape Edgecumbe, but did not
stop here. Next day the Spaniards were gazing in
admiration at the beauties of Mount Fairweather and
the adjacent Gulf Coast. By noon of June 26, they
were off what Cook had designated as Bering's Bay
(i.e., Dry Bay), and approached the shore where
several lights could be seen among the trees. The
following day, June 27, they sailed to within 2 miles
of the beach, from which position they saw the moun-
tains back of "Bering's Bay," which proved that there
could be no Northwest Passage here, and also noted
the isolated little mountain or hill, which from a
distance could be mistaken for an island (Bear Island
in Dry Bay).
From here they followed the low land to the north-
westward, rounding Point Carew into Yakutat Bay,
still early in the morning of June 27. They examined
carefully the entrance to Port Mulgrave, but the
opening in the mountains at the head of the bay sug-
gested the Northwest Passage as Maldonado had
described it, so they steered for it, carefully sounding
all the way. Malaspina named Point Munoz on Khan-
taak Island, and noted the lowlands on both sides of the
bay and the foul ground off Khantaak Island. However,
when barely off Knight Island, about 9 nautical miles
below Point Latouche, where Maldonado's passage
seemed to begin, they turned back to secure a safe
anchorage. It was already apparent from the weak
tides that there could be no Northwest Passage here;
nevertheless, Malaspina decided to stay in Port Mul-
grave to take on wood and water, while the longboats
explored the head of Yakutat Bay.
The ships apparently rounded the north end of
Khantaak Island, discovering a small bay blocked by
many islands (Colnett's anchorage?), and began to
tack down the outer coast of Khantaak Island in order
to enter Monti Bay. Here they encountered the natives.
"In a little while we saw coming towards us at
great speed two canoes of Indians which shortly
arrived alongside. The first view, when they were
near, was one of great astonishment, both for the
Indians and for us; for the Indians because they
did not cease looking at the ships, although they
advised us and we soon verified it, that these were
not the first that they had seen; for us, because
such strange and marvelous subjects presented
themselves to our sight. [And Suria goes on to
describe the wild appearance of the skin-clad,
painted men (see pp. 434-435).] As soon as they were
close to the ladder all except the steersman stood
up, and at the sound of a stentorian and frightful
voice which the ugliest one, who was in the center,
uttered, they all extended their hands together in
the form of a cross . . . " [and began to sing what
was evidently a song of peace and friendship (Wagner,
1936, pp. 247-248)].
[According to Malaspina, the ships were
approached by two large canoes and a small one,
which was evidently a two-hole baidarka.] "Almost
at the same time that we had determined to tack
and steer for anchor, both large canoes immediately
came alongside the corvettes, but not without some
show of fear. They followed entirely the orders or
advice of a venerable old man who, in the small
canoe, ranged now to the one, now to the other
side, and who gave every indication of being the
chief of the little tribe." [Malaspina, 1885, p. 155.]
[After an exchange of friendly signs, the natives
were invited on board, but the chief posted one of
his sons in each canoe before he boarded the
Atrevida (ibid., p. 346).] "We received them kindly
at first with sea biscuits, salt pork, and tallow, and
later acceeded to their insistance that as many of
our men descend to the canoes as hostages as the
number of them who came on board. In this fashion
they were soon convinced of the safety of our
peaceful intent, and since we did not neglect at the
same time to give some trinkets to those who had
first come aboard, after half an hour hostages were
no longer necessary, nor was there need to urge
them on our part, the more so, since one could see
in almost all of them a great propensity to slip below
decks, no doubt with a mind to steal some or other
of the trinkets which were on hand.
"They continued on board until afternoon; in all
their actions they manifested a lively and happy
spirit. Since our troups and seamen did not hesitate
to give away a good part of their rations and clothing,
much importuning was necessary to get them into
their canoe and get it away from the side of our
ship," [since it was likely to be damaged when
the ship tacked.] [Malaspina, 1885, pp. 155-146.]
Apparently the canoes followed the ships all
afternoon, the occupants "always singing songs which,
although harsh on account of the pronunciation, were
not very disagreeable," while the chief in his baidarka
acted as song leader (Wagner, 1936, p. 248).
Finally, the corvettes beat their way around Point
Turner and anchored in 12 fathoms, mud bottom, in
front of "an islet rancheria," not more than a cable's
length or pistol shot from shore. This was evidently in
Port Mulgrave, in front of the same native settlement
that Dixon had visited. Suria found the bay "very
beautiful, all surrounded with various rocky islands,
covered with big pine forests which present a very
beautiful view" (ibid., p. 248). Even while the vessels
were coming into the harbor, " many canoes came out
to meet us, repeating several times the hymn of peace,
142 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
P
I
3
O
o
c
S
8"
ii
I
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 143
at other times a general harmonious call apparently
of invitation or admiration, and offering for trade more
salmon and wooden artifacts than sea otter ["nutria"]
pelts which could yield a considerable value. Silently
and not without fear, they admired our lowering of the
smaller boats, particularly the launch, into the water"
(Malaspina, 1885, p. 156). Now, at 9 p.m., the natives
and Spaniards took leave of each other with further
signs of friendship.
The welcome of the corvettes in Port Mulgrave by the
native canoes is depicted by Surla in a hitherto un-
published sketch in the Museo Naval (pi. 40).
Malaspina was delighted with the anchorage, not
only for the sake of his ships, but because:
"the natives were near at hand and numerous enough
to study their customs without suspicion or molesta-
tion, and water, wood, ballast, fish, and vegetation,
everything we needed, was so close at hand that to
bring them on board could hardly be called a bother.
[Malaspina, 1885, p. 156.]
"The village [on Khantaak Island] west of the
anchorage consisted of six or seven hovels, carelessly
constructed of a few props covered with boards so
poorly arranged that wind and water were admitted to
the interior. But at the same time that, we remarked
this slovenliness in the construction of the huts, we
noted the care with which then* canoes were made and
the trouble they suffered from the rain and cold,
which made us believe that they possessed other
habitations more sheltered from the winter." [Mala-
spina, 1849, p. 248.]
The settlement seemed to be inhabited by about 80
persons, the rest of the tribe being scattered about on
the surrounding islands.
The next morning Malaspina went on shore with an
escort of officers, soldiers and armed sailors, and was
received with the sign for peace and loud songs. The
chief pointed out a source of fresh water, and an In-
dian, "one of the agreeable ones who had been on board
since early morning," served as a guide, going first to a
nearby place which proved to be short on water (the
pond on Khantaak Island?), then to the beach opposite,
to the southeast (head of Monti Bay), where plentiful
springs were found. Near here, the officers of the water-
ing party also visited a hut which the guide indicated
was his own. Here, "natural curiosity and admiration
paid tribute to the nudity, filth and intimacy in which
lived two wives and a number of children, as well as to
the ornaments, clothes, foods, and utensils found there"
(Malaspina, 1885, p. 157). The officers seem to have
taken every opportunity of winning the friendship of the
natives, learning the most useful words, and becoming
acquainted with their customs.
Since early morning many natives had been on
board the corvettes, offering some skins, many fresh
salmon, and several wooden utensils, in exchange for
clothing and iron.
"These were the only things they seemed really
to yearn for, but they would accept all kinds of
buttons, nails, and miscellaneous pieces of hard-
ware. [Although Malaspina tried to curb the famili-
arity between the natives and the crew, this proved
impossible once trading had started.] As we judged
from the eagerness of the participants, it might
be inferred that our sailors could no more live
without grabbing everything that they saw, than
the natives without the cloth and iron for which
they panted with so much reason.
"The tricks used by the natives in their trading
or bargaining have been very well described by
Captain Dixon: They not only keep hidden the
goods which they intend to trade, but also never
act with greater indifference than at these times.
After a delay, often of over an hour, in which they
remain calm in the sight of the many objects pre-
sented to them, they finally uncover a strip of
skin, or a doll, or a spoon, or some other bagatelle,
offering to trade it for everything they see. If they
cannot appeal to the quality of the object, they
appeal to its size and symmetry. Even after trade
is agreed upon, the bargain may be rescinded.
Finally, if there is some really fine skin among the
things they bring, they will show it with so much
mystery, put it back again right away, and show
it again later, that they excite in the most indifferent
mind a singular mixture of vexation and fancy,
difficult to subordinate to the expression of interest
alone.
"One does not observe among them the least
rivalry, either in buying or selling. Rather, all
interests are united with admirable unanimity; they
either consult among themselves to confirm the
trade, or if they arrive at confirmation, they ap-
plaud it with one, two, or three unanimous excla-
mations, depending on whether they think the
exchange has been more or less advantageous."
[Malaspina, 1885, pp. 156-157.]
An individual would cheer when he had made a profit-
able bargain, and the whole group would shout "Wo!"
which was believed to legalize the transaction.
The Spaniards acquired for the Royal Cabinet a
complete collection of native manufactures, including
arms, hunting and fishing gear, domestic utensils,
and some examples of weaving. This list included:
figurines, wooden spoons, boxes, gaming sticks, water-
proof cooking baskets, well-balanced stone hatchets
and hammers, daggers, bows and arrows, wooden
armor, and a blanket woven of "pine" (cedar) bark
144 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
and trimmed with sea otter fur.45 As soon as they
discovered the market for such articles, the Indian
men and women began to make them for trade. They
were particularly anxious to acquire warm clothing,
in contrast to articles of adornment, while axes were
the most desired of iron tools. The rate of one nail per
salmon was established and maintained as long as the
corvettes remained at Yakutat. This was not so much
because nails were desired as because salmon were
plentiful, Malaspina believed, for he reports that at
first "the older son of the Ankau responded to this
proposition by seizing a handful of nails and flinging
them to the ground" (Malaspina, 1885, p. 348).
On June 29, the observatory for checking the snips'
position was put ashore.
"The Indians continued to be very sociable and
in return for clothes buttons, which they hang as
pendants from their ears, gave us some rich, fresh
salmon, at the rate of one for a button. The fish
in the north is the most delicate thing which can
be imagined. We could never satisfy ourselves with
it notwithstanding that we ate an abundance of it.
[This trading continued until July 2, with little
to disturb it, but skins could be obtained only at
great cost,] as there were some of the crew who
for a third of one skin dressed an Indian from head
to foot." [Wagner, 1936, p. 249.]
Even beginning with the first day of their arrival, the
Indians hospitably pressed upon the Spaniards the use
of some women. At first the Europeans were uncertain
that they had correctly interpreted the meaning of the
signs, and decided to investigate.
"Consequently, when directed by two youths who
were repeating with a mysterious air the now familiar
cry of 'Shout' [cawAt 'woman'], we approached some
trees near the huts. Then any doubts were easily
dispelled, for immediately four or five women ap-
peared at the foot of the tree, partially covered with
sea wolf [fur seal] skins, and at once obedient to the
wishes of practically the whole tribe who seemed
unanimously intent on prostituting them . . . [The
women] certainly had a horrible appearance, and
the considerable amount of grease and filth with
which they were covered gave off an indescribably
awful stench." [Malaspina, 1885, p. 157.]
These women seemed terrorized and oppressed, and
Malaspina concluded that they were slaves.
Despite these friendly suggestions, Malaspina ordered
armed vigilance at all hours, and the use of passwords
45
 According to Gunther (1962, p. 48), "As much of the collec-
tions from the Malaspina Expedition as reached Madrid" are now
in the Museo de America. She saw only the catalog, but reports
that the "documentation is poor. The collection is primarily
from Alaska," i.e., from Port Mulgrave.
at night to prevent a surprise attack. To avoid pro-
voking any unfortunate incident, he prohibited any
contact between the enlisted men and the women and
children in the huts, while generous gifts were con-
tinually made to the Indians. On their part, the latter
were unwilling to let one of their numbers accompany
the Spaniards unless the Europeans left a man with
the Indians until the party returned (Malaspina, 1849,
pp. 280-281; 1885, p. 157).
The ordinary natives at Yakutat are described by
Suria as:
"of medium stature but robust and strong. Their
physiognomy has some resemblance to that of all
Indians, except that their eyes are very far apart and
are long and full. The face is more round than long,
although from the cheeks, which are very bulging,
to the chin it is somewhat more pointed. Their eyes
are sparkling and alive, although always manifesting
a wild and untamed air, a consequence of the methods
by which they are brought up. They have little
beard although there is no general rule about this as
I have seen some with a very full one. This and the
hair of their head is so very thick that it looks like
the mane of a horse. The women have the same
facial characteristics and if it was not for the red
ochre and black soot which they put on some of them
would not be very ugly although in general I would
not venture to say that they were good looking.
"All of them, men and women, generally speaking,
have something of Chinese features." [Wagner, 1936,
p. 253.]
The Spaniards were particularly impressed with the
local chief, or "Ankau," whose title Malaspina used in
naming Ankau Creek. His name is rendered as "June1,"
"Junue"," or "Junuelo," and the Spaniards ascribed to
him greater powers than he actually possessed and also
a wider dominion, since they called the tribe
"Tejunfe," or "TejunueY' which is equivelent to
"June's People" (Navarrete in Galiano, 1802, pp.
cxvi, cxvii; Malaspina, 1849, p. 285; 1885, pp. 345,
350).
The chief's name, which might be rendered
as Hune or Xune, reminds us of the name of a
Tl'uknaxAdi chief, ^one ("Q!one"'), of Gusex on the
Akwe River.46 He appears in the Sitka story of the war
between the Tl'uknaxAdi and the Chilkat GanAxtedi,
in which Ismailov's Yelxak was killed (Swanton, 1909,
Tale 32, pp. 160-165). In this version, the Kagwantan
of Grouse Fort on Icy Strait had been entertained at a
potlatch by the GanAxtedi of Klukwan. Some of
Tl'uknaxAdi who had accompanied their Kagwantan
40
 For the reputed origin of this name, ^one or Xone, see.
Episode 5 of the Raven Cycle, "Raven in the Whale," p. 852.
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 145
brothers-in-law to Klukwan made a Raven Hat of
their own, on which the figure of a Raven, with copper
beak, wings, and tail, pecked at a copper plate, Xone
wore this Raven Hat to a feast at Grouse Fort, where
he and his clansmen spoke very disparagingly of the
QanAxtedi, and to prove their own superiority, gave
to their Kagwantan hosts the copper wings and plate
from the Raven Hat. It was news of this insult which
led to war between the rival Raven sibs. Yelxak is
said to have been killed by a Tl'uknaxAdi man whose
spear points were made of drift iron, and who wore a
helmet representing the Monster Rat that lives under
"the mountain Wasli'ca," i.e., Mount Saint Elias.
This episode is given in some detail, because Malaspina's
chief seems to have been involved in a war.
The "Ankau" had first been entertained on the
Atreinda, then requested permission to come aboard the
Descubierta, where he was understood to offer lasting
friendship to Malaspina. Suria has given us his portrait
(pis. 44, 45), which Malaspina pronounced an excellent
likeness, and also the following description:
"The chief was an old, venerable and ferocious
looking man with a very long gray beard, in pyrami-
dal form, his hair flaccid and loose on his shoulders.
False hair over it in various locks, without any order
or arrangement, made him look like a monster. A
large lion skin [Alaskan brown bear, according to
Wagner] for a cape was gathered in at the waist and
left entirely bare his breast, arms, thighs, and endow-
ments, very muscular and strong. All gave him a
somewhat majestic air, which he manifested by speak-
ing but little, measuredly, and with a sound which
at times seemed to be the bellow of a bull. At other
times it was softer and in speaking to his sons it was
sweeter than in conversation. [Wagner, 1936, p. 249.]
[Malaspina found his presence worthy of respect,
because of his age, stature, and vigor (Malaspina,
1885, p. 157).]
[The chief was accompanied on board by two men,
whom the Spaniards assumed were his sons. The
elder was] "very ferocious and gigantic . . . [and]
more than two yards tall, equally stout and muscular.
He had his hair loose which, on account of its thick-
ness, seemed like a horse's mane. It was very black
like that of his beard. He was dressed in a black bear
skin and very hairy, also in the form of a cloak
which he fastened with some ornament, leaving bare
at times all his nakedness, and passing to and fro
over the quarterdeck, very proud and straight, his
look full of ire, arrogant, and condescending."
[Wagner, 1936, p. 249.]
It is this man whom his father left in charge of the
trading, and who preferred European clothing to any-
thing else (Malaspina, 1885, p. 157). Suria also sketched
him (pis. 46-48).
The chief and his son explained by gestures that
they had been visited by other ships. But what was
puzzling was the chief's attempts to tell the story of
some recent war. Malaspina understood him to mean
that their enemies had been armed with six muskets,
and that after some had been killed on both sides,
the others had asked for peace. What caused the
greatest confusion, however, was the impression that
the enemy had a man on horseback. To demonstrate
this, the chief called his son and put him in a quadru-
pedal position, to show that the enemy was mounted.
Such was Malaspina's interpretation (ibid., pp. 157,
345-346). Suria gives a briefer but more convincing
account that:
"What we could draw from all their signs was that
a short time before they had fought some other cacique
who had killed the son of their chief. They showed
us his helmet which was of a figure, and an extraor-
dinary construction of wood, copper, and of straw
cloth, and with a mask in front which appeared to be
a wolf" (Wagner, 1936, p. 249). It is further described
as having three rings on top made of thin copper-
plate (Malaspina, 1885, p. 158). The "straw cloth"
is, of course, spruce root basketry.
The chief had been so pleased with his own por-
trait that he requested that Surfa make a picture of
this helmet also, since it had been taken from the
enemy chief. Although credited to Josef Cardero, who
was never at Yakutat, the Museo Naval has what must
be this picture (pi. 58). It is a helmet, or crest hat,17
surmounted by three basketry and three copper (?)
rings, decorated with what appear to be copper wing-
like plates at the sides, and with tufts of hair, even
at the top, where the Tlingit hat of this kind usually
flaunts a panache of ermine skins. It is impossible to
tell what crest is represented by the carved and painted
design: a Wolf, as Suria's description suggests, or
possibly a Monster Rat or even a Raven, to fit Swan-
ton's legend.
Since we can be sure that no horse was on the coast
of Alaska at this time, the Yakutat chief's demonstra-
tion may have been simply to indicate the quadruped
(Wolf?) that was the crest either of his enemy or of his
own son. It is, of course, tempting to link Malaspina's
chief of Port Mulgrave with the Tl'uknaxAdi chief from
Dry Bay who fought the Chilkat.
While Suria believed that it was the son of the "Ankau
June" who had been killed in this war, Malaspina's
reports make it clear that it was the father who was
slain, and that his ashes were in the box held in the paws
of an enormous Bear post in the nearby cemetery
47
 McClellan, 1954, p. 96, has pointed out the similarity be-
tween the helmet and the crest hat. Perhaps the latter is derived
from the former.
265-5.17?72?vol. VII, pt. 1- -12
146 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
(Malaspina, 1849, p. 289; 1885, pp. 345-346). If "June"
belonged to the Raven moiety, as his name suggests, his
father, who had also been a chief, would have belonged
to the opposite moiety and might well claim the Wolf
or Bear as his crest. The same would be true of "June's"
son. If I were following my own informants' traditions
of the past, I would consider "June" or ]vone to have
been Kwac3sqwan, not Tl'xrknaxAdi?names did shift
from one sib to another within a moiety, or were shared
by them?and his father and his sons would have been
Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. Perhaps %one was actually the chief
Yaxodaqet, and at the same time the wearer of the
helmet symbolizing the Monster Rat of Mount Saint
Elias.
If, however, the helmet or hat had been taken from
an enemy chief, it is obvious that it portrayed the crest
of its former owner, not that of the Yakutat "Ankau"
or of his relatives. Moreover, Malaspina understood
that the battle in which it had been secured had taken
place at Port Mulgrave. Near the spot where the
Spaniards established their observatory was the grave
of a man who had been killed in these last fights. It
was marked by a stick planted in the grass, and covered
by a rush mat weighted down with stones. The natives
showed considerable reluctance to approach the spot,
and evidently did not want the Spaniards to do so,
indicating by signs and silence that they were afraid of
disturbing the dead (Malaspina, 1885, p. 159). (This
grave must have been near the cemetery used until the
earthquake of 1889.)
What seems most likely is that the Yakutat chief
was trying to tell by signs about a series of episodes,
which the Spaniards naturally confused. The muskets,
and the dead man, buried not cremated, may have
nothing to do with a fight with other natives. The
corpse may have been that of the man killed by one
of Colnett's sailors some 3 years before.
Certainly the Yakutat natives were familiar with
Europeans, for Malaspina noted hatchets, cooking pots,
silver spoons, some articles of clothing, and even three
books, which he interpreted as relics of Dixon's visit,
as he did the natives' insistence in offering the women.
In fact, on one occasion the old chief had to be repri-
manded for bringing a woman to the observatory,
and the crews again had to be ordered not to go near
the native huts. The younger Indians sang sea chanties,
or repeated a few English words, as did three young
women who came in a canoe under the stern of the
Descubierto, where they not only called out in English
but sang a native melody, which Dr. Haenke recorded.
Eventually, of course, pilfering began. At first an
iron padlock was taken, but was returned because the
culprit was detained despite his threats with a dagger,
and the chief was induced to make him restore it. On
another day, when two marlin spikes were taken, the
chief could apparently do nothing, although he at-
tempted to placate the Spaniards, and explained that
the thieves belonged to "a distant family," that is,
were not members of his own sib or lineage (ibid., p.
158). In consequence, all natives were barred from the
ships, and trading was limited to the open beach in
front of the corvettes which could be covered by their
guns. This was the treeless area, near Point Turner,
some distance from any of the huts, and also the site
selected for the observatory.
The natives crowded about the observatory tent
continually, wanting to look through the telescope and
to examine all the instruments, so that everything,
tent and all, had to be brought onboard each night.
Despite these inconveniences, for Malaspina the
Indians
"could not have presented a more endearing aspect.
We were familiar with the most necessary words of
their idiom; we visited them openly in their huts.
Don Tomas Suria could draw some of the women
and represent the almost unbelievable quantity of
domestic utensils. Trading had warmed up on both
sides, and we had already been given permission to
provide ourselves with the necessary wood in the
vicinity of the houses without any preliminary agree-
ment, to which, nevertheless, we would have im-
mediately acceeded." [Ibid., pp. 158-159.]
Early in the morning of June 30,48 the old chief and a
dignitary came to the Spaniards at the observatory to
announce, with apparent anxiety, that two canoes were
coming, and were already only a mile or two away.
Since it was not known whether they were friendly or
hostile, the chief wanted the Spaniards to go to the
front beach and fire a volley, which would force them to
declare their intentions. Meanwhile, the tribe took up
arms, launched two canoes, and the women retired. The
Spanish, accordingly, went to the beach (on the western
side of Khantaak Island?), where they could be seen,
and fired a gun. At this signal, all the paddlers in the
canoes, about 40, burst into a hymn of peace which they
continued to sing as they approached the shore. Finally
they drew up on the inner beach, while the old chief
continued to shout to them to be careful, because the
Spaniards were his allies.
By now almost all fear of attack seemed to be dissi-
pated, and although the Yakutat natives still kept their
arms, they waded out to the boats to carry the leaders
of the visitors ashore. The latter were at once presented
to the Spaniards by the "Ankau". General peace making
followed, the two parties embraced each other, and the
visitors were led with joyful oratory to the huts. Except
for the places where the women prepared skins or did
48
 Or July 1 (Malaspina, 1885, pp. 345, 346).
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 147
the cooking, the two groups were now intermingled as
if they formed one tribe (ibid., pp. 159-160).
What the Spaniards had witnessed and taken part in,
was not, as they had supposed, a narrowly averted
hostile encounter, but the ceremonial reception of
foreign guests, as at a potlatch. On such occasions,
(McClellan, 1954: Swanton, 1908, pp. 434-443, 449;
and see pp. 613-615), there are always two rival groups of
guests, one local, one invited from a distance, between
whom competition is symbolized as warfare followed by
peace making. A common feature is the brandishing
of weapons and firing of guns, either by the hosts or
by the local guests, in welcoming the visitors; the latter
may also fire volleys. It is the duty of the host chief to
prevent, if he can, the rivalry between his guests from
leading to actual fighting. As McClellan has pointed out
(1954, p. 96), the emphasis on symbolic warfare in the
accounts of potlatches that appear in Swanton's
Tlingit Myths and Texts (1909), as well as in the actual
conduct of potlatches, including the hostility between
guest sibs, the use by hosts and guests of 'sib brothers-
in-law' as go-betweens who are called 'deer,' like peace
hostages, the similarity between crest hats and war
helmets, and so forth, "all suggest an intriguing re-
lationship between the potlatch, the peace ceremony,
and warfare, which should be more fully explored."
While it would appear that the visitors greeted by
Malaspina in Port Mulgrave had probably not come to
a potlatch, much of the same formality was character-
istic of Tlingit intertribal trade, which also involved
some of the ceremonial of war and peace. It is quite
probable that the visitors of June 30 had come because
they had learned of the presence of the frigates. The
newcomers had brought some good sea otter skins
which they offered to the Spaniards that same after-
noon, each seller accompanied by a member of the local
group. There was the same enthusiasm for acquiring
European clothing, and apparently some of the seamen
gave away garments that were worth more than the
current market value of skins at Canton.
"Still, it was a singular and curious sight to see at
the same time a good half of the old tribe and some of
the new, dressed so strangely in the old uniforms of
the soldiers, and in the sailors' jackets, caps, pants,
underwear, shirts, etc.," which might give the impres-
sion that the natives had assassinated the crew of a
Spanish vessel (Malaspina, 1885, p. 161).
The Spaniards took advantage of the many specta-
tors to demonstrate the power of their guns. Apparently
one of the Indians believed that he could make his
clothing bulletproof by soaking it, but when one of the
officers shot a hole through it, he became bitterly angry.
Meanwhile the scientific observations could be car-
ried out in peace, because the natives were busy else-
where. Everything was also proceeding calmly at the
watering area at the head of Monti Bay. One of the
officers here made friends with a native family, observed
various domestic customs, and also acquired a few items
of women's dress and ornaments, which are, unfortu-
nately, not specifically described.
This officer also located the cemetery on Ankau
Creek which Dixon had visited. The next day, July 1,
a party of officers and the painter Suria went to the
cemetery, near which they met five natives who were
picking strawberries. The latter were judged to be
members of the lower class and probably ignorant of
local traditions, but therefore unlikely to interfere with
the Spaniards, especially since the latter loaded them
with gifts. Suria meanwhile sketched the framework of
what seemed to be an old winter house, and two grave
monuments, one old and the other new. One of the
boxes with calcined bones from the older monument was
taken for the Royal Cabinet, apparently without native
objections. (The description of this cemetery is given
on pages 540-542.)
While the Spaniards were interested that the Yakutat
people seemed to have one male and four or five female
slaves, assumed to be captives from another tribe,49 the
Indians, on their part, were convinced that a native
Filipino sailor on the Atrevida was also a sla~ve. "From
the first day they visited the corvette, the inhabitants
had taken him for one of their own, had tediously ex-
amined his hair, his skin, the features of his face, and
his body members, and then asked him to stay in the
tribe. And they inquired how he came to be among us,
and whether he had been sold or captured" (ibid.,
p. 161).
On July 2, Malaspina set off with two longboats to
explore the head of Yakutat Bay, leaving Bustamente
in charge of the anchored corvettes. As will be seen,
trouble with the Indians at Port Mulgrave broke out
almost immediately.
The two boats, rowing up the bay and sailing when
they could, noted floating ice along the western shore,
and smoke rising from one of two places on the eastern
flatlands where the natives lived. When near what I
believe was the sealing camp at Tlaxata, below Point
Latouche, a canoe came out to meet them with a single
Indian. This was the son of the Port Mulgrave chief,
who had been on board the ships many times. He was
now dressed in trousers, shirt, and cap, and to Malas-
pina appeared much more humanized and curiously
gentle. He came on board the longboat of the De-
scubierta and explained that he was the chief of a
nearby settlement, where his women and children lived,
49
 The chief indicated that the male slave was obtained from
the same tribe that had sent the canoes on July 1 (or June 30)
Malaspina, ]885, p. 347, note 1).
148 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
tlfl iNifEtc lie!.
j
Jc 0 rdA
.3 i .
( ti.ahhul.JS!. 59.51.10.
t
- ]?cnritoj...i3.?v.2?eo4o<t!
iPerrota dt bu i cuuhut dtlaj Ccrl-etaJ
f f ccnl20.lnrai.
Varutdon 2ZE. 32JZ4- cm Thtoltlilt.
iif3,miU4if marikmaj
MAP 22.?Disenchantment Bay as surveyed by Malaspina in 1791. The line indicates the limit of the ice. (Galiano, 1802, map 9.
Courtesy Bancroft Library, Univ. California, Berkeley.)
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 149
naming them with great tenderness. He agreed to
accompany the boats in return for some trinkets and
a good meal.
Although it was evident from what the young chief
said and from the feeble tidal currents that the channel
had almost ended, the boats continued around Point
Latouche ("Punta de la Esperanza"), and were guided
to an anchorage close to what our informants called
Qegdtleya' (see p. 67). Except for green spots at the
mouths of the streams (see Malaspina's chart in
Galiano, 1802, Chart 9), all around there was nothing
but rocks and ice; many bergs floated near by, and
avalanches thundered in the mountains. The opposite
point "Pta de la Bancas" (Bancas Point) was named
for the glaciers. Despite the cold rain, the men ate, the
geographer, Felipe Bausa, began to make a map, one
of the officers went hunting, and others collected
natural history specimens for Dr. Tadeo Haenke.
Although Suria had not gone with the boats, someone
must have furnished him with a sketch on which he
based bis watercolor of the scene. Meanwhile, the
young chief insisted on returning to his hut to sleep,
promising to return the next day with some fresh
salmon.
From 9 till 1:30 p.m., the boats tried to row north-
ward through the floating ice, but were blocked by a
line of firm ice {de hielo constants), which prevented
them from reaching the little island which Malaspina
named for the naturalist Haenke. As the geographer
told Suria on their return: "They saw from the middle
of this great bay, which was as far as they could reach,
that the other half was entirely frozen so that one could
pass up to the wall of the mountains with dry feet if it
were not for the risk that he would be crushed, as they
had seen happen with some pieces which had been so
crushed when they fell into the water" (Wagner, 1936,
p. 251). From this ice barrier they turned back to the
anchorage just above Point Latouche.
The next day, fortified by a night's rest, by the fresh
salmon brought by several canoes from the mouth of
the bay, and with clearing weather, the Spaniards were
able to correct their observations. Malaspina took
possession of the bay in the name of the king. In witness
thereof, he buried a coin and a bottle containing a
record of this discovery in a deep hole under a stone.
One wonders whether it is still there, or whether the
natives found it. The cove was named "Puerto del
Desengafio" (Disenchantment Bay), the whole bay was
called "Bahia de las Bancas," and the outer bay or
entrance was named for Ferrer (Maldonado).
The party was just ready to leave, when one of the
sailors was discovered missing. They searched for him,
apparently all afternoon, shouting and firing guns, and
ready to believe that he was dead or badly injured,
perhaps attacked by the bears which the natives had
indicated were numerous here. Finally he appeared,
was picked up by the launch near Haenke Island, and
explained that he had gone on foot in an attempt to
reach Maldonado's Passage, keeping his venture secret
because he did not wish to share the glory of such
a discovery. Suria, in reporting the episode, writes
that the sailor "actually reached the farthest point [of
the "Frozen Bay"] and saw that it ended in a copious
river which ran between those mountains and was lost
to view, winding about like a snake" (Wagner, 1936,
p. 251). Malaspina's chart shows the head of the bay
surrounded by rocky slopes and glaciers but, of course,
from his position on or near the eastern shore, below
Haenke Island, he could not possibly have seen the
mouth of Russell Fiord, no matter what the condition
of the ice.
It would appear that the sailor had walked for 6
hours over unimaginably rough rocks and over the
ice (solid ice, or floating pack), until he could look
up into Russell Fiord, where he saw an open lead of
water. How far this extended is not clear, and Suria's
version may not be accurate.
On the return trip, late that night, the boats stopped
briefly at the native settlement (Tlaxata) to which
the Indian canoes had already returned. The young
chief was as affable as he had been the day before,
and brought his two young sons out in a canoe to
see the boats, showing them great affection. The long-
boats anchored for the night in the channel between
Knight Island and the mainland, from which further
observations were made of Mount Saint Elias. The
view must have been much the same as that which
I photographed in 1952 (de Laguna et al., 1964, pi.
1, a).
On the trip back to the corvettes the next day,
July 4, the islands and channels along the eastern
shore were investigated. What I take to be Knight
Island was described as heavily wooded, in places
rich with shellfish, "and besides on the south shore
were sepulchres in every respect similar to those we
had visited near the port [at Ankau Creek]. There
was cultivated ground [tobacco patches], either on
the islands, or on the adjacent mainland, very few
rancherias of the natives, and to judge by the 30 to
40 salmon that were sold to the boats by only two
canoes, these channels must be rich in fish, and in
consequence provide an easy existence for the inhab-
itants" (Malaspina, 1885, pp. 164-165).
At Port Mulgrave, Malaspina found that relations
with the natives had deteriorated during the 3 days
that he had been absent, and the situation was now
very delicate. The day that the boats had started for
Disenchantment Bay, July 2, some Indians had stolen
a few things while trading. The chief, when informed,
was upset and managed to get them back, but soon
150 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
after that, according to Suria, the Indians began to
go about with knives, spears, bows and arrows. When
a native deftly made off with a sailor's jacket at the
watering place, Captain Bustamente demanded of the
chief that it be returned and the thief punished. Ac-
cording to Suria, the chief himself was threatened,
which naturally irritated the Indians. Furthermore,
they became alarmed when a tree was inadvertently
felled too close to one of them. Bustamente was in-
clined to believe that the chief was in league with
the man who had stolen the jacket, despite his appear-
ance of friendship for the Spaniards. It is much more
likely, however, that the thief belonged to another
sib over which, of course, the chief would have no
control.
Suria, himself, had an unpleasant experience, for he
had been left alone in the house of a chief to make
sketches. It is not clear whether this was the house of
the old "Akau," which I assume was on Khantaak
Island, or was, perhaps, the house of some lesser chief
near where the sailors were getting wood.
"I had scarcely commenced to work when with a
great cry the cacique spoke to me in his language in
an imperious tone and a threat that I should suspend
my work. Engrossed in my work I paid little atten-
tion to him when the third time there was a grand
chorus of shrieks by all the Indians. I came to
myself and suspended my work which was well
started. They caught hold of me and pushed me. I
began to shout for my own people, but when I
turned my face I did not see a single one. They
formed a circle around me and danced around me
knives in hand singing a frightful song, which seemed
like the bellowing of bulls. In such circumstances I
resolved to carry out their mood and I began to
dance with them. They let out a shout and made me
sit down, and by force made me sing their songs
which according to the gestures which they made I
understood as ridiculing me. In such a situation I
feigned ignorance and shouted louder making the
same contortions and gestures. They were very much
pleased at this and I was able with my industry to
gain their good will with a figure which I sketched
for them with a coat, etc., and dressed like ourselves.
They marveled very much at this and began pointing
at it with a finger exclaiming 'Ankau!' 'Ankau!'
which is to say 'Seflor,' and as they call their chief.
So they quieted down and insisted on giving me
fish to eat. I excused myself as much as I could but
seeing they threatened me I had to eat. Soon they
offered me some women, pointing out some and
reserving for me some others. Seeing that I did
not move they then made signs to me with their
hands that they were giving them to me so that I
might violate them. At this moment a sailor arrived
who was looking for me as the boat was going
aboard. I complained to some of the officers that
they had abandoned me and they excused them-
selves by telling me that the natives who had
remained on the beach were peaceable and therefore
they had inferred that they would not do me any
harm. I forgot to say that as soon as they saw the
sailor, they believed that more were coming and I
took occasion of the opportunity to get away."
[Wagner, 1936, p. 250.]
The behavior of the natives suggests that Suria was
treated in some respects like a 'deer,' or peace-hostage,
the central figure in a Tlingit peace-making ceremony
as, for example, that which ended the war between the
Tl'uknaxAdi and the QanAxtedi (Swanton, 1909, Tale 32,
pp. 164-165; cf. Swanton, 1908, p. 451; Krause, 1956,
p. 171; de Laguna, 1960, pp. 154, 155-156). In such a
ceremony, the 'deer' is seized in the middle of a mock
fight, which is reported as terrifying, and in which
persons may be hurt. His captors dance for him, and
he also dances for them. Many of the songs are funny,
to show good feeling; Suria may have been mistaken
that he was being ridiculed. However, every gesture
and word of the 'deer' is closely observed, since it may
indicate whether there is to be peace or further war.
The 'deer' is under a taboo against work, against
eating certain foods, and against sexual intercourse;
yet his captors may test him by urging him to break
these rules, since his willingness to comply with their
wishes is proof of his peaceful intentions. Although
the Yakutat natives could not have been carrying
out a full peace ceremony, since the Spaniards were not
conducting a complementary ritual with an Indian
'deer,' and although the natives were probably trying
to frighten Suria, the fact that he had the good sense
and courage to act as he did undoubtedly prevented
serious trouble, and may even have saved his life.
Because of the theft of the jacket, Bustamente had
suspended trading, which the Indians interpreted as
an unfriendly act. When the usual detail went to cut
wood the following day, they found the natives "insolent
and provocative" (Malaspina, 1885, p. 165), and threat-
ening gestures were exchanged. The Indians indicated
that if the Spaniards did not wish to trade they should
leave. Target practice, and the promise to resume
trading the next day, seemed to pacify them, although
as Suria observed, the Indians, "like warriors at the
least thing became angry" (Wagner, 1936, p. 251).
The Spaniards could not understand why the seemingly
friendly chief did not secure the return of the jacket.
That afternoon, when Bustamente and a party
landed for target practice, a group of armed natives
tried first to seize a sailor, then, led by the same man
who had been most threatening that morning, ma-
neuvered to seize Bustamente. Although outnumbered,
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 151
the latter bravely stood his ground, ordered his men
not to fight, and called on the chief to restrain his
subjects. After hesitating, the chief did speak, although
not with a tone of command, and the angry leader
finally opened his arms and began to sing the hymn
of peace. Although the natives near the huts still
retained their arms, the Spaniards were finally able to
withdraw to the beach and to their ships.
After a long harangue by the chief, his people came
to restore the stolen jacket and to ask for peace,
indicating that the men in the corvettes should sing
the peace song as they had done. "This agreeable act
was repeated both on the ships and on shore, not
without a certain harmony, and with the expressive
gesture of the open arms" (Malaspina, 1885, p. 166).
Bonfires were lit that night on the beach near the
ships, where the natives danced and sang happy songs,
which Haenke transcribed, while from time to time
voices chimed in from the Atrevida and the Descubierta.
On July 4, no woodcutting parties went ashore;
trade was resumed, but under the earlier system of
forbidding the natives to come aboard; and the officers
of the Descubierta, accompanied by the "Ankau,"
visited the cemetery. A "new tribe" arrived, under the
son of the "Ankau," probably the group that had been
camped at Tlaxata. Everything seemed peaceful when
Malaspina's two longboats returned in the late
afternoon.
The Spaniards were anxious to finish their work at
Port Mulgrave, so the next day boat parties were sent
out on all the last minute errands of taking soundings,
getting fresh water, and finishing the astronomical
observations. The chief had come aboard the Atrevida
to supervise the trading, in which he enjoyed the great
advantage of being the only native allowed on the
ship; according to Surfa, his son was with him. Grad-
ually a crowd of natives gathered at the observatory,
at first trying to handle the instruments, soon sur-
rounding the sailors and demanding their muskets.
Again, the Spaniards were in a difficult position, their
forces dispersed, faced with the possible loss of their
irreplaceable instruments, or with the prospect of a
bloody encounter. It would obviously have been rash
to wait until afternoon to make further observations,
which would otherwise have been desirable. Instead,
two officers and four armed soldiers were sent ashore,
to attempt to hold back the natives, while the instru-
ments were removed. Meanwhile all the native canoes
had left the corvettes, while all the Indians in the
village were advancing with drawn daggers against the
Spaniards on shore (pi. 41).
Bustamente on the Atrevida now ordered a cannon
fired without a ball to frighten the natives. According
to Suria, "at once they covered themselves with their
skins and others looked about to see who had fallen.
[But since no one was hurt] This made them more
insolent still. . . ." However, Bustamente seized the
chief and his son, who were on the ship, "and threatened
to punish them if he did not order his Indians to keep
quiet" (Wagner, 1936, p. 252). Apparently the chief
begged the captain not to fire on the huts, and called to
his people to restrain them. Although they were at first
even more angry to see him a prisoner, eventually
his exhortations were effective, for the Spaniards with
the instruments were able to get off in their boats with-
out actual bloodshed. The chief, however, was held as
hostage until the safe return of the watering parties
later that afternoon.
By this time the natives on shore had indicated their
desire for peace, begged for the release of the chief, and
even offered to return a pair of trousers that had been
stolen the first day of woodcutting. Accordingly, the
chief was permitted to leave in the canoe which had
come to fetch him, but he shortly returned, "entoning
the hymn of peace and holding aloft with great solem-
nity the stolen trousers" (Malaspina, 1885, p. 168).
Again, the song of peace, with the usual gestures, was
repeated on shipboard and on shore.
According to Suria: "The chief believed we were
angered about some goats [60] which an Indian had stolen
and which he ordered him to bring. It was something
to laugh at to see him in his canoe giving the sign of
peace while hoisting high his goats [trousers] after
Bustamente had turned him loose." Suria has left us a
sketch of this ludicrous scene (pi. 43). "Our ships
answered with the signal of peace and they then asked
to come back for the trade in skins. As soon as this was
conceded they laid aside all their fierceness and came
alongside very contented in their canoes as if nothing
had happened" (Wagner, 1936, p. 252).
The ships sailed late that afternoon and the natives
took advantage of the last hours to trade, bringing
everything they thought might be exchanged, and no
longer making excessive demands for hatchets or
clothing. When the sails were set, all of the canoes
retreated except one that remained close to the Descu-
bierta. In this was a woman with a small baby. The
doctor threw her down some bells and ornaments, and
when her canoe came alongside made her a second
gift of the same kind. She now cut off half of the skin
she had brought, and put it on the child's head before
passing it up to the ship, as if she were making a gift
in the child's name. Much moved, the men on the ship
threw down to her whatever trinkets were at hand,
and she continued to reciprocate for her child until
she had given away all the skins that covered her.
50
 Suria's handwriting was almost indecipherable, owing to his
failing eyesight. He evidently wrote cabrdnes, "goats," instead of
calzones, "trousers."
152 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
As an anticlimax, the Descubierta ran aground
between Point Munoz and "Dixon's Island" [Phipps
Peninsula?], but was finally hauled off, and the two
corvettes left Yakutat Bay early on the morning of
July 6.
After leaving Yakutat Bay, Malaspina's ships stood
out to sea, but on July 9 approached Cape Suckling
("Cabo Chubador"). Malaspina wanted to explore the
passage between the cape and Kayak Island, but the
weather prevented this. After visiting Middleton
Island and trading with some Chugach on the outer
coasts of Montague and Hinchinbrook Islands, the
Spaniards were again just west of Kayak Island on
July 15. By this time, Malaspina concluded that there
was no passage between Kayak Island and the main-
land, and that the island was in fact the "Peninsula de
Kaye." Other names were given to points and bays in
the vicinity, but no natives were seen.
The vessels now turned back toward Yakutat Bay.
Somewhere east of Cape Suckling was a bay which
Malaspina called "Ensenada de Estremadura," in
which were seen two coves or inlets. The one on the
west was blocked by ice; the one to the east was close
to "la Punta del Indio," where sheltered "a humble
native rancheria" (Malaspina, 1885, p. 178). We gather
that Malaspina was by now somewhere between Kaliakh
River(?) and Icy Bay. The "Point of the Indian" may
have been Cape Yakataga.
On the morning of July 25, the corvettes were visited
by an Indian who came from the point. The ships were
then anchored[?] at least 7 miles from shore. The Indian
in his canoe approached to within a mile, then turned
back toward land. However, the longboat came up to
him with the usual gestures of peace, and he came on
board the ship. His familiarity, his anxiety to induce
the Spaniards to come to the shore, and his insistent
offer of women convinced the Spaniards that they were
not the first Europeans these natives had met. However,
Malaspina believes that he must have encountered
them or learned about them in Port Mulgrave. "The
customs, features, and speech of this young man seemed
to be completely the same as that of the inhabitants
met in that port. He gave us some strawberries, and
traded his robe of otter furs, even though we did not
give him the axe that he so coveted." Finally, about 9
in the evening, he returned to shore with a few trinkets
(ibid., p. 178). Since this youth apparently came from
Qaryix-Kagwantan country, it is a pity that we are
given no more details about him. From Suria's narra-
tive, which describes Mount Saint Elias as being at the
head of the bay (Ensenada de Estremadura), the ship
was off "Icy Bay," or rather the lagoon at the mouth
of the Yahtse River, when they met this Indian.
"Without any fear and boldly he came on board
showing much pleasure and confidence and signified
to us by signs . . . to tell us that all his countrymen
were ready to entertain us, and that for that purpose
we should raise the kedge anchor and follow him
and he would conduct us to a large port which was
behind the point where they had their town and
where they would trade with us for sea-otter skins.
[When the Spaniards would not follow, this gallant
youth left them] as a present some excellent fish and
strawberries and the commander gave him in ex-
change some looking glasses, little bells, and beads
for a large and beautiful sea-otter skin which he wore
as a cape." [Wagner, 1936, p. 267.]
Two days later, the vessels came to Cape Fair-
weather, having in sight the whole magnificent pano-
rama of the Saint Elias and Fairweather Ranges.
From here to Nootka, which they reached on August
12, they saw no more natives.
Although one of Vancouver's ships was to visit
Yakutat Bay 3 years later, Malaspina's voyage has
provided us with the most detailed descriptions of the
Yakutat natives in the 18th century. Not only do we
have the accounts of intelligent and interested
observers, but also Suria's many excellent pictures
(pis. 40-61). Several officers made their own dic-
tionaries of the language, from which a list of some
121 words and 25 numerals was compiled (Malaspina,
1885, pp. 349-351). While I cannot assert that none
of the terms is Athabaskan or Eyak, I do recognize
the vast majority as Tlingit. These include not only
such words as, hat, gun, bow and arrow, glass bead,
but words for body parts, common expressions (yes,
no, too bad), common verbs (eat, sit down, cut, wound),
natural phenomena (sea, mountain, cold, snow, sun,
fire); in short, a considerable proportion of Swadesh's
basic vocabulary of 100 words. Of course, the Spaniards
often missed the correct meaning, just as they were
unable to render adequately the velar and glottalized
consonants. They were well aware that this language
was quite different from that of the inhabitants of
Prince William Sound. It is interesting that the
Yakutat name for "enemy" in the 18th century
("Kutef" or "Kutek") was the same as that which
the Eyak in 1933 (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938,
p. 543), and the Yakutat in 1952 and 1954 applied to
the "Aleuts" or Chugach (Gotiex or Gutfe?).
Despite linguistic differences, Malaspina believed that
the natives from "the Archipelago of Bucareli," or
even the Queen Charlotte Islands, to Cook Inlet had
the same origin. Even though the inhabitants of Port
Mulgrave and of Prince William Sound spoke different
languages and were frequently at war with each other,
they were basically the same in their way of life, social
development, material culture and religious rites.
They were also "tall, husky, healthy, and agile, whether
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 153
for fishing, hunting or warfare." The women were also
healthy, and evidently able to bear children to aD
advanced age. The appearance of the men was generally
ferocious, as would be expected of those who fought
the great bears of Disenchantment Bay, but those
who fished, as well as the women and children, seemed
to Malaspina to be docile (but not stupid), modest, and
affable. He saw a great difference in physiognomy
between the plebians and the "Ankau" and his family,
a difference which he felt that Suria had faithfully
rendered. A few young people were induced to wash
their faces, and showed a naturally fair, even somewhat
rosy complexion, in spite of the grease smeared on
against the elements (Malaspina, 1885, p. 343).
Malaspina called the Yakutat the "Tejunes" (People
of June1), and reported them as inhabiting the islands of
Port Mulgrave, with several families on the mainland
facing the islands, or near Disenchantment Bay, or out-
side Cape Munoz. He did not believe that the people of
"Bering Bay" (Dry Bay) belonged to the same "na-
tion," noting that the lack of inland channels would
make communication difficult; he was evidently un-
aware of the system of lagoons and streams connecting
Dry Bay and the Ankau. However, the Dry Bay people
apparently had as their leader a son of the "Ankau
June," as had the other settlements in Yakutat Bay, so
Malaspina believed that these communities would be
allied in time of war. This would not be the case, he
surmised, with those who lived farther to the west, at
the foot of Mount Saint Elias, or between Point
"Barrientos" (Point Manby) and Point Novales (Point
Martin near Katalla?). Although these people 51 seemed
to show an intimacy and ancient friendship with those
of Port Mulgrave, when they came on June 30 (or
July 1), still Malasnina detected signs that their in-
terests were quite distinct and their leaders naturally
opposed.
The Indian that they had met off "Point of the In-
dian" seemed to have no idea of the rates of exchange
prevailing at Port Mulgrave, yet he seemed to be well
acquainted with the commerce and vices of Europeans.
Malaspina believed that his people, therefore, lived
farther away than those who had visited Port Mulgrave.
He found it strange that he had seen no signs of habita-
tion in Controller Bay, but thought that the shallow
water might make for poor hunting and fishing.
Belying on the data from earlier explorers, as well as
upon his own observations, including the smokes seen
between Cape Fairweather and Cross Sound, Malaspina
estimated that the population in Prince William Sound
was about 600; that there were as many more on the
slopes of Mount Saint Elias, 400 in Port Mulgrave, and
another 600 from Dry Bay to Cross Sound, making a
total of 1,600 Indians on the Gulf of Alaska, not count-
ing the Chugach (ibid., p. 345).
Vancouver (1794)
Capt. George Vancouver was the commander of
the last 18th-century voyage of discovery to the Gulf
of Alaska.52 He was sent in the sloop Discovery,
accompanied by Lt. Peter Puget in the armed tender
Chatham, to receive for Great Britain the territory
which the Spaniards were to surrender in settlement
of the Nootka Controversy of 1789, and also to explore
the American coast from latitude 30? to 60? for a pos-
sible Northwest Passage. The expedition sailed from
England on April 1, 1791, reached the American coast
after rounding the Cape of Good Hope and crossing
the Pacific, and returned to England in September,
1795, via Cape Horn and the Atlantic. Vancouver
made a most careful survey of the Northwest Coast,
and his charts incorporate also the information which
he received from the Russians who were met in Cook
Inlet, Prince William Sound, and Yakutat Bay, as
well as that learned from Captain Brown, an English
trader in charge of the Butterworth, Jackatt, and
Prince Le Boo. It was Lieutenant Puget, commanding
the Chatham who explored Yakutat Bay in 1794.
Puget had left Vancouver with the Discovery in
Prince William Sound on June 12, and rejoined him
at Port Althorp in Cross Sound on July 10. While
Puget was in Yakutat Bay, Vancouver sailed from
Prince William Sound on June 20, examined the coast
between Cape Suckling and Yakutat Bay, but without
seeing any natives, although he noted the mouth of
the Kaliakh or Yakataga River. The east point of
"Icy Bay" he named Point Riou. Point Manby he
named for the master of the Chatham, who came out
from Port Mulgrave on July 2 with a letter from
Lieutenant Puget for Vancouver, as the latter was
passing by. Vancouver himself did not enter Yakutat
Bay, but continued down the coast, meeting Captain
61
 Not only do the dates vary in different parts of the report,
but the visitors are said to have come both from the west and
from the east.
52
 Vancouver, 1801; summarized in Bancroft, 1886, pp. 276-
281; Krause, 1956, pp. 24-27; Wagner, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 239-250.
Vancouver's account should be compared to that of Purtov and
Kulikalov, whom Lieutenant Puget met in Yakutat Bay. Their
report to Baranov, summarized on pages 161-166 differs in many
respects from Vancouver's version. This may be due in part to
Lieutenant Puget's difficulties in understanding Purtov, and to
the fact that he did not witness all the doings of the Russians, but
in part because the Russians were anxious to report what would
please their superiors.
154 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Brown in the JackaU near Dry Bay, similarly bound
for Cross Sound. Vancouver applied the name
"Beering's Bay" to Yakutat Bay, convinced that it
was here that Bering had landed. Influenced in part
by what Captain Brown had told him on a previous
meeting about the deceptive appearance of the low
foreshore and irregular conformation of the mountains,
Vancouver found no bay to correspond to that named
"Beering's Bay" by Cook and Dixon, (i.e., Dry Bay),
but he recognized how Cook could have made his
mistake. Vancouver failed to see that here was the
mouth of a great river, the Alsek (Vancouver, 1801,
vol. 5, pp. 356-358, 367-370). Although he was so
fortunate as to keep both Mount Saint Elias and
Mount Fairweather in sight almost all the way to
Cape Spencer (which he named), he passed the
entrance to Lituya Bay, noting only "one small open-
ing" in the coast, but saw no natives or signs of habi-
tation until he came to Cross Sound (ibid., p. 361).
After leaving Prince William Sound on June 12,
the Chatham had skirted the shallow water of the
Copper River delta, Puget noting the sand bars (Egg
Islands) that stretch from Hinchinbrook Island to
Cape Martin. Controller Bay was explored by boat,
Wingham Island named, and the existence of a channel
between "Kaye's Island" and Cape Suckling proved,
despite information from the Spaniards to the con-
trary. Bering River at the head of Controller Bay
was not seen. No natives were met, although many
sea bird nests were found on the cliffs along the western
side of Wingham Island. "It did not appear to be
much the resort of natives; but near the north-east
point of Kaye's island, Mr. Le Mesurier [who led the
boat party] found a village that had been recently
deserted [presumably for the season]" (ibid, p. 381).
Since the Chatham continued down the coast to Yakutat
Bay at a much greater distance from shore than the
Discovery, it is not surprising that no further settlements
were seen.
On the evening of June 26, the Chatham had rounded
Point Manby, and was sailing up the northwestern
shore of Yakutat Bay, when she was hailed by five
"Kodiak Indians" in two baidarkas, with the infor-
mation that there were some Russians in Port Mul-
grave (ibid., p. 382). They also brought letters, dated
June 13, from Shields and four other Englishmen who
were building ships for the Russians at Port Andrews
in Blying Sound (see the modern town of Seward).
Shields offered the facilities of this shipyard to Van-
couver, and the latter regretted having missed him,
since Shields could probably have given valuable in-
formation which the Russian authorities on Kodiak
seemed loath to divulge. It should be noted that
Baranov, who had his headquarters on Kodiak, was
planning the establishment of posts on the mainland
southeast of Prince William Sound and wanted no
foreign competition (Bancroft, 1886, p. 278).
The Chatham continued up Yakutat Bay to Point
Latouche (named by Puget), beyond which lay
"Digges's Sound" (Disenchantment Bay), "closed from
side to side by a firm and compact body of ice, beyond
which at the back of the ice a small inlet appeared to
extend N. 55 E. about a league" (ibid., p. 389). This
"inlet" was probably part of the "river" or lead in the
ice which Malaspina's sailor had seen in Russell Fiord.
From here the Chatham turned back down the east
coast of Yakutat Bay, surveying and naming "Knight's
Island" and "Eleanor's Cove."
While anchored near Point Latouche on June 27,
Lieutenant Puget saw a number of canoes approaching
from the south, "which occasioned some little concern,
as the inhabitants of the bay are reputed to be a
treacherous, unfriendly, and barbarous tribe" (ibid.,
p. 385). This impression must have been given by the
Russians, certainly not by Dixon or Colnett. These
canoes, however, belonged to the party of Koniag and
Cook Inlet natives under the Russian, George
Purtov or Portoff, whom Vancouver's expedition had
met in Cook Inlet earlier that summer. Purtov later
came on board the Chatham and gave the English some
fresh halibut and some interesting information.
Puget understood that this party consisted of 9
Russians and 700 skin canoes, with 1,400 natives from
Kodiak Island and Cook Inlet; not a single Yakutat
native was with the party. The actual number seems
to have been about 12 Russians, counting the two
leaders, and 500 baidarkas manned by about 1000
Koniag, Tanaina, and a few Chugach (Tikhmenev,
1863, vol. 2, Suppl., pp. 60, 83). Purtov gave Puget to
understand that they had followed close along the
coast, and about 8 leagues (14 nautical miles) east of
Cape Suckling had stopped at a small river, "Rica,
malo, unala." A few leagues beyond they came to a
second stream, "Riko bolshe unala," the mouths of
both being blocked by bars. Vancouver recognized these
as streams which he had passed on June 17 (ibid., pp.
347-348). If the Russian estimates of distance are to
be trusted, of which I am skeptical, the first river
would be the Tsiu and Tsivat Rivers which have a
common mouth. East of this, and some 32 nautical
miles from Cape Suckling, is the much larger Kaliakh
River, and beyond that again the Duktoth and Yaka-
taga Rivers, one of which must certainly be the "Riko
bolshe unala," the home of the Qalyix-Kagwantan.
"Here Portoff had met between fifty and sixty of
the native Indians, who treacherously murdered one
of the Russians whilst asleep at a little distance from
the main body; on discovering which a skirmish had
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 155
ensued, in which six of the native Indians were killed,
and their chief taken prisoner. . . ."[Ibid., p. 386.]
From here the Russians had gone on to "another
small rivulet on the eastern side of Icy bay," and so on
to Yakutat Bay about 14 days before the arrival of the
Chatham (ibid., p. 387).
Purtov also reported a dangerous rocky shoal, off
what Lieutenant Puget took to be Vancouver's Point
Riou. This was evidently the same as the disputed
"Pamplona Shoal," sighted by Arteaga's expedition in
1779. This afforded an excellent sea otter hunting
ground, annually visited by the Russians ever since its
discovery some years before when one of their ships
was wrecked upon it. Purtov himself had been there and
proposed to visit it on his return to Kodiak. Vancouver
conjectured that this shoal might have been responsible
for the loss of the Sea Otter, under Captain Tipping
from Bengal, which disappeared after leaving Meares hi
Prince William Sound in the summer of 1786 (ibid., pp.
387, 388). (See p. 99 for a discussion of the controversy
over the existence of this shoal.)
Having finished what exploration was possible at the
head of Yakutat Bay, the Chatham was returning and
was apparently somewhere below Knight Island, pos-
sibly near the northern end of Khantaak Island, when
Purtov and about 50 canoes of his party joined the ship
and gave the information summarized above.
"At this time about fifty canoes of Portoff's party
were about the boat, the Indians [sic] in which carried
on an advantageous commerce in purchasing white
shirts, stockings, cravats, and other parts of the
officers' apparel, (which comforts were readily
parted with) for such things as were deemed curi-
osities, consisting of bows, arrows, darts, spears,
fish-gigs, whale-gut shirts, and specimens of their
very neat and curious needle-work; articles with
which these people, though at so great a distance from
home, were well provided, in expectation of finding
a profitable market before they returned. In all their
dealings they manifested great keenness, and seemed
to know very well what they were about; yet they
dealt with the strictest honesty, and with the most
implicit confidence of being fairly treated. [Ibid.,
pp. 390-391.]
This indicates one way in which the Yakutat natives
might acquire Chugach or Koniag artifacts, for the
natives with Purtov must have been counting on a
native market. Doubtless later baidarka parties from
Prince William Sound were to bring similar goods.
"During this intercourse, two of the native in-
habitants of the bay paid the Chatham a visit; and
after the usual ceremonious song was ended, they
repaired on board without the least hesitation. A
few presents of iron, looking-glasses, and other
trinkets seemed to have the effect of making them
feel perfectly easy and at home; not a moveable
escaped attention, but underwent a most minute
examination. [Ibid., p. 391.]
[Purtov remained on board overnight, while his
natives were sent out to hunt sea otters. The next
morning, June 28, the Chatham attempted to reach
Port Mulgrave via the channel inside Khantaak
Island.] "The number of native visitors now
amounted to ten, who seemed on the most friendly
terms with the Kodiak party; one of the former by
signs and words, used all his eloquence to point out
the impossibility of the vessel's passing through this
narrow passage, and that ultimately she would
return by the same way she was going. . . ." [Ibid.,
p. 392.]
However, Lieutenant Johnstone who was with Lieu-
tenant Puget had already explored this channel (John-
stone Passage) when he was in Yakutat Bay with
Captain Colnett, and although the Chatham did run
aground once, she was eventually successful in reaching
Port Mulgrave. While still waiting for the high tide to
float her, the vessel was again visited by the local
natives who brought some salmon, and "seemed to
exult in the correctness of their information . . ."
(ibid., p. 394).
From Port Mulgrave, a boat was sent to survey the
adjacent islands and mainland shores, including the
head of Monti Bay, about 2 miles southeast of Point
Turner.
"About the same distance within cape Phipps is a
small opening in the low land accessible only for
boats [Ankau Creek], near which was found an
Indian village, that had the appearance of having
been very recently deserted; not one of its former
inhabitants was to be seen, excepting about fifty
dogs that were making a most dreadful howling."
[Ibid., p. 396.]
It is probable that the natives had simply gone to
their usual summer fishing and sealing camps, leaving
their dogs behind in the usual Tlingit way, although
Puget surmised that the Indians had been frightened
away by Purtov's party, into the woods or along
the coast to the east. This conjecture, Puget felt,
was
"supported by the description that Portoff first gave
of these people, as being a treacherous, cruel tribe,
by whom his numerous party were kept in a state
of constant anxiety for their general safety. It also
led to a supposition, that at some earlier period
the Russians had made use of harsh and coercive
measures to bring the inhabitants of this bay to
a friendly intercourse; this, however, had been
positively denied by Portoff, who asserted, that no
156 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
skirmish whatever had hitherto taken place between
these people and their modern Russian visi-
tors. . . ." [Ibid., p. 397.]
However, as we shall see, the Yakutat people had
met the captive chief taken near Cape Yakataga, and
there is no reason to suppose that they sided with
the Russians in their fight with their relatives, the
Qafyix-Kagwantan.
The night of June 27 Purtov and the other Russians
had spent aboard the Chatham, together with this
chief from the Kaliakh River area. The latter, though
a prisoner, had managed to steal a gold watch chain
and some seals from the cabin, and when these were
discovered on him some 2 days later, claimed that
they were given to him. Purtov now returned them to
Lieutenant Puget, who until that time had not been
aware of his loss.
"Portoff embraced this occasion to inform Mr.
Puget, that on the evening of the 28th, whilst he
and his whole party were on one of the small islands
in port Mulgrave, they were surprised by a visit of
about fifty of the natives; and notwithstanding the
superior numbers of his party, he had so little
confidence in the courage of the Kodiak and Cook's
inlet Indians, that he was extremely anxious to be
quit of such dangerous visitors, and had determined
on returning to the Kodiak as soon as the Chatham
should leave the bay."
In the meantime, July 1, he moved his whole party
to Point Turner (ibid., pp. 398-399). This would
indicate that there were no natives on this part of
Khantaak Island.
Purtov himself occupied a tent which also housed the
firearms and ammunition for the party; nearby a native
hut was erected for the other Russians and for the
captive chief and his family. The whole encampment
was planned to resist a surprise attack, with spears,
daggers and other weapons at hand near the shelters
occupied by the natives. These were made by placing
two baidarkas on their sides, about 4 feet apart, and
roofing the space between with skins laid across the
paddles. Here the Koniag were busy skinning the sea
otter they had caught, which they did by pulling the
entire pelt over the body without making any cut in
the back or belly. This method had perhaps been
taught them by the Russians, and Puget notes that it
was not practiced by any of the other natives on the
coast. (At Yakutat today, it is used for small fur-
bearers, like mink, and even for land otter.) The
Koniag ate the sea otter with relish and scrupulously
saved the bones, "with those of all amphibious animals,"
although Puget did not learn why (ibid., p. 401). (The
Yakutat save only the humerus of the sea otter,
however.)
On the morning of July 3, the day after Vancouver
had passed Yakutat Bay, a large party of local natives
arrived on the southern shore of Monti Bay opposite
Point Turner, which "threw the whole Russian en-
campment into a state of confusion, and caused every
preparation to be made for acting on the defensive,"
while the captive chief was sent to the newcomers to
make friendly overtures on behalf of the Russians
(ibid., p. 402).
"Early in the morning of the 4th, a large wooden
canoe, with twelve of these strangers, visited the
Russian encampment, and were welcomed to the
shore by a song from the Kodiak Indians; this com-
pliment being returned in the same way, a conference
took place; in which the native chief exerted his
utmost eloquence to point out the extent of their
territories, and the injustice of the Russians in killing
and taking away their sea otters, without making
them the smallest recompence. After these grievances
had been enumerated with great energetic force, the
chief sent a sea otter skin to Portoff, and on his
accepting this present, a loud shout was given by
both parties: this was followed by a song, which
concluded these introductory ceremonies." [Ibid.,
p. 402.]
Probably acceptance of the gift was interpreted by
the Yakutat as meaning something more than good
will on the part of the Russians. Indeed, they probably
understood it to mean a recognition of Yakutat hunting
rights.
"The visitors now landed, and were conducted to
the encampment, where the friendly reception they
met with, induced the chief to dispatch his canoe,
with such information to the rest of his tribe, that
they soon repaired to point Turner; and after similar
ceremonies of songs and dancing, these likewise
landed, amounting to about fifty, in whose possession
were six excellent muskets, kept in the highest order,
and each had a large iron dagger that hung from his
neck in readiness for immediate service." [Ibid., pp.
402-403.]
Three years before, Malaspina found no guns at
Yakutat. Now we should note that Vancouver's ex-
ploring party under Lieutenant Whidbey in Lynn Canal
was to meet two hundred Chilkat warriors, in one of
whose canoes there were "seven muskets, and some
brass blunderbusses, all in most excellent order." The
chief in that boat was equipped with a speaking
trumpet, powder horn, spy glass, and "a clean bright
brass blunderbuss" (ibid., p. 433). In August 1791, the
French explorer, Captain Marchand, found a few mus-
kets, but without ammunition, in the hands of the
natives at Sitka, and believed that they had come from
the English (Fleurieu, 1801, vol. 1, p. 343). I think it
more likely that these firearms had been obtained from
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 157
American traders, not from the Spanish, British, or
Russians, since the reckless "Boston Men" had ap-
parently neither scruples nor fear of arming the Tlingit,
provided they made their own quick profits. This does
not mean necessarily that the Yakutat themselves had
met these traders; their muskets might have come
through intertribal trade with the Sitka, Hoonah, or
Chilkat.
Poor Purtov became most apprehensive at this dis-
play of Yakutat arms,
"especially as the native Indians took up their abode
in the vicinity of his encampment; and although at
that time it contained nearly nine hundred, whilst
the number of the natives did not amount to more
than seventy persons, amongst whom were some
women and boys, yet he greatly dreaded an attack;
being conscious that the major part of his people
would be unequal to resist the impetuosity of so
daring and desperate an adversary." [Vancouver,
1801, vol. 5, p. 403.]
Lieutenant Puget promised him protection as long
as the Chatham remained in port. Purtov was reassured,
"and for the purpose of preserving the good under-
standing that appeared to have taken place, he
distributed amongst his visitors some large and small
blue beads, with sheet copper, and bracelets made of
that metal. This measure appeared to have its
desired effect, as the chief and his party seemed to be
well pleased, and soon after they all retired from the
encampment, apparently well satisfied with their
reception. The trivial articles given by Portoff, were
the only species of merchandize the Russians had
with them; even these, had been brought in very
small quantities; and it would appear that they were
very inadequate to the purchase of furs from the
tribes or nations, in the more south-eastern parts of
this coast; but a commercial intercourse with the
native inhabitants of North West America to the
eastward from Prince William's sound did not appear
to be an object of the Russian pursuit." [Ibid., p.
404.]
That night the Jackall arrived in Port Mulgrave,
having been separated from the Discovery on the way to
Cross Sound, and forced back by easterly winds.
On the morning of the 5th of July, all the Indians,
whose number had gradually increased to over 100,
left Port Mulgrave, to the relief of the Russians.
"The several chiefs had occasionally visited Mr.
Puget, who made them all presents of such articles as
were by them considered valuable, and were well
accepted. Mr. Puget mentions also, that after an
amicable intercourse had been established between
the two parties, they entertained each other with
songs and dances, according to the different customs
of each particular tribe." [Ibid., p. 405.]
The Qiatham sailed later that day for Cross Sound,
after leaving with Purtov some books for the English
shipbuilder, Shields, and a polite letter to Baranov at
Kodiak. This letter is mentioned by Baranov in his
own report to Shelikhov the following year.
Lieutenant Puget was struck by the suspicious atti-
tude of the Hoonah in contrast to that of the Yakutat
Indians:
"On approaching cape Spencer, a dozen of the
natives in one canoe visited the brig, all of whom
expressed the same want of confidence that had been
exhibited to us [i.e., to Vancouver in Cross Sound,
ibid., pp. 362-363], and not one of them would ven-
ture on board, without a hostage being sent into the
canoe. As this ceremony had not been before observed
by any of our North West American visitors, it was
not at first comprehended, but on the demand being
understood, Mr. Puget ordered one of his people
into the canoe; upon which the chief immediately
repaired on board, and a large supply of halibut was
soon purchased with iron. Whilst this traffic was
going on, and the hostage remained in the canoe,
the chief seemed perfectly satisfied, and reconciled
to his situation; but the instant the man was desired
to come from out of the canoe on board, the chief
returned. This excessive suspicion and distrust,
which had been by no means the general character
of the North West Americans, is not easily to be
accounted for; unless it be supposed, which is too
much to be apprehended, that some of their civilized
visitors had given them cause for adopting this
precaution." [Ibid., p. 408.]
While the Discovery and Chatham were in Port
Althorp they were joined by the Jackall, whose captain
reported that he had left Port Mulgrave on July 6,
the morning after the Chatham had sailed, but that he
had been driven back again by a strong gale. On his
return he found the Russians still at Point Turner.
They told him that the Yakutat Indians had captured
six of the Kokiak natives, and Purtov begged Captain
Brown to help him get them back. Accordingly one of
the Jackall's boats was sent with a fleet of baidarkas
up the bay, where they soon met the Yakutat group.
After much discussion, the latter released five of their
Koniag prisoners in exchange for five of their own men
whom the Russians had captured in retaliation. Purtov
still had 12 men and women whom he retained, until
the sixth Koniag should be restored. Vancouver's ac-
count, however, fails to make clear what was the final
outcome. It seems doubtful that Purtov ever contem-
plated freeing all these captives for one Koniag, since
it was the Russian policy to keep hostages. Captain
Brown stayed only a very short time at Port Mulgrave,
and Purtov with his whole party hastened to leave a
few hours before him (ibid., p. 414).
158 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Captain Vancouver lived long enough after his return
to England to see to the publication of his voyages in
1798. These were soon translated into German (1799),
French (1800), and Russian (1827-38). This ends the
history of the great voyages of discovery to the North-
west Coast in the 18th century. For the Gulf of Alaska
natives and for the Tlingit of southeastern Alaska there
followed the period of Russian advance and occupation,
which, as we shall see, lasted a much shorter time at
Yakutat than at Sitka.
THE RUSSIANS
Shelikhov's "Glory of Russia" and Baranov
(1792-93)
The expedition of Purtov to Yakutat Bay in 1794
can best be understood in the light of Shelikhov's
plan for the expansion of his company, and especially
of extending its operations east of Prince William
Sound, where already the sea otter herds had become
depleted. The private merchants had been forced out
of business, leaving the field to the bigger companies,
between whom competition was bitter. Of these rivals,
the most important were the Lebedev-Lastochkin
Company and that founded by Shelikhov, Golikov,
and other Siberian merchants.53 Agents of the former
were on Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, and
were determined that Shelikhov's men should not go
eastward beyond the Copper River.
Even in 1787, on his return to Irkutsk from Alaska,
Shelikhov was presenting the Russian government
with his plans for a strong company and was soon to
seek an imperial monopoly (Okun, 1951, ch. 2). To
secure the favor of the Tsarina he even begged her
to authorize the building of churches in the colonies,
while Golikov asked for missionaries, although it was
quite clear that neither partner intended to allow
religion or philanthropy to interfere with business
(Bancroft, 1886, pp. 312-313).
Shelikhov was really planning a private fiefdom in
Alaska under the imperial crown, to be maintained by
colonial troops, by "hired" laborers (including convicts,
who could be exploited without trouble since they would
be powerless to break with the Company), and above all
by natives who would be virtual serfs. In addition, it
was planned to purchase slaves, 'kalgi,' from the natives,
these persons "to become the absolute property of the
Company" (Okun, 195], p. 27). Slaves were also to be
given as personal property to the Russians that
5S
 See Bancroft, 1886, pp. 334-344 for a summary of the struggle
between these companies, 1791-94. He reports (p. 335, note 3)
that Shelikhov was a partner of both companies!
Shelikhov hoped to establish as settlers in the Alaskan
colony he envisioned as Slavorossiya or' Glory of Russia'
(ibid., pp. 32-34).
It was this dream which led eventually to the found-
ing of the Russian American Company in July 1799, and
the granting to it by imperial ukase a month later of the
desired monopoly, even though Shelikhov himself had
died in 1795 and his brother-in-law and successor,
Nikolai Rezanov, had to carry forward his plans.
The most important man in Russian America was,
of course, Alexandr Andreievich Baranov, whom
Shelikhov had recruited in 1790. He relieved Delarov
hi July 1791 as manager of the Alaskan posts of the
Shelikhov-Golikov Company and, as we know, retained
this position in the later Russian American Company
until November 1818. The Russian explorations of
Yakutat in 1793, 1794, 1795, and later were under-
taken by him or under his orders. He established there
the ill-fated Russian post, destroyed in 1805, as well as
the post built and lost, retaken and rebuilt at Sitka.
Baranov's first personal contact with the Yakutat
Tlingit occurred in June 1792, while he was exploring
Prince William Sound with a party of 30 Russians in
two baidars and a fleet of 150 baidarkas, manned by
(presumably 300) Koniags. On June 20, he was camped
on Hinchinbrook Island, near what was shortly to become
the site of the post of Nuchek. He had sent almost all
his men across to Montague Island to put up a big
supply of fish because he planned to winter in the sound,
and had with him only 16 Russians, an unspecified
number of Koniags, and some Chugach hostages that
he had taken from the three mam villages. Ismailov hi
the Sv Simeon was anchored in the vicinity.
As Baranov wrote to Shelikhov, July 24, 1793
(Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., pp. 36-37; see also
a letter of 1792 quoted in part by Okun, 1951, pp.
208):
"We saw signs of armed natives in the neighbor-
hood and we heard from some Kolosh that their
intentions were hostile but I did not believe it and
expected no danger from the Chugatz, as we had
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 159
taken from them 20 hostages, which as some released
prisoners told us, were children from distinguished
families.
[That night, however, Baranov's party were
attacked, as they camped under their overturned
baidar, in front of which they had felled two trees
as a kind of fortification.]
". . . i n the dark of the night just before dawn
a multitude of armed people surrounded us and
from all sides began cutting and slashing on the
part of the heathens who jumped over the two
large pine trees we had felled, though 5 men were
on guard, but they came so near during the darkness
of the night that the Kolosh were only seen when
within 10 paces of our tents; we fired at them from
our guns without much success, since they were
covered with three or four thicknesses of wooden
shields, plaited with sinews and wore very thick
rawhide cloaks; on their heads they had helmets
in imitation of foxes or other animals, of wood,
and very thick, which neither our bullets nor grape-
shot could penetrate." [Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2,
Suppl., p. 37.]
[It would appear that the Tlingit had profited by
the display of shooting given by Malaspina's men
in Yakutat Bay the year before.]
"In the darkness they appeared terrible to our
people and their lines and movements were directed
in the greatest order by one man with a commanding
voice; and they marched to one side and then to the
other, trying to break in upon us and the natives
with us, but as one cannon remained to us, we began
to do a little better; three times we fired the cannon
without success, but then they began to give way
and when the heathen saw that neither spears nor
arrows hurt as much and that our volleys of musketry
continued as strong as ever and that the 'Okhotsk
Commander' was there himself, they began to fly
to the bidars and went out to sea, while others
remained in close vicinity to our camp. Two hours
passed by in this manner and we kept up our fire
until broad daylight. Some of our wounded natives
excaped to the ship and informed Ismaiiloff of our
situation and he sent a bidar full of people to our
assistance and these men saw 6 large wooden canoes
with well-armed barbarians.
"[No para.] One of the wounded explained that
these were Kolosh from Yakoutat Bay and Cape
St. Elias and had come to avenge some injury
inflicted upon them by the Chugatz the preceding
year (1791). They had made a sudden attack and
killed quite a number and then had surrounded our
camp, thinking that we were Chugatz people also,
but when they had found out that we were Russians
they had resolved to measure their strength with
ours, especially as they knew that we had many
valuables with us.
"[No para.] We found 12 dead men on the spot,
but their wounded they had carried off, and a trail
of blood, two versts long, led to their bidars. Of
our men they had killed at the very beginning a man
named KotovshikofE, from Barvaoul, and two weeks
later Naspeloff, of Tumensk, died of his wounds;
nine men of the natives were killed and 15 of them
wounded. . . . The barbarians carried off 4 of our
Chugatz hostages; as soon as the attack began they
threw themselves upon the Chugatz, but when they
retired our small number and the continuous rain
did not allow us to follow them and rescue the
prisoners, but from a wounded man who afterwards
died we heard that they had expected a re-inforce-
ment of 10 bidars from Copper river [Eyak] and
intended to destroy the Chugatz and then go to
fight the Kenaitze [Tanaina of Cook Inlet]." [Ibid.,
pp. 37-38.]
This information about Yakutat intentions was ap-
parently obtained from four men who were captured
by the Chugach and were brought to Baranov by one
of his Chugach hostages. Although Bancroft (1886,
p. 327) did not believe this explanation, it seems quite
plausible to me in view of the bitter hatred of the
Chugach felt by the Yakutat Tlingit, the Eyak, and
even the Copper Eiver Atna (cf. Birket-Smith and
de Laguna, 1938, pp. 146-149; de Laguna and Mc-
Clellan, fieldnotes). All of these peoples have traditions
of raids on the Chugach, and the latter also have
similar traditions (Birket-Smith, 1953, pp. 141-142).
Because of this attack, Baranov changed his plans
and returned to Kodiak for the winter. Here he at
once set about shifting his headquarters from Three
Saints Bay to Pavlosk (St. Paul) Harbor farther north
on the island, and established the shipbuilding yard
in Blying Sound, where Shields, who had come from
Okhotsk in the Severnui Orel (Northern Eagle), built
a new vessel, the Fenix (Phoenix), launched August
1794.
By the spring of 1793 this work was so far advanced
that in June 1793, Baranov sent Shields with his
four English sailors to Yakutat Bay in the Orel to
escort a party of 170 baidarkas, under the leadership
of four Russians, Purtov, Prianisbruskov, Voroshilov,
and Galaktianov.54 The object of this expedition was
to find new sea otter breeding grounds. It is not cer-
tain whether the Orel or the baidarka fleet actually
entered Yakutat Bay. They became separated near
64
 Bancroft, 1886, pp. 331, 344-350; Letter of Baranov, July 24,
1793 in Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., pp. 40-44. Tikhmenev,
1963, vol. 1, pp. 40-41, confuses this expedition of 1793 with that
made by Purtov in 1794.
160 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
?s
00
oI1
>t
3
3
$
ffl
.id
? 3 f ?' * ?<? ^
\ ??::.:??
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 161
"Cape St. Elias" [Kayak Island? Cape Suckling? or
the shore near Sitkagi Bluffs?], but Purtov's party-
saw many sea otter near Yakutat Bay and at other
places along the coast, and easily secured 400 skins.
They cruised about for some time, until the weather
became bad, and the native "Kolosh" began to show
a hostile disposition. On their way back, Purtov met
an "English vessel from Boston" under Captain
James, and told the latter that "our stations extended
from Kadiak to Ltua Bay" (Tikmenev, 1863, vol. 2,
Suppl., p. 44). This, of course, was a lie intended to
discourage foreigners from trying to obtain furs in
these regions. Baranov was delighted at Purtov's
discoveries.
Purtov and Kulikalov (1794)
It was to follow up these promising discoveries that
Baranov sent a second expedition in 1794 to "Ledianoff
Bay" (Icy Bay) and Yakutat, where the leader, Purtov,
met Lieutenant Puget in the Chatham. The report made
by Egor Purtov and Demid Kulikalov to Baranov,
August 9, 1794 (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., pp.
60-67), is naturally more detailed than what Lieu-
tenant Puget was able to tell Captain Vancouver of
their dealings, but, as already mentioned, it differs
in certain significant points. While we must remember
that the dates will not coincide because the Russians
were using the Julian calendar, and the English the
modern, or Gregorian, calendar, the Russians also
seem to have been careless about dating events.
The expedition consisted of about 500 baidarkas
with Koniag, Aleut, and Chugach, the Russian hunters
Shvedzov, Repin, and Voroshilov, five men from the
shipbuilding station on Blying Sound, and five more
laborers who were not needed there. The party had
started from Kenai, Cook Inlet, on May 8, and after
recruiting some of the men and procuring guns and
ammunition at Blying Sound, went on to Prince
William Sound, where they fell in with the agents of
the Lebedev Company. The latter had just founded a
post at or near Nuchek on Hinchinbrook Island, and
also claimed to have others at Tatitlik in Prince William
Sound and at the mouth of the Copper River. They
tried to frighten Purtov's party from going farther to
the east.
However, the latter went on "to the first mouth of
the Copper River," and then, on May 24, at "the
second mouth," met two Chugach baidarkas whose
crews assured them that there was not then and had
never been any trading post in that area. They also
reported that a baidar or big skin canoe had come
from the interior with "Mednovtze people" (Atna),
but refused to guide the Russians to where they had
seen the Athabaskans. Although the Russians went
15 versts (about 10 statute miles) up the river, they
failed to see them.
From here the party went to "Kaniak Island"
[Kanak Island, or possibly Wingham Island in Con-
troller Bay?] to fish for halibut and hunt sea otter.
The Russians were unable to make contact with the
timid Eyak, for as they report:
"On the 30th we left Kaniak and went across a
strait to the mainland and after rounding a point
we went to the shore where we saw a cabin but the
people had all fled, leaving all their property behind
of which nothing was taken. A small amount of pro-
visions was taken but in its place beads and corals
were left in the house. Meantime a bidar was sighted
in the distance, traveling along the Kolosh shore; a
few bidarkas with natives were sent out at once
along the shore to meet it, but as soon as they were
noticed they appeared to be frightened and expected
nothing but robbery at our hands and while we
tried to get to speak to them and ask them to come
to our camp they hurried away from the bidarkas
sent out to meet them, made for the beach, pulled
their bidar ashore and fled inland, leaving many
articles in the bidar and on the beach of which
nothing was taken." [Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2,
Suppl., pp. 61-62.]
Although we do not know whether these episodes
occurred in Controller Bay or just east of Cape Suckling,
perhaps at Ugalenka River, the expression "Kolosh
shore" strongly suggests the Qalyix-Kagwantan terri-
tory between Cape Suckling and Cape Yakataga.
Certainly it was here that the first clash occurred with
Eyak-speaking natives, and the report of Purtov and
Kulikalov to Baranov (which we quote) should be
compared with what they gave Lieutenant Puget to
understand had occurred at "Riko bolshe unala"
(see pp. 154-155).
On the 31st the Russians camped at "an Ougalakmute
[Eyak] village," apparently abandoned through fear of
the Russians. Some of the hunters reported hearing
voices in the woods, near a small stream where many
tracks of adults and children could be seen. That
night six Russians and two interpreters went to look
for the fugitives, following a trail across one stream
and coming to another which they could not ford, but
where they saw some huts, apparently also deserted.
"They went down close to the water's edge in the
woods and could smell smoke and when they finally
heard children crying they went straight on through
the woods following the sound and holding their arms
ready they rushed into the place and captured one
chief, his brother and a slave, but when they brought
Ifi2 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
?s
CO
CO
CQ
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 163
the prisoners to our camp, one of our Kadiak inter-
preters, Ignatiz Bacharoff, was suddenly seized by
two men springing from the woods and pierced with
lances, but they could not assist him because he was
across the river, but we took our prisoners to our
camp on the other creek near the sea while the
others escaped. [Ibid., p. 62.]
[This account clearly indicates that it was the
Russians who made the unprovoked attack.]
[No para.] "We told them through our interpreter
that they had nothing to fear from us, took them into
our tents and made presents to the Chief and his
brother and asked them where their tribe was and
finally the Chief consented to call them together in
the camp, sending out his brother to call them in.
On the 3rd of June the Ougalat [Eyak] people came
to camp and were received with presents. Their
families were counted and 7 hostages taken from
them, among them 2 men from Yakoutat Bay. When
all the people went away again the hostages only
remained with us and one Chief voluntarily asked to
go with us to Yakoutat Bay. We left at that village a
paper saying that the inhabitants had become
subjects of the Russian Empire, a copy of which
document is appended to this report. They were
asked if they had not with them as prisoners some
European people, to which they all unaminously
answered that not a single European had ever been
with them." [Ibid.]
Bancroft (1886, p. 346 note 21) indicates that the
Russian government had ordered such inquiries, believ-
ing it possible that some of LaPexouse's men might have
escaped drowning, but be held as slaves. The questions
also suggest concern for possible survivors from the
wreck on "Pamplona Shoal," which in turn reminds us
of the native tradition (p. 233).
These natives seem to have been those who attacked
Baranov's party on Hinchinbrook Island in 1792;
". . . but it was clear that they had then not the
slightest reason for hostility towards us as we were
the first Russians they had seen." They reported that
several of their men had been wounded in this raid,
and that they had killed and wounded several Koniags,
and had captured the four Chugach hostages of the
Russians. They said that the latter had been taken
to Yakutat Bay where they subsequently died. The
natives
"answered unanimously that the Ougaliagmutes had
planned, together with the people of Yakoutat Bay,
an attack upon the Chugatz, but that they were
not guilty of hostile intentions against the Russians.
In the first place they had not known at all that
the Russians were allied with the Chugatz with
whom they lived in almost continual warfare and
they gave hostages to each other whenever they
had any intercourse." [Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2,
Suppl., p. 63.]
Purtov's party stayed at this place until June 5,
when they went to Ledianov Bay, "which is called
Nachik by the inhabitants there." (Is this "Wachik,"
or rather Wase or Yase, initial w and n being some-
times interchanged in Tlingit proper names?) Here
they secured 400 sea otters, and then went on into
Yakutat Bay, where the Eyak chief and a Kodiak
man who could speak Tlingit were sent on ahead to
inform the inhabitants that the Russians were friendly.
In the meantime, the party camped at "one of the
capes of Yakoutat Bay," probably Cape Manby, and
the next day went hunting, but had the misfortune
to lose two Koniags whose baidarka capsized in the
surf (ibid.).
"On the same day [June 12] the Ougaliagmute
Chief returned from the village on Yakoutat Bay
and with him the Yakoutat Chief sent his own son
as hostage and three wands, ornamented with beads
and eagle feathers, together with some sea-otter
skins; according to their custom these wands are
a sign of friendship. Our Kadiak man S'emen
Checheneff remained with them as hostage on our
part." [Ibid.]
Bad weather prevented the Russian party from
crossing to the Yakutat village, but on the evening
of the 13th (according to the Russian calendar; June
26th according to the Gregorian), the Chatham, which
Purtov had already met in Cook Inlet that April,
was seen entering the bay. Kachessov was sent in a
baidarka to speak the ship. He furnished her with
30 fresh halibut, and was "very hospitably received
and treated to whisky" (ibid.)
"After passing the night at that place [Point Man-
by?] we started early in the morning for the Yakoutat
village, and the hostage who showed the route told
us to proceed to an island which was situated directly
opposite the village, where the ship had also an-
chored. [This village or camp may have been on the
north end of Khantaak Island, and the Russian
camp on a small island near by: Kriwoi or Otemeloi,
for the Chatham was anchored in that vicinity on the
night of June 27, Gregorian. Purtov, however, makes
no mention of spending the night aboard ship with
his hostage chief.] But on the 15th the ship hoisted
anchor and proceeded into a cove situated in the in-
terior of the Bay, where it anchored in exactly the
same spot where the ship 'Vassili' [Trekh Sviatiteli
surely?] anchored in the year [1]788." [This would
appear to be Port Mulgrave [ibid., p. 64].]
[Purtov and Kulikalov now give an account of
their reception by the Yakutat natives at the village
on Khantaak Island (?):]
164 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
"When we had reached the village and landed on
the beach the Chief and many of his people emerged
from their huts, dancing and singing and when they
came to our bidarkas they asked us to stop and when
we consented a number of men (about 20) came to-
ward us and lifted up the bidarkas with us sitting in
it, and carried us in their hands to a larger building
which stood near the beach. The Chief then asked us
into the hut and began to treat us to food, consisting
of halibut meat, fresh and dried, spruce-bark pans
with berries preserved in oil, etc. He also presented us
with two sea-otters, in exchange for which we gave
him beads, corals and copper-rings. After remaining
with them a few hours we returned to our camp
taking the Chief and his command with us and after
he had consented to give us some more hostages they
returned again, taking with them the same S'emen
Checheneff as hostage on our part.
"[No para.] On the 16th the Chief was expected at
our camp as he had promised, but when he did not
come Kulikaloff and Akhmuilin were sent to him and
when they reached the village they intended to take
the Chief with them, but he demanded that a Russian
be left in his place. They found themselves compelled
to leave Akhmuilin hi the village as a pledge and then
the Chief with 15 of his best men were taken to our
camp where he was very hospitably received and
presented with beads, corals and copper shields, after
which the negotiations began." [Ibid.]
From the Yakutat chief, the Russians learned that
the chief to whom Ismailov and Bocharov in 1788 had
given the shield with the imperial coat-of-arms had
died, "and on his death the shield had been sold to the
people living on Chilkat Bay [Sitka Sound or Lynn
Canal] and that there the upper part had been acci-
dentally broken off." All of this certainly sounds like
the distribution of coppers at an important funeral pot-
latch. The Yakutat people also admitted that in 1792
they and the Eyak had planned an attack on the
Chugach, and "without the least intention of doing so
had killed one Russian at the beginning of the fight,"
as Baranov had reported. "They acknowledged that
they had offended us and said that they had known we
were allied with the Chugatz, but when they had
gone to camp they had learned that the Russians had
resolved to attack them," (ibid.,), so presumably they
attacked first, a statement which contradicts that pre-
viously made by the Eyak. They admitted that they
had taken the four Chugach child hostages, but when
the Russians asked for then- return, the Yakutat said
that
"these hostages had been sold to tribes living beyond
Chilkat bay and that most of them had died there
subsequently.
"[No Para.] Upon this we assured them that we
desired to live in perpetual friendship with them and
the Chief formally presented us with Yakoutat Bay
and the small islands within it." [Ibid., pp. 64-65.]
Details of the exchange of hostages which followed
are unfortunately omitted from Tikhmenev's publica-
tion of Purtov's letter. It is, of course, impossible to
tell what the Yakutat people were giving the Russians,
although according to their own traditions they offered
nothing more than permission to build a trading post
(see p. 259). Bancroft (1886, p. 347) suggests that the
chief was drunk on Russian liquor when he gave away
the southeastern part of the bay. We can be sure that
they were not giving away all their territorial rights to
the whole bay!
"On the 20th we left the small island and pro-
ceeded with the whole party to the cove where the
English ship was anchored. As we apprehended no
danger from the Yakoutat people by reason of the
many hostages demanded of us we established our
camp directly opposite the ship in the bay.
"[No para.] On the 22nd several bidars came to
our camp and some small canoes with Kolosh living
beyond Grekoff Island [55] at Ltua Bay which is situated
about one day's journey in a bidarka from Yakoutat;
we received them hospitably and presented the Chief
and most prominent men with beads, corals, copper
kettles and rings, both large and small, and with
medals to be worn on the breast. After talking with
them for some time we demanded hostages from
them, to which the Chief consented under condition
that we and the Kadiak people also gave hostages.
Four of the Kadiak men volunteered to remain with
them until exchanged, when a list of tribes was made
out which is hereto appended." [Tikhmenev, 1863,
vol. 2, Suppl., p. 65.] [This and several similar lists
are also omitted.]
"They were asked if they knew of any trading
companies to their shores, Europeans or Russians,
who traded with them or had exchanged hostages,
but they replied that as far as they knew there was
no station of Europeans or Russians anywhere further
down the coast but as we saw with them many guns
and ammunition of lead and powder in considerable
quantities we asked them from whom they had
received the guns and powder when they said that
they had exchanged them for sea-otters from Euro-
peans who came to them every year in ships to
purchase sea-otters. They asked us also for guns and
ammunition, but we refused firmly and they did not
repeat then- demand." [Ibid.]
65
 This is apparently not Cenotaph Island, which is "Yaohoi"
or "Egg Island" on Tebenkov's chart. The Russian text reads
FpekoBckoS, which may be a bay, not an island, and it seems
to be nearer than Lituya Bay.
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 165
It was, of course, a firm policy of the Russians never
to trade firearms to the natives.
The Jackall is reported to have arrived on June 24
(Julian), and the Chatham sailed on June 26, "having
received as a present one female full-grown sea-otter
and one 3-hole bidarka" (ibid.). The third hole in such
a skin-covered canoe was an innovation which the
Russians had induced the Aleut and Pacific Eskimo to
adopt, for the convenience of a Russian passenger.
Purtov and Kulikalov also noted that the English were
very grateful for the fresh provisions with which they
had kept the ship supplied.
"After this the tribes around Yakoutat came with
the proposition that as they had consented to give
us hostages they should receive some of the Kadiak
men from us. Some relatives of the Chief of
Ougashensk and the Chugatz Chief consented to
this and we agreed to wait for an exchange of
hostages from their villages until the 30th, but
when we had received no news from them at that
time Kulikaloff with 4 Russians and several Kadiak
men went to their village to find out their intentions.
When they arrived at the village and landed upon
the beach they began to negotiate and asked for
the hostages according to agreement, when they
were answered that that business could not then
be attended to, as the tribe from Akoy Bay [literally
'Bays of Akoy,' Byxtti Akofr, i.e., the Akwe River-
Dry Bay area], who are related to them, had come to
pay a visit, but when they had gone home again they
would exchange hostages from both sides. Kulikoff
[sic] could not make them change their mind and was
glad to get away in safety from the shore. [Ibid., p.
66.] [Again, details about exchange of hostages are
omitted.]
"On the 1st of July we went to the village on
Yakoutat Bay with the intention of liberating the
interpreter Chicheneff and the other Kadiak men
detained with him. When the commander of the
English vessel [Captain Brown of the Jackall]
learned of our intention he accompanied us with an
armed whaleboat and six sailors in person, and
went with us though we tried to dissuade him from
such a step and had asked for no such assistance.
[The captain is earlier reported to understand "but
very little Russian" (p. 65); yet Brown certainly
thought Purtov asked for his help.] Nevertheless the
whaleboat came along with us and on arriving near
the village we stopped close to the beach and de-
manded the interpreter Nechaeff and the other
Kadiak men detained with him. They only gave
us one of the men, a Chief from Afognak, and said
that the following day they would go home and
promised to bring the other men to our camp. After
this we returned to the party in the bay. [Ibid.]
"[No para.] On the 2nd of June [July] the Akoy
Chief and 8 men came to us in a bidar bringing 3 of
our Kadiak men, having left behind the interpreters
Checheneff and Nechaeff and said that those men
would be brought in another bidar, promising to go
after that bidar himself and send us Nechaeff. The
Chief asked us to await his return, but fearing some
evil design on his part we made him leave behind
two of his relatives and some of his best men, a
daughter of a prominent man and a boy who had
been captured in 3 canoes, numbering 14 persons;
we also kept with us the brother of the Yakoutat
Chief. On the same day the Ougaliagmute and
Kolosh hostages were sent to the English vessel as
a measure of protection against the Yakoutat tribe.
The Chief of the Yakoutat village sent a canoe with
4 men, demanding that his brother be returned, in
place of whom he promised to send his son." [Ibid.,
pp. 66-67.]
[If the action of the Yakutat chief seems callous,
we must remember that his brother belonged to his
own sib and was perhaps his successor, whereas his
son would belong to the opposite moiety.]
"On the morning of the 3rd we awaited the sending
of the promised hostage and the return of Nechaieff,
but as we could learn nothing about them we
resolved to go back to Yakoutat Bay [?] and take
the hostages which the commander of the English
vessel had been kind enough to keep for us." [Ibid.]
The Russians then left Yakutat Bay, where they
had obtained some 515 sea otter skins. On the return
voyage bad weather prevented them from landing on
"the beach opposite to Cape St. Elias." Could this
possibly be the "Pamplona Shoal" that Purtov had
intended to visit? At Nuchek they informed Balushin,
foreman of the Lebedev Company, and Samoilov,
its navigator, that they had been "beyond Yakoutat
Bay," and they gave the latter a list of the villages
visited and of the chiefs from whom hostages had been
taken, and let him make a copy of the agreements
with the Kolosh which had been drawn up by the
interpreters. Unfortunately neither these documents,
nor the lists of presents made "in Ougaliagmute,
Yakoutat and Akoy Bay and to the Kolosh tribes"
are attached to the document published by Tikhmenev
(ibid., p. 67).
Baranov, reporting Purtov's expedition in a letter
of May 20,1795, to Shelikhov and Poveloi (ibid., p. 83),
specifies that from Yakutat, Lituya, and "Akoy"
Bays, some 15 hostages were taken, and 4 "prominent
Kadiak men" were left in then1 place at Yakutat.
These 15 captives are reported to have been baptized
at Kodiak, where the first Russian priests in Alaska
had just arrived (Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. l,p.41;Krause,
1958, p. 29).
166 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
The account of this Russian expedition to Yakutat
has been quoted at length because it so clearly illus-
trates the attitude of the Russians towards the natives,
as well as that of superiors to inferiors within the
Company. All of this indicates the picture of the White
man which the Yakutat were to get from the Russian
colony in their midst, and explains also how the Russians
were to provoke their own destruction.
"Novo Rossiysk" (1795-1801)
The events of the next years, leading to the estab-
lishment of posts at Yakutat and Sitka, are difficult
to reconstruct, for there are incomplete, inconsistent,
and contradictory statements in the summaries given
by Khliebnikov (1861 a, 1861 b), Tikhmenev (1861-63),
and Bancroft (1886), and even the documents quoted
by these historians and by Okun (1951) too often fail
to supply exact information.
We may infer, however, that on August 9, 1794,
Shelikhov wrote Baranov detailed plans for the new
colony to be established on the mainland and named
"Slavorossiya" or "Novo Rossiysk." Baranov had under
him at Kodiak some 149 men, but that same year
received an additional 123, who included artizans and
peasants recruited from among convicts and Siberian
exiles (Okun, 1951, pp. 30, 32-34; Bancroft, 1886, pp.
351-355). Apparently Shelikhov had dispatched two
ships from Okhotsk that year: the Ekaterina, which
arrived promptly, and the Trekh Sviatiteli, which came
in 1795. The latter "after a two [sic] years' voyage
from Kamtchatka, with her cargo of stores and pro-
visions in good order and intact," according to Bancroft
(1886, p. 355), who also states (p. 352) that both ships
had reached Kodiak in August, 1794, "with provisions,
stores, implements, seeds, cattle, and a hundred and
ninety-two persons on board, among whom were fifty-
two craftsmen and agriculturalists, and eighteen clergy-
men and lay servitors in charge of the archimandrite
Ioassaf." The supplies and colonists were intended not
only for the colony to be founded at Yakutat, but, like
the missionaries and artizans, for the many posts
already established on the Aleutians, Kodiak Island,
and Cook Inlet.
The summer of 1795 seems to have been a busy
season for Baranov's men. As the latter wrote to
Shelikhov and Poveloi on May 20, 1795, from Kodiak:
"I now send out Messers Rodionoff and Ostrogin to
Cape St. Elias for the purpose of seizing Kaniak Is-
land, opposite the mouth of Copper River, with a
large bidar and a sufficient number of men, to estab-
lish a station for the winter and perhaps for permanent
use." This was to shut out the Lebedev Company and
other rivals. The 40-foot and 35-foot sailing ships,
Dolphin and Olga, had been launched at Blying Sound
that spring, and Baranov proposed to dispatch Shields
in the Dolphin to explore the coasts between Lituya
Bay and Queen Charlotte Islands (Tikhmenev, 1863,
vol. 2, Suppl, pp. 94, 95). Baranov also wrote of
trying to make bricks, of hoping to procure copper
from the Copper River, and especially about the
prospects for an agricultural station near Cape St.
Elias.
According to Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, pp. 50-51),
Shields was sent south in the Dolphin as planned,
but Khliebnikov (1861 b, p. 41) states that Shields
went in the Orel as far south as Bucareli Bay; but
both agree that Baranov himself sailed in the Olga
to visit Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound, and Yakutat,
before going on to "Chilkat Bay" or Sitka Sound,
where he was to meet Shields. With Baranov in the
Olga was the Archimandrite, full of plans for "an
eccesiastical empire in Russian America," but destined
to be thwarted by Baranov and to drown on his return
from consecration as bishop, when the Phoenix was
lost in the winter of 1799-1800 (Bancroft, 1886, p. 365).
In the meantime, Baranov had sent Polomoshnoi,
appointed as leader of the colonists, directly to Yakutat
Bay. He was to select a site, begin erecting the neces-
sary buildings, and start the experiment of planting
different kinds of grain and vegetables. Ensign Cherto-
vitz was to be in charge of the hunters and of the colon-
ists in case of an attack by the natives. We also gather
from Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, pp. 50-51) that this
party and their supplies were taken to Yakutat Bay
in the Trek Sviatiteli. The group on this ship included
"a part of the missionaries [none of whom stayed at
Yakutat as far as I know], the settlers, and about
30 hunters. The cargo of the vessel consisted of var-
ious materials, stores, and provisions" (ibid., p. 50).
Father Juvenal seems to have been aboard also, but
only to draw up some plans at Yakutat for Baranov.
He returned to Kodiak that fall, and was murdered
by the Tanaina Indians at Lake Iliamna the following
September (Bancroft, 1886, pp. 365-374).
Bancroft (1886, p. 350) also reports that in 1795
Baranov sent Zaikov to Yakutat Bay in command of
a "sea-going vessel," because Purtov in 1794 had
brought back a promise from the Yakutat chief that
many sea otter skins would be waiting for the Russians.
However, the chief did not live up to his promise and
the only furs secured were the 400 taken by the native
hunters with the Russians. Their activities were bit-
terly resented by the Yakutat people. "What the
result may have been is difficult to say, for just then
two Aleuts were seized with small-pox, and panic-
stricken the party hastened away" (Bancroft, 1886,
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 167
p. 350). While I am not aware of any written record
that this disease was communicated to the local natives
at this time, my Yakutat informants reported that a
smallpox epidemic had struck them before the Kussians
came, i.e., before they had established their post.
Baranov had just reached Nuchek on his way down
the coast when he received word that many of the
natives in the Russian service, who had been hunting
at Yakutat, had fled because they were afraid of the
local "Kolosh?a warlike tribe who are always in
possession of an abundance of guns, powder and
equipment, which are furnished to them by the English"
(Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1, p. 52). This is probably the
same flight as that already ascribed by Bancroft to an
outbreak of smallpox. Baranov punished the Kenai
chief who led the retreat by ordering half of his beard
and mustaches cut off. From Nuchek, Baranov went
on himself to Yakutat.
"On his arrival in Yakoutat in August, Baranoff
induced many tribes of savages who were still
hostile to the Russians to enter into friendly rela-
tions with him and hoisted to a pole the flag and
coat of arms of Russia amid firing of guns, beating
of drums and shouting of hurrahs, when according
to his report, all of BaranofPs people formed in line
and went through military evolutions.
"On account of the lack of accommodations and
want of provisions on the vessel, Baranoff left there
30 men and soon reached Chilkat Bay [Sitka Sound],
but found none of his vessels there." [Here, Baranov
took possession of the country, despite the hostility
of the Sitka Tlingit. After a second visit to Cook
Inlet, he returned to Kodiak (Tikhmenev, 1861,
vol. 1, p. 53).]
Although Polomoshnoi had reported unfavorably
about the Yakutat Bay area as a site for a settlment,
Baranov went ahead with the project the following
year (1796). The Trekh Sviatiteli reached Yakutat on
June 25, while Baranov followed in the Olga on July 15.
The Ekaterina also brought some of the exiles for the
colony. Shields in the Orel also visited Yakutat, while
convoying a fleet of 450 baidarkas to Lituya Bay,
where 1,800 sea otter were killed in a very short time.
"The few men left at the place [Yakutat] the previous
autumn were found in good health, but complained of
having been frequently in want of food during the
winter," according to Bancroft (1886, p. 356). Khliebni-
kov (1861 a, pp. 1-2) however writes:
"In 1795 a transport ship with a number of people
was sent off to settle at Yakoutat, but getting short of
fresh water through bad management of the
commander, they returned to Kadiak. In the fol-
lowing year, a fort was built and in its immediate
neighborhood a settlement was established by
agricultural laborers sent out by Highest permission
to inaugurate agriculture and cattle-breeding."
This statement would cast some doubt as to what was
the first winter actually spent at Yakutat. It is more
clear, however, that the fortified post was erected in
1796.
Although delayed by rains until August, Baranov
set about building huts, into which the (married?) settlers
and hunters moved. He also saw to the erection of
barracks for the (unmarried?) men and of storehouses for
goods and provisions. When he sailed at the end of two
months, he instructed Polomoshnoi, who was left in
charge, to continue building according to the original
plans, and to follow the instructions for planting crops,
and for procuring and storing food for the winter. The
little colony, which Baranov called Novo Rossiysk or
Slavorossiya, was composed of some 80 persons, consist-
ing of the settlers and the hunters, together with their
wives and children (Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1, p. 54).
[While Baranov was at Yakutat,] "the principal
Chief of that region appeared before him with a
large number of people with their customary cere-
monies, fully armed and dancing and singing. The
reason for this festivity was the general wish of the
savages to enter into friendly relations with the
Russians. In proof of their sincerity the Chief, to
assure Baranoff, sent his own children and relatives
as hostages. On account of the great age of the
Chief [presumably "Ankau Jun6" of Malaspina], a
relative ["nephew," according to the translation by
Michael Dobrynin, 1940] was chosen in his place,
with the general consent of the savages and upon
his request a diploma signed by Baranoff was given
him as a token of the power bestowed upon him."
[Ibid, pp. 54-55.]
The new chief was evidently the Yaxodaqet of my
informants, and one wonders to what extent his firm
control over hunting in Yakutat Bay was purely
aboriginal or may in part have reflected Russian
notions of authority (see pp. 374-375).
"The Ougalakhmutes which live in the interior from
Yakutat Bay also sent hostages, receiving hi return
written promises that they would not suffer any indig-
nity or ill-treatment at the hands of the Russians"
(ibid., p. 55). These people were probably Eyak-
speakers living on the foreland between Yakutat Bay
and Dry Bay.
The following winter was a hard one for the little
colony. There were disputes between the hunters under
Stepan Larionov and the settlers under Polomoshnoi.
As Baranov wrote to Shelikhov, the settlers were in
open revolt against the commandant, Ivan Grigoryevich
Polomoshnoi, threatening to break up his store and
claiming that they had been cheated by the company
(Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 95; quoted by
Okun, 1951, p. 188). Khliebnikov (1861 a, p. 2, note)
168 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
MAP 25.?Yakutat Bay, 1849. Site of Russian Fort at x. (Tebenkov, 1852, detail of map vii.)
adds that: "The two overseers, stationed at different
localities were in continual quarrel and strife." Polom-
oshnoi, was, however, in charge of the whole establish-
ment, and also aroused such hatred among the natives
that, even after his removal in 1799, good feeling was
never restored. Proper accommodations and provisions
were lacking, and 30 members of the settlement died
of scurvy during the winter of 1796: 13 hunters, 7
settlers, and 10 women and children.
Baranov seems to have gone to Yakutat the next
summer (1797), after news of the colonists' misfortunes
had been brought to Kodiak by Radionov in a skin
boat. On his way to assist the colony, Baranov suc-
ceeded in recruiting practically all the Lebedev men at
Nuchek and also obtained the surrender of the Chugach,
who gave him 100 baidarkas and their crews. Thus,
there was nothing further for him to fear in Prince
William Sound. Meanwhile, Shields again took the
Olga and a baidarka fleet down the coast, reaching
Sitka Sound where they obtained 2,000 skins (Bancroft,
1886, pp. 357-358). In 1799 parties were hunting in
Lituya Bay and at other places along the coast (Tikh-
menev, 1863, voJ. 2, Suppl., p. 139). Most of these
parties were led by two or three Russians, but were
not escorted by sailing vessels, even though they had
to cross the dangerous Gulf of Alaska, which offered
few landing places for their frail craft, and even though
they were also exposed to the anger of the TJingit who
bitterly resented this poaching on their hunting
grounds. "The village at Yakutat, though used as a
resting place, was too far from the parties to be made
a depot for the skins" obtained on these expeditions to
southeastern AJaska. Parties that were too successful
in hunting and that delayed their return until caught
by autumn storms were lost in the Gulf (Khliebnikov,
1861 a, p. 3).
Unfortunately no report to which I have access
details the events at Yakutat during the early years of
the Russian colony. Nor is the Russian post itself
described, except that Davidson (1869, p. 139) writes:
"In 1795 the Russians had a post on the lagoon inside
Cape Phipps, but it has been abandoned, as also one on
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 169
the steep cuff east of the anchorage under Cape Turner."
This last would have been near the present site of the
'Old Village' at Yakutat, perhaps on the hill between
the 'Old Village' and the mission, where there is now
a graveyard. One would have supposed that Ankau
Head, at the south side of the entrance to Ankau Creek,
would have been a better location. When Belcher
(1843, p. 85) visited Yakutat Bay in 1836 he noted
the remains of a blockhouse on a cliff on the east side of
the harbor. As already mentioned, the main colony,
"New Russia" on "Russian Lake" in the Ankau lagoons,
consisted of seven buildings inside a stockade, with
five more outside the walls (Dall and Baker, 1883, p.
207). The natives also mentioned some kind of fortified
position, or lookout post, on an island in the lagoon,
another lookout or "lighthouse keeper" (sic) at Ocean
Cape, and guards at the barrier on Tawal Creek. Cattle
were said to have been kept at "Cows' Bay" near the
main post.
Apparently one of the Company's ships used to make
an annual voyage to Yakutat, bringing supplies and
perhaps replacements for those who had died, and taking
back skins that had been collected. Baranov writes of
sending the German navigator, Padgash to Yakutat in
1798 and 1799, and when the Phoenix was lost (in May,
1801), remarks that it will be hard to send the necessary
annual reinforcements to Yakutat and Sitka. Further-
more, inefficiency, bad feeling between the hunters and
settlers at Yakutat, and general hatred of Polomoshnoi
(which Lieutenant Talin only aggravated on his visits
with the supply vessel), and presumably failure of the
agricultural experiments (which Polomoshnoi thought
never should have been attempted at so unpromising a
locality), made Baranov think of abandoning the whole
Yakutat project (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., pp.
134-141).
It is quite evident that Baranov was less interested
in the Yakutat venture than in his plan to establish
a post at Sitka, in the heart of the Tlingit country,
from which he hoped to exclude the foreign traders
who were obtaining such rich hauls of furs. In the
spring of 1799 he set out, planning to straighten out
affairs at Yakutat before going on to found a new
fort at Sitka. Baranov had with him the Orel, the
brigantine Elizaveta, recently arrived from Ohkotsk,
and the new sloop Konstantine, built in Alaska. The
expedition was accompanied by a fleet of almost 200
baidarkas, and in Prince William Sound was joined
by 150 more under Kuskov.69 Baranov was, however,
soon to encounter trouble.
58 Khliebnikov (1861 b, p. 42) specified that the party consisted
of 550 baidarkas of "Aleuts from Kodiak," the Ekaterina under
Podgat, the Orel and the Olga commanded by Baranov himself.
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 13
On May 2, when passing Cape Suckling. 30 of the
baidarkas with 60 men were lost in a storm. Baranov,
who seems to have been also at that time in a baidarka,
ordered all of the men in the skin boats ashore. How-
ever, here they were surprised by the "Kolosh," who
succeeded in killing or capturing some 26 of the
unfortunate "Aleuts," since there were only two Rus-
sians with Baranov and only a few hunters armed with
guns to defend the group (Bancroft, 1886, pp. 386-388).
This episode was told as the story of "The Mas-
sacre at St. Elias Rock" (Birket-Smith, 1953, pp.
140-141), by a Chugach informant in 1933 who said
that the events had taken place when his grandfather
was alive. He ascribed the massacre to a Yakutat
Indian named Yakegua who came from Chilkat River
in Controller Bay, and whom the Russians later
tortured to death, and to a Chugach named Irquq, who
came from Gravina Bay in Prince William Sound.
Those slam belonged to different Chugach tribes on
Hinchinbrook and Hawkins Island. This would show
that even such traditional enemies as the Tlingit and
the Chugach could unite against the Russians and
their associates.
At Yakutat, Baranov "found nothing but trouble
and disaster in every department," as he wrote to
Larionov at Unalaska on July 24, 1800, after his
return to Kodiak from Sitka (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol.
2, Suppl., p. 140; see also Bancroft, 1886, pp. 394-398,
for quotations from this illuminating letter). The com-
mander of the settlement, Polomoshnoi, asked, or had
asked to be relieved, so Baranov appointed Nikolai
Monkhin in his place. Later that year, the Orel, with
Polomoshnoi, Lieutenant Talin, and all her crew, was
lost near Montague Island. According to Bancroft,
Polomoshnoi had gone to Kodiak to protest conditions
at Yakutat but had been ordered back to his post by
Baranov's representative, and was on his way to Yak-
utat when the Orel was wrecked ("Bancroft, 1886,
p. 391; Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 136).
Baranov was also told that at Yakutat "several
people had been made sick by eating certain herbs, but
that others had been seized with the same symptoms
who had not partaken of the herbs at all. The symptoms
were the same?swelling of the throat and pain in the
chest and in a few days twenty persons had been at-
tacked and fifteen died" (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2,
Suppl., p. 143). Nor was this the only loss from poisonous
food (although the Yakutat deaths would seem to have
been due to some other infection) for, of the large party
of "Aleut" (or Koniag?) hunters sent back from Sitka
later that summer, about 100 died at Poison Cove in
Peril Strait from eating poisonous mussels, and Baranov
was afraid that the survivors would be attacked by the
"Kolosh" on their way from Yakutat to Prince William
Sound.
170 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Also in this same letter, Baranov complained that
the Tlingit were being supplied with quantities of fire-
arms and ammunition, particularly by American
traders who had been sending from six to eight ships
to the Northwest Coast for the last 2 or 3 years. These
Boston men not only gave the natives far more for then-
furs than the Russians could afford, but furnished the
Tlingit with pistols, muskets, four-pound cannon, and a
few weapons of even heavier caliber. It was natural that
with such arms the Sitka Tlingit soon became bold.
Even during the winter of 1799-1800 their initially
friendly attitude towards the Russians underwent a
marked change, and an armed clash at the newly
established Fort St. Michael (at what is now called
"Old Sitka") was narrowly averted by Baranov.
Presumably some of these arms also found their way
to Yakutat, where the same hatred of the Russians and
of their imported hunters was growing. The leaders of
these posts, however, continued to ignore the signs and
rumors of impending trouble even though Baranov
seems to have been more concerned, to judge from a
letter written on March 22, 1801, to Larionov, in which
he tells of difficulties with the Koniag chiefs and ex-
presses his fears that this disaffection would spread to
Yakutat and Sitka.
Revolt of the Tlingit: Sitka (1802-04)
The Russian fort at Sitka was destroyed in June,
1802.67 The successful attack was made when the
Russians were divided: a party of Aleuts in 90 baidarkas
under Urbanov had gone south to hunt sea otters;
other groups were out hunting and fishing or attending
to other duties, leaving most of the women and children
and only 15 men at the barracks, under Vassili Med-
vednikov. Through Tlingit women who had been
living with the Russians, the Indians seem to have
learned all about the routine of the garrison and of
the means of defense. The careful planning and strategy
of the attack were similar to those successfully em-
ployed at Yakutat 3 years later, where also the natives
took advantage of Russian carelessness, slack discipline,
and poor morale.
At Sitka the Indians are said to have been assisted
by some American or English seamen who had deserted
their ship or been marooned at Sitka in 1799; three
had joined the Russians, while the others remained
with the Indians. It is also claimed that the natives
? Khliebnikov, 1861 b, pp. 45-54; Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1,
pp. 88-92; Bancroft, 1886, pp. 401-413.
had been further incited by British traders who hoped
to profit from the elimination of their Russian competi-
tors. Whether or not these charges are completely
true, it is agreed that the English captain, Barber, and
two American or British captains who came into port
just after the fort had fallen, rescued the survivors who
had escaped into the woods or had been enslaved by
the Tlingit. Captain Barber took them (3 Russians,
5 Aleuts, 18 women, and 6 children) to Kodiak, but
released them to Baranov only after obtaining a large
ransom in furs.
Of more concern to us than the question of Anglo-
American opportunism or complicity in the destruction
of Sitka is the assertion that the attack was only part
of a concerted plan involving most of the Tlingit tribes
from southernmost Alaska to Yakutat. It is hard for
us to learn the degree of cooperation implied, since the
Russians who reported this plot were ignorant of Tlingit
social organization. The groups forming the alliance
would have been sibs, not whole tribes (local commu-
nities), as the Russians supposed. Furthermore, it is
clear that some groups (sibs, lineages, or houses) were
not involved. It is also hard for us to judge to what
extent the inconclusive attack on Kuskov at Dry Bay
(May 22-25), the successful assaults on Sitka (June 18
or 19) and on Urbanov in Frederick Sound (June 20-21),
and the contemplated attack on the Yakutat post (late
June) were actually all planned in advance, or to what
extent news of earlier ventures precipitated later
attempts by natives who were eager to seize any
opportunity.
Khliebnikov reports the Indian plan as follows:
"Subsequently [after the attacks] Mr. Kuskoff
accidentally learned from some Yakoutat Koloshi
who were favorably disposed toward him that this
plan was communicated with the greatest secrecy,
through special agents sent from place to place. In
pursuance of these communications the principal
chiefs from the Charlotte Islands [i.e., Haida !],
Stakhine [Stikine or Wrangell Tlingit], Kouieff
[Kuiu], and Kake came to Khutznoff [Angoon] and
perfected a plan by which they proposed to destroy
all Russians and Aleuts and provided the co-
operation of the Sitka Koloshi could be secured, but
if they should not consent to this, to destroy them
also without exception. The Chief of a village on one
of the islands of Prince of Wales Archipelago, near
Port Buccareli, by the name of Kaniagit [probably a
Henya man, sib not identified] undertook to furnish as
much powder as was necessary, guns and even can-
nons with grape and canister. The plan was com-
municated to the Sitka, Chilkhat and Yakoutat
Koloshi, with the proposition of attacking the var-
ious establishments at one and the same time. In
the north they were to attack the party coming from
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 171
Kodiak [under Kuskov] and then return to the fort
at Yakoutat and submit that place to the same
fate . . . only the stubborn resistance of Kuskoff
[see pp. 172-173] prevented the execution of this
plan, but the settlement at Sitka and Urbanoff's
party were destroyed nearly at the same time."
[Khliebnikov, 1861 b, pp. 53-54.]
"The Toyon Kaniagit, in undertaking to furnish
powder, guns and cannons, assured the other Koloshi
that the foreigners would give them all they required
if only the Russians and Aleuts were exterminated
everywhere in their country." [Ibid., p. 54.]
Kuksov himself wrote to Baranov on July 1, 1802,
from Yakutat, apparently just after the proposed
attack on that post had been abandoned. His letter
is worth quoting because it indicates the close con-
nections maintained by the Yakutat Tlingit with all
of the southern tribes, and also because our Yakutat
informants did not talk about this earlier attempt to
to drive out the Russians. As Kuskov explained:
"Two relatives of the Yakoutat Elder [chief]
KhaksMaknu [XaKCKHKHy, unidentified], who
have their residence in Akoisk village [Gusex on
the Akwe?], were last winter at Kaknaoutsk village
[KaKHayirK, Kainuwu, Grouse Fort on Icy
Strait] and from there went together with Pavel
and others, in a bidar, to Tuikin [TBIKHHC, Dekina,
'people far out (to sea),' Henya Tlingit or Kaigani
Haida of Dall Island] to have some games [attend a
potlatch 7], and on the return journey from Tuikin
they went to the Kouyuk village [a Kuiu village,
perhaps on Tebenkov Bay, Kuiu Island], and from
there to Khutznoff [Angoon, Admiralty Island],
where the people had come together in bidars from
several villages of the large island called Tuikin
[Dall Island], which is situated near Beaver Bay,68
in the direction of the Charlotte Islands; and when
the chief called Kaniagit, from Kustasten69 and
the chiefs of other neighboring villages of Kouyutsk
[Kuiu], Tuikinsk [Henya or Kaigani], and Kheksk
[Kake], a tribe adjoining the Tuikinsk, called the
Chouchkan [^ KrataHJb, CAxa'n, Shakan on
Kosciusko Island, a Henya village60], and many
other neighbors of the Khutznoffs [Angoon], besides
the chiefs of Kaknautzk [Grouse Fort] and Chilkhat
village, held a council for the destruction of our
fort at Novo-Arkhangelsk [Sitka] and our principal
58
 Bo6osofl EyxTH, i.e., "Sea Otter Bay." Probably MeareB'
"Sea Otter Harbour," which is either Meares Passage, north
of Dall Island, or Sea Otter Harbor on Dall Island, both of
which are in Henya territory.
"This sounds like the Sitka village KAstaxS'xda-an, settled by
KlksAdi from the south (Swanton, 1908, p. 409, note); but
Kaniagit was almost certainly a Henya man.
? Swanton, 1908, p. 397.
hunting parties on the American Coast and after
long discussions it was agreed that at a certain date
the coming Spring they should all assemble at the
Khutznoff village and from there proceed to our
fort and after joining the Sitka party make an attack
upon the fort, but if the inhabitants of Sitka refused
to participate in the attack they were to be destroyed
also, but if they could not destroy the parties at
once on account of their strength they were to watch
their chance on the return journey of the party
from Sitka, either at Destruction Bay [Poison Cove,
Peril Strait] or some other convenient place, sur-
round them, fall upon them from all sides and
destroy them.
"[No para.] When every detail of the attack had
been settled some of the chiefs went to Ledianoff
Sound [Cross Sound] and the above-mentioned
Chief from Tuikinsk [Dall Island] furnished a large
quantity of powder and lead and other equipments
and gave a few cannons to each of the Chiefs. These
cannons which had been brought to Khutznoff
[Angoon] and all the other guns and ammunitions
he had received from the English or Republicans
who have settled among them on Tuikin Island
and built a fort, from where they send out vessels
to trade along the coast, and an American vessel
which wintered near the Khutznoff village told the
inhabitants that they would not visit them with
their ships any more as they did not have sea-
otters enough to trade and said plainly that if they
did not destroy our Fort Novo-Arkhangelsk at
Sitka the Kolosh would deprive themselves of great
advantages.
"[No para.] There is a report also, but we cannot
say whether it is true, that at Chilkhat and other
places three Americans purchased sea-otter skins
with black-faced men [slaves]; but whether from
the coasts of Africa or from the Svinikh Islands
[Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands] those people could
not know.
"[No para.] At the end of their villanous nego-
tiations for the destruction of our fort and parties
the Tuikinsk Toyoun and other conspirators made
presents of powder and other ammunition to the
Akoisk Chiefs Chesnuikh and Ossip [Djisniya, a
Tl'uknaxAdi name ascribed to the builder of Frog
House at Gusex; Ocnpa is possibly 'AWCA', a
Yakutat Teqwedi name] and let them know that
our fort at Novo-Arkhangelsk would be destroyed
[and] advising them to do the same with the settle-
ment at Yakoutat." [Tikmenev, 1863, vol. II,
Suppl., pp. 180-182.]
Khliebnikov (1861 b, p. 53) is astonished that so
many tribes, numbering "over 50,000 souls[!]," who
often warred among themselves, could have kept
172 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
secret such a conspiracy. He also (p. 54) points out that
not all the Tlingit cooperated in this scheme. Thus
Medvednikov had heard rumors that the Tlingit
wanted revenge "for some of their countrymen who had
been killed the year before by the Aleuts" (ibid., p. 45),
and this information must have come from friendly
sources. Kuskov when at Yakutat in April had also re-
ceived some warnings of the plot which, like Medved-
nikov, he ignored until too late. Even after the destruc-
tion of Sitka, Kuskov and his "Aleuts" were advised and
warned by friendly natives, some of whom were evident-
ly Hoonah. What is also astonishing is that the initiative
for the attack upon the Russians seems to have come
from the southernmost Tlingit, who had suffered only
from poaching on their hunting grounds, not from op-
pression. This account conflicts with the local tradition
at Sitka and Angoon that the attack on the Russians
was undertaken by the Sitka KiksAdi. Perhaps the
Dekina chief, Kaniagit, was a KiksAdi man, for this sib
traces its origins to the south (Swanton, 1908, pp.
408-410).
The chiefs who actually led the attack at Sitka were
"Ska-oushle-oot" or "Mikhailoff," "Katleyan" (Ka-
ttyan) whom the Russians had made "head chief," and
the latter's young relative. Some 60 or more canoes are
reported to have come to Sitka to participate in the
fight. There was also a similar gathering at Yakutat.
While victory over the Russians at Sitka is generally
ascribed to the KiksAdi, and Katlyan is the name of the
leading chief of that sib in 1802,1880, and 1904 (Beards-
lee, 1882, p. 45; Swanton, 1909, p. 1), it should be noted
that this Raven sib has been, at least since 1904, deadly
rivals of the Tl'trknaxAdi, a Raven sib of Yakutat,
Sitka, and Hoonah. A chief of the latter, as we have seen
from Kuskov's report, was involved in the part of the
plan directed against Yakutat. I cannot identify "Ska-
oushle-oot."
We do not know what sibs attacked Urbanov on
June 20-21. The latter, with a party of "Aleuts" in
90 baidarkas, had gone from Sitka to "Sea Otter Bay"
on or near Dall Island, where they had killed some
1,300 sea otter without opposition from the natives.
They were on their way back towards Sitka when they
were attacked in "Kenoffsky Sound" (Frederick Sound,
probably near its juntion with Chatham Strait).
Krause (1956, p. 31) identifies the locality as "Kek"
or "Kake Strait" (probably Keku Strait, between Kuiu
and Kupreanof Island) and the attackers as Kake or
Kuiu. Urbanov and about 13 "Aleuts" managed to
escape, cautiously made their way to Sitka, where they
saw the still smoking rums, and finally reached Yakutat
on August 3, where they reported the tragedy. A few
days later 15 more "Aleuts" from the party arrived,
thus bringing to 42 the total number of survivors from
the Sitka settlement, where more than 200 had been
killed, including the commander of the fort.
While the Russians and their native hunters were
being massacred in southeastern Alaska, there was
trouble at Yakutat.
Ivan Alexandrovich Kuskov, Baranov's most trusted
assistant, had been sent from Kodiak to Yakutat with
a fleet of over 450 baidarkas. Here,
"he received some dark hints of the Koloshi's inten-
tions to destroy all Russians and Aleuts, but seeing
the friendly disposition of those at Yakoutat, he
believed these rumors to be false.
"About 60 bidarkas which had gone from Yakoutat
to a place called Akoi [Akwe River] found there a
large number of Koloshi who, to defy Kuskoff,
purposely picked quarrels with some of the Aleuts
and beat them. Mr. Kuskoff tried all means of pacifi-
cation, but they remained inflexible." [Khliebnikov,
1861 b, p. 51.]
According to Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, p. 90), the
Russian party had stopped at a village near Yakutat
to dry furs which had been soaked when their baidarkas
overturned. Tikhmeney is, however, in error in report-
ing that the natives became aggressive because they
had learned of the destruction of the Sitka fort. Kuskov
was at Akwe River in May, while Sitka was not attacked
until a month laterl The Yakutat, or rather the Akwe
River chiefs, complained to Kuskov that his hunters
had not only taken their furs but had robbed graves,
and so they could no longer be friendly with him and
his people, and they refused to listen to his denials.
"On the 22d of May the Koloshi, armed with guns
and spears tried to surround his camp in the day-
time, but Kuskoff, with vigilent circumspection, had
taken measures for defence. While matters were in
this condition he once more endeavored to pacify
them, but instead of an answer the Koloshi rushed
to within a short distance of the camp and fired off
all their guns while some hurled their spears. Kuskoff
staunchly repulsed their attack and they went flying
back to the woods. The Aleuts followed up the
fugitives, but when approaching the woods they
were met by a heavy fire and returned to the camp
with the loss of 1 killed and 4 wounded. The Koloshi,
on their retreat, left 10 killed behind and must have
had many wounded.
"Kuskoff, finding it impossible to remain in that
position, resolved to move to the other side of the
bay [east side of Dry Bay] and there fortify himself.
He had hardly expressed his intention when the
Aleuts threw themselves into their baidarkas in dis-
order, while the Koloshi directed a strong fire upon
them, but fortunately nobody was wounded. Arrived
on the other side Kuskoff quickly made them roll
logs together, to cover themselves from the volleys
which continued without intermittance but did no
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 173
injury whatever. On the 25th the Koloshi sent inter-
mediators and proposed to exchange hostages.
Kuskoff was compelled by his critical position to
accept the proposal and gave them 2 Aleuts, taking
from them 2 chiefs of distinguished families. He had
only 250 cartridges left and this circumstance in-
duced him to return to Yakoutat." [Khliebnikov,
1861 b, pp. 51-52.]
Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, p. 91) would have it that
the "savages had to sue for peace," and returned half
of the plunder which they had taken from the party,
promising the rest when Kuskov returned.
The latter hastened back to Yakutat, not only to
procure ammunition and provisions, but to help in the
defense of the settlement which he feared would be
attacked. Here he found many natives gathered from
places from which visitors seldom came. Although they
assured the Russians that they had come only to trade,
the latter prepared against a sudden attack. From these
natives Kuskov also learned that they planned a war
on the tribes near Sitka. Fearing disastrous conse-
quences to the Russian post, Kuskov determined to go
at once to Fort St. Michael (ibid.).
Having obtained more ammunition and three addi-
tional Russians at Yakutat, Kuskov set off on June 3.
"On the 15th he reached the mouth of Ledianoff
Sound [Cross Sound]. There a friendly old man warned
him to be on his guard since at no great distance the
Koloshi had collected and awaited the party, many
having come to Sitka from various localities."
[Khliebnikov, 1861 b, p. 52.]
Kuskov sent on 17 of his best men in six three-hole
baidarkas to learn what had happened at Sitka,
cautioning them to hide in the day and travel only
at night. He moved his party down to "the Bay of
Islands" or Salisbury Sound. While waiting for the
return of his scouts, the "Aleuts" with him were
thrown into a panic by the sight of a large meteor,
"like a red-hot bomb," which they interpreted as a
"foretoken of disaster" (ibid.).
"On the 20th [of June] five of the bidarkas re-
turned with the sad news that the people had been
killed and the fort reduced to ashes, and that they
themselves had hardly escaped from the hands of
the barbarians with the loss of one bidarka which
had been captured by the Koloshi! They informed
him also that on their trip they had fallen in with
a Kolosh who had advised them to travel to the
fort only at night and very cautiously, as all the
Koloshi were assembling there. [Ibid., pp. 52-53.]
Kuskov at once hastened back to Yakutat.
"Kuskoff was in doubt whether this fort was yet
in existence and therefore traveled at night, very
cautiously, but when he ascertained that it was
still safe, he joyfully stepped ashore. Here he learned
that the fort had been saved only on the very last
day since the assembled Koloshi had proposed to
attack it in the following night. The arrival of the
party prevented this and the Koloshi which had
come from distant localities gradually returned, but
from those at Yakoutat Kuskoff took hostages and
removed them to Kadiak." [Ibid. p. 53.]
Tikhmenev (1861, vol I, pp. 91-92) reports that
the settlers at Yakutat were so demoralized by news
of the disaster at Sitka that they wanted to flee. All
the Tlingit at Yakutat unanimously agreed that the
conspiracy for the destruction of Sitka had been
fomenting for some time, that Medvednikov had re-
ceived repeated warnings, and that many captains of
foreign vessels had encouraged the natives to drive
out the Russians.
The following year, 1803, Kuskov was again sent to
Yakutat by Baranov, to make sure that the settlement
was secure against attack, and also to see to the building
there of two sloops, Ermak and Rostislav. in prepara-
tion for the retaking of Sitka which Baranov planned
for the next year.
In June 1804, therefore, Baranov himself was at
Yakutat on his way to Sitka. Here he met with im-
portant natives from Cross Sound (i.e., Hoonah), and
from those who lived near the villages of "Khutznoff
and Chilkhat Bays" (i.e., on Chatham Strait and Lynn
Canal), and secured the son of the principal chief as
hostage. He forgave them their hostile acts of 1802,
including the attack on Kuskov's party. To celebrate
the new accord, the hulk of the Olga, which had been
cannibalized to provide metal and rigging for the two
new sloops, was burned and salvos fired. (Tikhmenev,
1861, vol. I, p. 106.) It is not clear, however, that the
Hoonah (or others) who agreed to this new treaty
of peace had been involved in any of the prior attacks.
From Yakutat, where he left some additional settlers,
Baranov went on to southeastern Alaska, going as
far south as "Beaver Bay" to hunt, and returned to
Sitka in September where he was joined by several
vessels, including the frigate Neva. With these forces,
the Russians compelled the surrender of the Tlingit,
who fled from their fortified village. A new Russian
post, Novo-Arkhangelsk, was erected on a hill above
the deserted village site.81
Revolt of the Tlingit: Yakutat (1805-06)
Russian fortunes now seemed restored. In reviewing
the posts of the Russian American Company in 1803
61
 See Bancroft, 1886, pp. 426-432, 441 note 38, for an account
of this action and a discussion of the historical sources.
174 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
[sic, 1804], Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, p. 125) lists 9 on
Kodiak, Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, and
adds: "Besides these fortifications there was one near
Cape St. Elias, two on Yakoutat Bay and finally
Novo-Arkhangelsk on Sitka [Baranof] Island. All these
forts were generally armed with copper pivot guns of
3-pound caliber (iron guns were very rare)."
Nevertheless, new misfortunes were to come. In
August, 1805, the fort and settlement at Yakutat were
totally distroyed, and soon after a baidarka fleet of
300 natives was lost in a storm in the Gulf of Alaska.
The successful attack on the Yakutat settlement had
been carefully planned. As Repin wrote from Nuchek to
Baranov:
"On the morning of the 26th of August a three-
hole Aleut bidarka arrived from Yakoutat and
brought the sad news that our enemies the natives
and a part of the inhabitants of Yakoutat had
attacked and destroyed the Russians and their
commander, the late Stepan Fedorovitch Larionoff,
and only one of the Russian children was spared,
and as the Aleut was afraid to bring the sad news to
you he came to me. I questioned him more than once
with regard to these news, whether they were true.
He said they were perfectly true. Some Chugatz from
the Kanikhliutsk village [Kiniklik (kanixluq) on the
north shore of Prince William Sound], who had fled
from Sitka the year before, were stopping at
Yakoutat, and 6 more Chugatz were there accident-
ally, together with 4 Kadiak men. When the enemies
made their attack there were no Chugatz men in the
houses, as the late Larionoff had sent them out after
berries,62 and when they returned to the house they
found nobody alive and only saw dead men lying
all over the fort. At that sight they did not wait for
their companions, but got into the bidarka and
paddled into the bay, when they were fired upon
with guns three times, but nobody was killed. They
came from Yakoutat [to Nuchek] in five days and
nights and the murder must have taken place on the
20 th. I questioned them if they had heard anything
of the post of Novo-Arkhangelsk, further down the
coast. They told me that they had only heard from
the Akoisk people [Akwe River and Dry Bay] that
there was not a single bidarka there and that they
had heard nothing of the Russians. This summer no
vessel has been at Yakoutat. I also heard that all the
people needed for the defence of the fort had been
working." [Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., p. 195.]
The commander of the Russian post at Yakutat is
remembered by the natives today as "Stanislas"
or "Shawnista." Possibly he was not Larianov, but
the leader of the hunters at the fort.
!
 Compare with the native account, p. 243.
Rezanov wrote in secret on February 15, 1806:
"The 'Juno' brought us very bad news from
Kadiak: At Three Saints Bay they heard from
Pavloffsky harbor that the Kolosh had butchered
all the Russians at Yakoutat, numbering some 40
persons, counting in women and children, and
captured our fort, in which they found two 3-lb.
brass guns, two iron 1-lb. guns and one J^-lb. iron
gun, with a supply of ammunition and five pounds
of powder, and that with those arms they were
already threatening the Gulfs of Chugatz and Kenai
[Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet]. As soon as
Agent Banner [deputy commander at St. Paul
Harbor, Kodiak] had received this news in a bidarka
he immediately sent word to all the settlements on
the island of Kadiak to be on their guard, but to
Chugatz he sent a bidar with ten men. Banner did
all he could, but what does such a reinforcement
amount to, which may only increase the number
of victims?" [Ibid., p. 222.]
The fate of the captured guns will be traced in dis-
cussing the native traditions. The attack on the Rus-
sian post at Nuchek, which Rezanov feared, was
defeated largely by the Chugach themselves (see below).
In a letter dated June 17, 1806, Rezanov adds that
by the Alexander, which had arrived in Sitka, April 26,
they had learned:
"Yakoutat was captured by the savages in October
[sic], the fort burned, the people all knocked on the
head except 8 men, 2 women and 3 boys who were
absent from the fort, and made their escape after
hiding in the bay and are now prisoners of the
Ougalakhmutes [Eyak-speakers], who demanded a
ransom for them which has been sent from Kadiak.
The crime was accomplished by their own native
servants whom they had bought of the Kolosh
living at Akoi." [Ibid., p. 278.]
Possibly some of the Eyak-speaking people living
east of Yakutat had been enslaved by the Tlingit of
Akwe River and Dry Bay, and sold by them to the
Russians. However, I am informed by Dr. Michael E.
Krauss (letter of December 27, 1966), that this passage
has been very loosely translated. The last sentence
would more correctly indicate, not that the natives or
servants had been purchased from the Akwe Tlingit,
but had been bribed by them to attack the Russians.
According to native tradition, the success of the
attack was dependent upon the leadership of Tanui,
a TlaxayiK-Teqwedi man (from Situk?), who was
working for the Russians, LucwAq who was also a
L'u&edi man (another name for the same group), and
DuxdA.nekw, a Kwackqwan man, evidently the brother-
in-law of Tanu?. There is no indication that these
were not free men.
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 175
Bancroft (1886, p. 451) indicates that of the Yakutat
colony only the wife and children of the Russian com-
mander, and a number of Aleuts, escaped the massacre.
A few days or weeks after the destruction of Novo
Rossiysk, and long before the news had reached Sitka,
Demianenkov with a baidarka fleet was sent from
Novo-Arkhangelsk to Kodiak. He had not gone very
far, however, when he heard rumors that the Yakutat
post had been destroyed and that the Tlingit were
planning to attack his party. Demianenkov and his
men then began to travel only at night, hiding in the
woods by day, and when about 40 miles away, planned
their trip to reach Yakutat at midnight. Here the tired
men found the reports were true. "Of all the buildings,
not one log was left standing upon another. Ashes,
the remains of destroyed implements and of other
property, covered the whole village site" (ibid., p. 455).
Most of the Aleuts were too frightened to land, even
though they were exhausted, but tried to push on at
once to Kayak Island. Only the occupants of 30
baidarkas, who were so tired that they prefered to risk
the Tlingit on shore in order to sleep, were saved.
They eventually reached Kodiak, but all those at sea
were lost in a storm, and the next morning "the shore
was lined with corpses and the shattered remnants of
bidarkas" (ibid., p. 456). In the same(?) storm, the
Russians also lost the Elizaveta that had been sent to
Kodiak to get provisions for Sitka, and also sis large
skin boats with a cargo of furs.
That fall or winter, encouraged by their victory at
home, the Yakutat natives "determined to attack the
Russian settlements lying farther to the north."
Bancroft's account, which we quote (ibid., pp. 451-
452), is based upon Khliebnikov's biography of Bara-
nov. Native traditions of both the Yakutat and the
Chugach would indicate that the Yakutat were chiefly
motivated by a desire to even old scores with their
traditional native enemies, the Chugach.
"Embarking in eight large war-canoes, they pro-
ceeded to the mouth of the Copper River, where,
leaving six of their vessels, they despatched the
other two to the Konstantinovski Redoubt, on
Nuchek Island [Nuchek, on Hinchinbrook Island].
Their chief, Fedor, a godson of Baranof, and a man
well known to the promyshleniki, appeared boldly
before Ouvarof, the commander of the station,
declaring that he wished to trade with the Chu-
gatsches. Ouvarof gave him permission, and wit-
nessed the usual preliminary dances and festivity.
On one of the canoes kept in reserve there was,
however, a captive Chugatsch, who succeeded in
escaping, and informed Ouvarof of the real object
of the Kolosh. Thereupon the Russian commander
seized the chief, and told him that his plan had
been revealed. In the mean time the native allies,
hearing of the matter, had taken the remainder of
the Kolosh to their village [Tauxtvik, on Hawkins
Island] under pretence of inviting them to a feast,
and had there massacred almost the entire party.
Among the few that escaped was Fedor, who carried
to the party at Copper River the news of their
comrades' fate. Fearing that the Chugatsches would
soon be upon them, the panic-stricken Kolosh at
once put out to sea, and while attempting to cross
the bar in the teeth of a gale, the bidarkas [sic,
dugouts?] were dashed to pieces and their inmates
drowned."
Apparently 200 Indians died, including the 70 who
were killed by the Chugach. The Chugach version of
this incident was told us in 1933 by old Chief Makari,
a grandson of the chief's young daughter who had sat
with her back to the bathroom door so that the Yakutat
Indians inside could not escape while the Chugach
speared them through the window (Birket-Smith, 1953,
"The Slaughter of the Yakutat at Taukhtyuik,"
pp. 141-142; de Laguna, 1956, pp. 18-19).
Although the disaster at Yakutat had been reported
by Repin, agent at the Redoubt St. Konstantine
(Nuchek), in a letter dated September 24, 1805,
Baranov evidently did not receive the news until the
following February, when the Juno came from Kodiak
to Sitka; further details were supplied by the Alexander
in April. Meanwhile, the winter of 1805-06 had been a
terrible one, with men dying of scurvy at Kodiak and
Sitka, while the Sitka and Angoon Tlingit gathered
over 1,000 armed men for an assault on the weakened
garrison of Novo-Arkhangelsk. Rezanov, who had gone
to California early in the spring to secure food for the
Sitka post, came back in time to prevent the contem-
plated attack, but unfortunately on the return voyage
his own crew had suffered from "fever and an eruption
resembling measles" (Letter of Rezanov, dated Novo-
Arkhangelsk, June 17,1806, in Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2,
Suppl., p. 277). We do not know whether the disease
spread to the garrison at Sitka or to the Tlingit outside,
but this possibility must be considered when trying to
follow native traditions about epidemics.
The northern Tlingit of southeastern Alaska, of
course, also learned about the destruction of the
Yakutat establishment, and Rezanov reports in the
same letter how a chief whom he calls "Fatty" came to
see him, professing friendship for the Russians, but
really trying to investigate their defences at Sitka.
"Today new guests appeared and with them some
women, relatives of our girls [i.e., Tlingit mistresses and
servants]; they were treated, became intoxicated and
told that the Chilkhat, Khutznoff and Akoisk tribes
had united with the Sitkas to the number of 3,000 to
make an attack upon us." The chief had been sent
only to spy on the fort of Novo-Arkhangelsk, but re-
176 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
turned with such a discouraging report that the con-
templated attack was abandoned. It had been as
carefully planned, apparently, as the earlier, successful
assaults, but by now the Russians were constantly
on their guard (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, Suppl., pp.
281-283). Of particular interest to us is the involvement
in this plot of Dry Bay Tlingit, perhaps representatives
of the Tl'trknaxAdi, Kagwantan, and Teqwedi sibs.
Yakutat (1806-67)
Although the reestablishment of the post at Yakutat
became an immediate concern of Baranov, and he
wanted to go there with the Rostislav, armed with only
four cannon and 25 men, it is not certain that he did so,
since affairs at Sitka were still serious. We are told only
that Capt. Archibald Campbell, an American, was
hired to take his vessel to Yakutat in the summer of
1806, "to punish the Yakoutat people for destroying
the settlement there," and to liberate the few Russians
and "Aleuts" who were prisoners among the Indians
(Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1, p. 171). Apparently Campbell
did succeed in freeing either two Kodiak men, or one
"Aleut" and his wife, and secured two hostages. The
latter were taken to Kodiak and baptized Kalistrat and
Gideon. Afterwards they served as interpreters at Sitka.
Kalistrat died in 1832, and Gideon some years later,
for in 1835, Baron Wrangell, then chief manager of the
Company, was recommending a pension for Gideon be-
cause of his long service (Bancroft, 1886, p. 462, note 4).
In 1807, the Myrtle, commanded by Captain Barber,
which had been purchased by the Russians and renamed
the Kadiak, was sent to Yakutat with orders to rescue
the remaining survivors. Her captain raised a foreign
flag to deceive the natives, and in this way lured two
men on board. After negotiations, he achieved the
surrender of Larionov's widow and children and
several others. According to Yakutat tradition (p. 234),
it was Tanu? who voluntarily surrendered himself to
the Russians, although his ultimate fate was very
different from that of the hostages taken by Captain
Campbell. We do not know what happened to those
captured by Captain Barber.
Perhaps Baranov himself did go to Yakutat, because
Tikhmenev (1861, vol. I, p. 240) informs us that: "The
pardoning of the Koloshi by Baranov after the destruc-
tion of the Yakutat settlement, the acceptance of
hostages and renewal of friendly relations with them
did not have the wished for consequences," since the
Tlingit continued to plot against the Russians and
murdered them whenever they had the chance. The
passage is, however, ambiguous, and the Kolosh men-
tioned may be simply the Tlingit at and near Sitka.
Native tradition maintains that the Russians never
restored their fort and colony at Yakutat. However,
Captain Golovnin, writing about the Russian colonies
in North America, which he had visited on a voyage
around the world, gives a list of the Company's estab-
lishments in 1818, which ends: ". . . on Behring Bay,
Yakoutat Cove, Nikolaievsky, near Mount St. Elias,
Simeonoffsky. At Yakoutat there had previously been
a settlement called Slava Rossia, but in 1803 [sic] it
had been destroyed by the Koloshi and had never been
restored" (Golovnin, 1861, p. 5). This obscure passage
contains one obvious inaccuracy, and I know it only
in Petroff's poorly punctuated translation. Golovnin
later refers to "Fort Nikolaievsky" in the "Gulf of
Kenai" (Cook Inlet) which casts further doubt upon
any post on "Yakoutat Cove."
Okun (1951, p. 57) with careless disregard for geo-
graphical accuracy also reports that as of 1817: "There
were three settlements on Chugatsk Gulf: 'Constantine
and Yelena' [Nuchek], Nikolayevsk on the Bering Sea
at Yakutat Bay, and Simeyonovsk on the Cape of
St. Elias." I have been unable to discover any more
specific details, and therefore do not know the locations
of Nikolayevsk and Simeyonovsk.
Krause (1956, p. 65) wrote in 1885 that: "No new
stations were established in Yakutat Bay" after the
destruction of the Russian colony in 1805.
Certainly when Yakutat Bay was visited by Captain
Belcher in 1837 there were no Russian posts anywhere
in the area, for he writes:
"The remains of Russian establishments were
observed; a blockhouse on a cliff on the east side;
and on the low point, where our astronomical ob-
servations were taken [Point Turner?], the ruins
of another; also a staff, with a vane and cross over
a grave." [Belcher, vol. 1, 1843, p. 85.]
[In 1891, Russell noticed how the forest had
reclaimed] "the old Russian post near the mission
at Yakutat, which was burned and the inhabitants
of which were massacred in 1804 [sic]. The cellars
marking the site of the former houses are now
occupied by groves of spruce trees, some of which
are 2 feet in diameter. Were it not for the depres-
sions left by the old cellars one could scarcely believe
that this locality was inhabited less than a hundred
years ago." [Russell, 1893, p. 12.]
There is, however, evidence that the Yakutat were
not completely isolated from the Russians. Thus,
Boolingin in 1807 and Khromchenko in 1823 surveyed
Yakutat Bay, even penetrating the "Icy River" in
the northeast part of Disenchantment Bay. Boolingin
gathered data on "Icy Bay," and Khromchenko was
apparently responsible for the Russian names which
are still applied to the smaller islands in Yakutat
Bay, as well as for official use of the name "Yakutat"
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 177
itself. Tebenkov's maps, published in 1849, embody
their work (Davidson, 1904, pp. 44^15, 47, 50-51;
Dall and Baker, 1883, pp. 206-209; Baker, 1906, pp.
68-69). While these surveys seem to be the last made
in this area, they could hardly have been carried out
if the local natives had been irreconcilably hostile.
Khliebnikov, writing in 1833 (1861 b, p. 73), has
also given a list of sea otter hunting expeditions in
the area. These consisted of "Aleuts" (including Koniag
and Chugach) in baidarkas escorted by an armed
sailing vessel. Two parties, totaling 60 to 90 baidarkas,
went to Yakutat and to Lituya Bay each year from
1822 to 1825, inclusive. On these trips, from 250 to
460 sea otters were taken. The cartographer, V. C.
Khromchenko, seems to have been captain of the
Rurik (for which the harbor north of Port Mulgrave
is named), making such voyages in 1823 and 1825.
These expeditions were eventually discontinued, for
Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, p. 325) observed that:
"The experiment of sending (in 1832) hunting
parties to localities where sea-otter had been abun-
dant in former years., i.e. in the Bays of Ltoua
and Yakoutat, proved entirely unsuccessful. [In a
later chapter he adds (1863, vol. 2, p. 326):] Sea
otters are found in the vicinity of Yakoutat and
Ltua Bay to the present day, but not in such multi-
tudes as in early days, and besides, the entrance
to these bays is very dangerous so that the Company
does not hunt there any more."
The Russians continued to obtain a few furs from
these areas through trade. These were from sea otter
killed by the local natives and by those Tlingit from
southeastern Alaska who were permitted by the Yaku-
tat and Lituya Bay people to join in their hunts. Such
privileges were accorded only to "the prominent chiefs
and then* relatives among the Kolosh living on Van-
couver Sounds [southeastern Alaskan waters] where
sea-otters are scarce." These expeditions, which met in
the spring at some predetermined locality, might con-
sist of over a hundred canoes, which followed the Aleut
method of surrounding the sea otters, but used guns,
not spears (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, p. 347). The furs
so obtained were apparently traded south, some passing
through the hands of the southern Tlingit to be ex-
changed with the Kaigani or the Haida of the Queen
Charlotte Islands for slaves, some of whom had been
captured as far away as the Columbia River. Other
furs went into the hands of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany's agents, and others were bought by the Sitka
Tlingit for resale to the Russians at Novo-Arkhangelsk
(Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2, pp. 349-350). In this way
European goods such as Hudson Bay blankets and
dishes, beads, pearl buttons, cloth, clothing, metal tools
and utensils, guns and ammunition, dentalia and aba-
lone shell ornaments (which even the Whites bought
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1-
in the south for resale to northern tribes), came to
Yakutat, as well as fine Haida canoes, Tsimshian
carvings, and Flathead slaves.
The Yakutat people also maintained close ties with
the Eyak to the west, and through the latter, traded
with the Russians at Fort Constantine and Helen at
Nuchek. According to my informants, they also had
economic relations with the interior Athabaskans, in-
cluding the Atna, from whom copper was obtained to
trade southward. Furthermore, the Yakutat themselves
made long voyages in their fine (imported Haida?)
canoes to both Nuchek and Sitka, although I am not
sure to what extent such direct traffic was carried on
before the purchase of Alaska by the United States in
1867.
As we know, the Russians made little progress in
winning the friendship of the Tlingit or in inducing
the latter to become baptized, even though Bishop
Veniaminov, "the Holy Innocentius," came to Sitka in
September, 1841. The Yakutat had never, as far as I
know, been exposed to missionary teaching. According
to Tikhmenev (1861, vol. 1, p. 253), there were in
January, 1819, a total of 117 "Ougalentz" under
Russian control (51 men, 66 women), but these were
presumably Copper River Eyak.
The terrible smallpox epidemic of 1837-39 spread
from California to the Arctic Ocean, first appearing
at Sitka in November 1836. In the village near the
Russian fort, 400 natives died within 3 months, rep-
resenting half the population, for the Tlingit had
refused vaccination. The epidemic was not of equal
severity everywhere, being relatively light among the
Stikine, but devastating at Angoon. According to
native tradition, it wiped out many villages between
Yakutat and Dry Bay. The epidemic finally died out
in 1840. Veniaminov (1840, vol. 3, p. 29) estimates
that hi that year there were less than 6,000 living
"Kolosh" in Russian America, "from Kaigan to
Yakutat," whereas in 1833, before the smallpox,
there had been 10,000.
When the Tlingit and Koniag saw that the Russians
and "Creoles" (halfbreeds) who had been vaccinated
escaped the disease, they also requested vaccination,
and their attitude towards the Russians changed.
Not only did many Tlingit at Sitka lose faith in their
own shamans, whose efforts had failed to save their
stricken relatives, but a number were converted to
Christianity. Thus, by Easter, 1843, 104 Tlingit had
been baptized, including 2 "sorcerers." The total
number of Christians included 447 Tlingit, presumably
all at Sitka or in the Company's employ, and 148
"Ougalentz" or Eyak (Tikhmenev, 1861, vol. 1, pp. 361,
264, 310-313). This conversion, we should point out,
did not go very deep. Even at Sitka, the number of
annual baptisms fell off rather sharply after 1844
- 1 4
178 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
(Golovnin, 1861, pp. 79, 147-151). No doubt the
Yakutat people heard something of these doings at
Sitka, but it is pretty certain that they received neither
vaccine nor holy water during this period.
A severe measles epidemic in 1848 raged from the
Aleutians to southeastern Alaska, and again in 1862
smallpox spread from south to north among the Tlingit,
sparing only those at Sitka where the majority had
been vaccinated. Presumably the Gulf Coast tribes
suffered from these also, although we have no records.
Veniaminov gives a census of the Tlingit tribes as of
1840, in which 150 persons are listed for Yakutat, and
250 for Lituya or "Avetzk" (1840, vol. 3, p. 29), but
we do not know upon what data this count is based.63
Tikhmenev (1863, vol. 2, p. 341) observes: "The
exact number of the Kolosh is not known, some sup-
pose that including the tribes in the interior ["Swamp-
Kolosh," possibly Inland Tlingit], it would come to
40,000; others, and among them Veniaminoff [who
included only the Tsimshian and Haida, not interior
tribes], estimate them at 25,000. For our part we will
only give the numbers of Kolosh in the well-known
villages as we find it in the writings of Mr. Wehrmann
[1861]." These are for Yakutat Bay: 163 free men,
168 free women, 25 male slaves and 24 female slaves;
for Lituya Bay: 265 free men, 267 free women, with 29
male and 29 female slaves. (Tikhmenev, 1863, vol. 2,
p. 341). One suspects that such a guess must have been
based upon a visit to the area.
In 1837, Capt. Sir Edward Belcher, in a voyage
around the world in H.M.S. Sulphur, visited Yakutat
Bay in September, on his way from Nuchek to Sitka.
He was accompanied by Lieutenant Commander
Kellett in the Starling. The Gulf Coast of Alaska was
surveyed for the purpose of determining the position
of Mount Saint Elias and for settling differences in
longitudes reckoned by Cook and Vancouver. Although
observations were made near Cape Suckling, Point
Riou, and "Icy Bay," no natives were met until the
ships arrived at Port Mulgrave, which the Starling had
reached three days before the Sulphur. Here the natives
gave the British a cordial welcome.
"The principal chief of this tribe, Anoutchy
[anu'ci, 'Russian/ cf. Swanton, 1908, p. 144], paid us
his visit of ceremony, accompanied by his lady.
Better specimens of the improved state of the Indians
I have not seen. Both were clean, and well-dressed;
the chief by the aid of an old coat and trowsers
bestowed on him by Kellett; and his lady in a dark-
coloured cotton robe with blue and scarlet cloak,
d la robe, over all. He had assumed the name of Iwan
? M
^Petroff, in the Tenth Census (1884, p. 35), reproduces this
census but ascribes it to the year 1835, although Veniaminov
makes clear that it reflects the devastation of the"l836-40 small-
pox epidemic.
FIGURE 4.?A native chief of Port Mulgrave (Anoutchy) and a
woman with mouthpiece (Port Mulgrave). (After Belcher,
1843, vol. 1, pp. 84 and 86.)
Iwatsky, probably in complement to one of the
Russian traders, who frequently visit this port.
"Their manners were good, even in some degree
polished; and although not particularly well-bred at
table, they were evidently not unacquainted with
the use of knife, folk, and plate." [Belcher, 1843,
vol. 1, pp. 83-84.] [I gather that the common people
lacked such refinement.]
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 179
. ?2-
MAP 26.?Lituya Bay, 1849. (Tebenkov, 1852, detail of map vii.)
"The men axe wretchedly clothed, in mats woven
?with the inner bark of the cypress [cedar], which is
tough, flexible, and very soft. The women are very
similar to the Esquimaux, differing however hi the
mouth-ornament, which is here worn hi an aperture
under the lower lip. It is of wood, and retains its
place by the elasticity of the flesh contracting hi the
groove, substituting larger ornaments as they grow
up, or as the aperture elongates. They are as filthy
as such tribes usually are, beyond description, and
use vermillion, and any paint they can get. I must,
however, except the chief's lady and daughters, as
not wearing these ornaments, or paint, and exhibit-
ing a dislike to it. The latter I had not the pleasure
of seeing, but I am told is very pretty,?I suppose
we may add, 'for the tribe.' " [Ibid. pp. 86-87.]
The lack of the labret seems to be characteristic of
Yakutat clans that trace then- descent from Atna or
Eyak origins. However, the sophistication of the chief's
womenfolk might suggest that the labret was beginning
to be abandoned, even by those who formerly wore it.
"Kellet acquainted me that this chief possessed very
high notions of territorial right, and had thrown diffi-
culties in the way of wooding and watering, which he
was glad that our presence would remove" (ibid., p. 84).
This was apparently achieved by giving a few presents,
which in themselves acknowledged the native claims to
natural resources. These gifts also relieved the anxiety
felt by the Starling's men, since she had been surrounded
by an ever increasing crowd of canoes, necessitating
continual vigilance. Now, however, "the utmost security
was felt," and the ships' personnel did not hesitate to
go ashore to hunt or to pursue scientific investigations.
Belcher also noticed that the Indians "receive presents?
as a due, not as a gift; and consequently no return is
made for civility." He was mistaken, I believe, in ascrib-
ing this to the example set by fur traders; it is char-
acteristic of gift-giving between the natives themselves,
when such "gifts" are really part of a complex and es-
tablished system of reciprocities which everyone can
take for granted. "Excepting in traffic, at which they
are very keen, nothing could be obtained." The English
crews bought halibut and two kinds of salmon, but
apparently game was scarce (ibid., p. 85).
On October 8, the Svlphur attempted to put out to
sea, but though towed by canoes and her own boats,
was prevented by the lack of wind, and so returned
to her anchorage.
"The chief and his lady, who had come to secure
180 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
the assistance of their tribe, as soon as they perceived
my determination [to return], were quite delighted,?
the only time I had seen them relax their features,?
and haranguing the canoes, particularly her lady-
ship, they not only increased in numbers, but also
in efforts, which had they applied earlier, we should
have gained an offing. We were very soon at anchor.
I think they gained a saw and hatchet for this man-
oeuvre. They well knew every hour of delay would
enrich them. [Ibid., p. 87.]
"[At six the next morning, the ship sailed, escorted
by most of the canoes,] but the chief and his lady,
who had taken tea with us, and finished by asking
for a little warm gin and water, were probably too
sleepy to pay us a visit at this early hour.
"About nine the breeze giving us too great a ve-
locity for the canoes, and their saleable articles being
expended, one by one they gradually dropped off and
left us to pursue our course." [Ibid., p. 88.]
Further information about the Yakutat area until
the latter part of the 19th century is meager, except
for the descriptions of sea otter hunting as practiced
by the natives of Yakutat and Lituya Bays. This was
apparently written by N. M. Koshkin, secretary of the
Governor of the Colony in 1860, and is included in
Tikhmenev's work (1863, vol. 2, pp. 347-349; see
pp. 378-379). However, we do not know that this is
based on direct observation.
Tebenkov, cartographer and Governor of the Com-
pany from 1845 to 1850, visited the Yakutat area in
1847, as did a Russian named Vasiliev. Both are said
to have made observations of the positions and ele-
vations of Mount Saint Elias and Mount Fairweather,
but we do not know whether they and their parties
had any intercourse with the natives. "Since that
time the coast has been annually visited by whalers
and traders; but their observations, if any, have not
been made public . . ." (Dall and Baker, 1878, p. 158).
Although fleets of from three to four hundred vessels
used to gather in June and July on the Fairweather
Grounds, between 1846 and 1851, because this was
then one of the finest whaling grounds in Alaskan
waters, the crews are said never to have landed, unless
shipwrecked (Davidson, 1869, p. 47; Elliot, 1886, p. 72.
For a summary of Alaskan whaling, especially by
Americans, see Bancroft, 1886, pp. 582-585).
UNDER THE AMERICAN FLAG
The First Years (1867-80)
The purchase of Alaska by the United States in
1867 seems to have had no immediate direct effect on
the natives of the Yakutat Bay area. Indeed, as the
Tlingit here and in southeastern Alaska point out to
this day, all the Russians could sell was the land on
which their own posts stood or which they actually
controlled. They had no such control over Yakutat
Bay. The argument is now cited, of course, to support
native possessory rights against the encroachment of
White settlers and the imposition of United States
laws on the Indians, and it was some time before these
effects were felt on the Gulf Coast.
At Sitka, in contrast, the raising of the American
Flag on October 18, 1867, seems to have been the
signal for General Davis to seize the property of the
Russian American Company in which to quarter his
troups, turning the inhabitants out into the streets to
find what shelter they could. Almost immediately
pioneers, who unfortunately included a riffraff of poli-
ticians, traders, saloonkeepers, gamblers, and prosti-
tutes, swarmed into the town. In consequence, Sitka
at first suffered from a commercial boom followed by
economic depression. For the natives, the new order
meant economic chaos as they had to shift from com-
mercial transactions based on barter with long term
credit for limited kinds of goods to transactions in
money, in which a bewildering array of imports were
offered for immediate sale, or in which their own furs
fetched high prices. Thus at first they "squandered
large sums for useless articles without the least appre-
ciation of the value of either goods or money" (Porter,
1893, p. 247). A large percentage of the new luxuries
were destined for distribution at intertribal potlatches,
demanding equal returns, thus spreading the desire to
acquire these goods and ultimately dooming the
Tlingit to real poverty while struggling to attain a
higher standard of living.
In the streets of Sitka, and soon in other communities,
"speculation and lawlessness were rife," as Bancroft has
expressed it (1886, p. 602), because in the whole Terri-
tory until 1883 there was no legal protection of person
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 181
or property, no civil or criminal jurisdiction, no means
of enforcing even the few laws that pertained to the
collection of customs and to the sale of firearms and
liquor. Indeed, the soldiers who were stationed at
Sitka, Fort Tongas, and Fort Wrangell, ostensibly to
protect the population, led a life of debauch, terrorizing
the natives and the Russians who remained, provoking
shootings, deliberate murders, and bloody reprisals. A
subsequent Governor of Alaska, the Honorable A. P.
Swineford (1898, pp. 63-65) has given a graphic picture
of the oppressive and arbitrary military domination of
Alaska. Soldiers were accused of arresting native men
on trumped up charges so that they could violate the
women.
Now the cheapest kind of strong liquor was freely
sold to the Indians, despite Federal laws to the con-
trary, and far greater amounts reached them than had
been available since 1843, when the sale of liquor to
the Indians was forbidden both by the Russian Ameri-
can Company and by the Hudson's Bay Company.
Moreover, before the American soldiers were with-
drawn in 1877, they had succeeded in teaching the
Indians how to make their own "hoochenoo," or
"hooch," so-called because it was first, or most pro-
lifically made at Xutsnuwu, 'Brown Bear Fort' (Ad-
miralty Island).
The new luxuries and the art of distillation were soon
spread to Yakutat. We know, for example, that Sitka
Jack (pi. 2100, ?n important chief or wealthy native,
gave a potlatch at Sitka on October 1, 1877, at which
considerable liquor was consumed. This man, Katsex,
was the brother of Qexix, chief of the Tl'trknaxAdi
Whale House at Sitka (pi. 210s). Sitka Jack was the
father-in-law of a Yakutat Kwac?qwan man, known as
Sitka Jake (<^AtAst'in),and also "uncle" to the mother
of one of our oldest Yakutat informants. It is certain
that at Sitka Jack's potlatch, and probably on many
similar, prior occasions, the new Sitkan way of life was
taught to the people of Yakutat. We also know that
natives went between Yakutat and Sitka on trading
expeditions.
There were probably American traders who went to
Yakutat in the decade following the Purchase, although
we know practically nothing about their voyages. We
may further assume that such ventures were stimulated
by the very acquisition of Alaska. At first, commercial
trips were undoubtedly undertaken with caution, for
the Yakutat Tlingit still enjoyed the reputation they
had earned in early Russian days as ruthless savages.
Thus Dall, writing in the Coast Pilot (Dall and Baker,
1883, p. 206) about the Tlingit villages between
Yakutat and Dry Bays:
"One of these was visited about ten years since by
the master of a whaling vessel at anchor in Port
Mulgrave, and by him reported to be the largest,
finest and most clean Indian village he had seen in all
his experience of the coast. The population was large,
the houses well built, solid, adorned with paintings
and carvings of wood, and expressly adapted for
defense. Most of these people remain in their villages,
small parties going out on hunting and trading expedi-
tions or to kill seal near the glaciers of Disenchant-
ment Bay. They are treacherous and warlike and
have committed a number of murders merely for
plunder. Navigators in small trading vessels who
may be visited by them should therefore be on their
guard and never allow them to spend the night on
board."
Dall's information would appear to have been
gathered on surveys undertaken in 1874 and 1880,
which would date the whalers' visit to the preceding
decade. I had originally believed that the description
applied to GuSex on the Akwe, but now am more in-
clined to ascribe it to Diyaguna'Et on Lost River.
The warning in the passage quoted above also reflects
what Dall and Marcus Baker themselves experienced
in 1874 when surveying the Alaskan coast. They had
visited Lituya Bay in the schooner Yukon, May 15 to
19, where they found LaPe"rouse's chart
"to be generally accurate. Here the party aboard
the Yukon had much difficulty in preventing the
persistent attempts of the natives to board the vessel,
but fortunately were kept off without bloodshed. It
is added in the report [of Dall and Baker] that these
natives distill their own rum, and are well supplied
with the best kinds of fire arms." [U.S. Coast and
Geodetic Survey, 1878, p. 64.]
The survey party then went on to Yakutat Bay,
remaining in Port Mulgrave from May 21 to 26, where
observations were of course made on Mount Saint Elias.
"Here a party in the Yukon found evidences of
the murder of a boat's crew supposed in 1870 to have
been lost at sea, but which in that year went ashore
from a sailing-vessel commanded by Captain Heren-
deen, the present sailing-master of the Yukon. In
regard to a small trading-vessel from Sitka, the
arrival of the survey party was timely, in averting
rough usage by the savages." [Ibid., p. 65.]
Dall's brief sketch of the "Y&k'Qtats" is based upon
what he observed during this visit, as well as on infor-
mation presumably obtained at Sitka. Thus, he notes
that "The Yakutats in many respects . . . are differ-
entiated from the other T'linkets, though they belong,
without doubt, to the same stock." At that time, five
Tlingit tribes were recognized: Yakutat, Chilkat, Sitka,
"Stakhin" (Strikine or Wrangell), and the "Kygani or
Haida tribe;" but Dall correctly doubted that the last
were Tlingit. He reports that the Yakutat, consisting
of 250 persons, inhabited the coast
"from Bering [Yakutat] Bay to Lituya Bay, occa-
182 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
sionally traveling in canoes farther west or southeast
for purposes of trade. On my visit to Bering Bay in
1874, I endeavored to get their own name for
themselves, but had no interpreter, and neither the
natives nor myself spoke much Chinook, so that I
do not feel sure that they understood my inquiries.
At any event, I could get no other answer than
'Yakutat', which is evidently the name they give to
the country they inhabit, but must, in all probability,
have some other suffix or termination when applied
as a tribal name. Their principal settlement is on a
large stream [Ankau Creek-Lost River system?],
abounding with salmon, and emptying into Bering
Bay or Yakutat. They fish and trade at Port Mul-
grave in the spring before the salmon arrive, and
hunt seal near the glaciers of Disenchantment Bay.
The women do not wear the kalushka, or lip-orna-
ment. They are said not to adopt the totemic
systemf!], so much in vogue among the other
T'linkets, and eat the blubber and flesh of the whale,
which the other tribes of their stock regard as un-
clean." [Dall, 1877, pp. 36-37.]
It is also worth noting that Dall also published a
"Vocabulary of the Yak'utat, A tribe of the T'linMt
Nation (living between Port Mulgrave, Alaska, and
Cape Spencer), obtained from his Excellency J. Furu-
helm, Governor of the Russian Possessions in America,
by George Gibbs" (apparently in 1862) (ibid., pp. 121-
142). This vocabulary is certainly Eyak, not Tlingit.64
The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey sent another
party to Yakutat Bay in 1880. The following observa-
tions about the native settlement on Khantaak Island
were largely based on this visit:
"About the middle of Point Turner peninsula is a
narrow lagoon of half stagnant water. Between this
and the beach north of it is a collection of rather in-
ferior Indian houses, occupied during the time of their
halibut fishery or when vessels are there for trade, but
usually vacant. In the woods NW. of the port [Port
Mulgrave] are the relics of a whale boat, hidden there
by the natives after they had murdered the crew for
their outfit?having enticed them away from their
vessel by stories of gold in the (granite) mountains
near by." [Dall and Baker, 1883, p. 209.] [This
presumably was the massacre of Captain Herendeen's
men in 1870.]
No other settlement was noted on Yakutat Bay in 1880.
Two men attached to a small schooner belonging
to James Hollywood were killed at Yakutat hi Septem-
ber, 1880. Yet only one native seems to have been impli-
cated in this crime, and certainly not all the Yakutat
Indians at that time deserved the reputation ascribed to
641 am indebted to Dr. Michael Krauss, Department of Lin-
guistics, University of Alaska, for bringing this to my attention.
them of hostility and treachery, as we learn from the
official report of Commander Edward P. Lull, U.S.N.,
captain of the U.S.S. Wachusett. This was written at
Sitka, October 18, 1881, to the Secretary of the Navy,
after he had been in Yakutat the month before to arrest
the alleged murderer.
"On our arrival [at Yakutat] I sent for the chiefs of
the village, two of whom came on board. These men
had been particularly kind to Hollywood, protecting
him during the winter after the occurrence of the
murder. Keeping one of them on board as a sort of
hostage, sent the other to arrest the murderer, who
had gone on a hunting expedition a couple days'
journey from the village. I offered $50 reward for the
arrest. On the fourth day the chief returned with the
prisoner. I then took on board two women and a man,
said by Hollywood to be witnesses hi the case, though,
thus far, I have not been able to get from them all
that Hollywood states that they know, but I hope
when removed from the influence of other Indians
they will tell the truth. I send the prisoners and wit-
nesses by mail steamer to Portland, Oregon, for
trial." [Report of United States Naval Officers, etc., pt.
2, 1882, pp. 48-49.]
The natives had to be sent to Portland because that
was the nearest Federal court. It must also be remem-
bered that the Naval Officer stationed at Sitka was the
U.S. Government in Alaska. Later reports suggest that
the White men killed in 1880?some give the date as
1881, or even later?had come to prospect the black
sands for gold. Gold-bearing sands of this kind also
occur at Lituya Bay where they had been sporadically
worked before 1867 (Mertie, 1931, p. 117). The dis-
covery of gold hi British Columbia hi 1858, and hi the
Cassiar area near the upper Stikine in 1872, undoubtedly
stimulated prospecting which led to discoveries at
Juneau in 1880, as well as to explorations at Yakutat.
The year 1880 marks the beginning of change at
Yakutat. This was not simply because the murders
resulted in the first of many visits by naval vessels,
during which both natives and Whites took each others'
measure and came to a new understanding. The dis-
covery of traces of gold was to bring later in the decade
some 40 to 50 gold miners to work the beaches of
Khantaak Island, and when the brief boom was over,
a few were to remain with native wives. Mount Saint
Elias, which had engaged Marcus Baker's skill as a
surveyor in 1880, was to lure adventuring Alpinists
from 1886 until its summit was conquered in 1898.
By that time the glaciers at its feet and in Disenchant-
ment Bay had established their claims to geological
investigation. Above all, furs and native manufactures
of Yakutat had a reputation which brought White and
native traders, and finally in 1884 the first store. Then,
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 183
as pelts and curios lost their commerical importance at
the end of the century, Yakutat salmon were ready to
take their place as the major source of wealth.
After 1888 we can rely to an increasing extent upon
the memory of our oldest informants, and from what
they report can gage the magnitude of the transforma-
tions that took place between 1880 and 1900. Native
culture was directly affected, but it also reflected the
changes that were coming in the White observers.
These differences in attitude and understanding on the
part of Whites were of themselves important factors in
creating a new way of life for the Yakutat Indians,
through which they, like all Tlingit, were drawn into
a world which extended far beyond the aboriginal
Lingit-'ani, and were given a new understanding of
themselves as Tlingit and as members of this larger
social order.
For the White man, 1880 marks the beginning of a
new period in which a serious attempt was being made
by White Americans to understand Tlingit customs and
culture, even though there had been some anticipations
by Brancroft (1874), Dall (1870), and, of course, by
Russian and German scholars. We have seen this
serious interest in the case of Capt. L. A. Beardslee,
stationed at Sitka in 1879-80, although he wrote only
a report on his activities and on "Affairs in Alaska"
(1882), not an ethnographic monograph (de Lagunah
1960, p. 160). Lt. George T. Emmons, attached to the
U.S.S. Pinta that visited Yakutat in 1885 and 1886,
was to begin his carefully documented collection of Tlingit
artifacts, until by 1889 he was recognized as an au-
thority, and his home in Sitka considered an ethno-
graphic museum which everyone should visit if possible,
although none of his observations had been published
(Shepard, 1889, pp. 226-227). Ensign A. P. Niblack's
report on the Northwest Coast Indians was to appear
as the report for 1888 of the U.S. National Museum
(1890), and was quoted in the U.S. Census for 1890.
Although Petroff had included an ethnographic sketch
of the Tlingit in the Census for 1880 it is significant
that the data were drawn primarily from Veniaminov
and Holmberg, not from American sources.
The Army also had its ethnographic observers, the
most important of whom were Lt. C. E. S. Wood, who
wrote about a trip with the Hoonah in 1877 (1882);
Lt. Frederick Schwatka who led a military exploring
party through Chilkat country and over the Chilkat
Pass in 1883 (1893), and who came to Yakutat for the
New York Times in 1886; and Lt. W. R. Abercrombie
who described the Tlingit and Eyak in reporting a military
reconnaissance up the Copper River in 1884 (1900).
Although the Krause brothers spent the winter of
1881-82 at Haines, studying the Chilkat for the Geo-
graphical Society of Bremen, and Dr. Aurel Krause
published his report in 1885, this did not have much
effect on general knowledge since it was in German
(Krause, translated by Gunther, 1956).
It is hardly a coincidence, however, that the be-
ginning of so much vigorous ethnological interest in
Alaskan natives and in the Tlingit should have co-
incided with the founding of the Bureau of Ethnology
in 1879 as a branch of the Smithsonian Institution.
Missionary work started at Wrangell in 1876 and
at Sitka in 1877, at Haines in 1880, and at Hoonah in
1881. The first American Protestant church in Alaska
was in fact established at Wrangell in 1879. These
efforts were to have a double impact: through the
writings of Mrs. Julia Wright (1883), Mrs. Eugene S.
Willard (1884), and the numerous pamphlets and books
of the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, which contained ethno-
graphic information; and also through the mission
schools, especially that at Sitka, which soon began to
turn out native graduates who could act as inter-
preters for their people. In trying to explain native
customs, these native converts, however much they
may have disapproved of them, yet came to know
their own people in a new way. And in this way, also,
an understanding of Tlingit culture and social organi-
zation began to reach the White people who visited
or lived among them. Before the end of the decade a
mission was to come to Yakutat.
In 1879 John Muir and the Rev. S. Hall Young
took their memorable canoe trip through southeastern
Alaska, during which the magnificent glaciers of Alaska
were discovered. Although Muir did not publish his
first popular account of Glacier Bay until 1895 and
his longer works until much later, word of the scenic
beauties of Alaska soon spread. In 1884 the Pacific
Coast Steamship Company, which made regular trips
carrying the mail to southeastern Alaskan ports, ini-
tiated tourist excursions. From 1,650 tourists carried
the first summer, the number had risen to over 5,000
by 1889 (Porter, 1893, p. 250-251). Not only did the
glaciers attract the tourists, but they were wealthy,
spending, it has been estimated, between $50 and $100
apiece for furs and native "curios." By 1890 it is said
that not only had all of the aboriginal carvings and
other manufactures of southeastern Alaska made by
the natives for their own use been bought up by the
tourists, but there had been established a new native
industry of making articles especially for the tourist
trade. Several Indian villages specialized in producing
"curios" that became "more gaudy and grotesque each
year," or "specimens of any degree of antiquity de-
sired" (ibid., p. 250). It took, of course, much longer
to drain off genuine ethnographic artifacts from Yaku-
tat than from such regular steamer ports as Wrangell
and Sitka, where the missionaries helped the process
by discouraging the retention and use of heirlooms
that had any connection with heathendom.
184 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
At the same time, the Yakutat natives in the late
1880's, as in Malaspina's day, began to respond to the
insatiable White demand for their arts and crafts,
especially since Yakutat basketry was recognized as
the finest work produced by any Tlingit group. Most
of the Yakutat products went to Sitka for sale. In
fact, the White community of Sitka in 1890 was sup-
ported by the sale of furs and curios supplied by the
Indians of Sitka and Yakutat, who in their turn were
buying all of their clothing and an increasing proportion
of manufactured goods, and even some foodstuffs, from
the Sitka merchants (Porter, 1893, p. 237).
With interest in native crafts as "curios" and as
mementoes of an exciting journey, there also developed
some appreciation of native art and a great deal of
curiosity about its meaning. The Navy and the Army
and the missionaries had perhaps been driven through
practical considerations to learn about native culture
and society, but the tourists were simply avid for
"totem lore." They questioned, they learned, they
wrote, and their travel books stimulated not only
further tourist trips but expeditions sponsored by news-
papers and by magazines which had both scientific and
popular aims. The World's Fair at Chicago in 1893
finally brought the Northwest Coast and Tlingit arts
and crafts to the doorstep of the ordinary American.
A general interest in the Territory and its resources,
as well as increased travel, settlement, and exploitation,
led to further investigations by Federal agencies: Cen-
sus Bureau, Coast Survey, Bureau of Fisheries, Geolog-
ical Survey, all in addition to the military explorations
already mentioned.
All of this brought new groups of educated observers
into close contact with the Tlingit in southeastern
Alaska and even in isolated Yakutat. These have
given us a variety of sources upon which we can draw
in reconstructing the history of that area.
The First Surveys (1880-84)
If we begin by consulting the U.S. Census for 1880,
we find the population figures (p. 185) which had
been compiled by Ivan Petroff for the Yakutat natives
and their neighbors (Petroff, 1884, pp. 29, 32):
Atnah villages
Ikhiak & Alaganu
Cape Martin
Chilkhaat villages
Yaktag villages
Yakutat Tribe
Scattered villages between
cape Spencer & Bering bay
Yakutat
KADIAK DIVISION
Copper river
Mouth of Copper river
Mouth of Copper river
Comptroller bay
Foot of Mount Saint Elias
range
SOUTHEASTERN DIVISION
Coast of mainland
Bering bay
250 Athabaskan
117 Eskimo [sic!, Eyak]
1 White, 7 Thlinket
170 Thlinket
150 Thlinket
500
200 Thlinket
300 Thlinket
The number of women and children, and of slaves is
not estimated.
That these figures are not to be trusted either as an
accurate count of the Gulf Coast and Copper River
populations, nor as proof that Petroff had actually
visited the area, is revealed in the autobiography of
the Rev. S. Hall Young (1927, p. 191), who was mis-
sionary at Wrangell in 1880. It was he, on trips in
1879 and 1880 with John Muir, who had made a count
in beans of the Tlingit of southeastern Alaska, and
who gave these data to Ivan Petroff, nicknamed
"Hollow Legs" for his liquor capacity, when the latter
came to Wrangell as census enumerator late in 1880.
But neither Young nor Petroff had been to Yakutat,
so that Petroff's data on this region must have been
picked up from traders at Kodiak and Nuchek. It is
significant that his report contains no information at
all about the Gulf Coast, whereas there are descrip-
tions of settlements, native customs, commercial
undertakings, and natural resources for almost every
other part of Alaska.
The lack of information about Yakutat, and Petroff's
presumed reluctance to visit this area, are under-
standable in view of Capt. Johan A. Jacobsen's ex-
perience. In 1883 he had reached Kodiak from the
north in the course of an ethnological collecting trip
in Alaska. Here he chartered the Three Brothers, a
schooner belonging to Captain Anderson and the
Carlsen brothers, all from Sweden. The Three Brothers
normally made voyages to and from Sitka, but when
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 185
Jacobsen wished to visit villages between the Copper
River and Cross Sound, he was dissuaded by warnings
that the weather was too bad for the trip, that he
would make only poor collections [!], and above all,
that the natives had the worst reputation on the whole
Alaska coast. "These northern Tlingit Indians," he
writes (1884, p. 379, my translation), "resemble to
a hair in this respect the thievish Redskins in West
Vancouver and British Columbia." After visiting
Eyak, Alaganik, and Cape Martin, he apparently
gave up his plans for continuing farther along the
Gulf Coast.
Fortunately Lt. W. R. Abercrombie, U.S.A., who
followed Jacobsen the next year to the Eyak villages,
has given us valuable information about Yakutat. This
is so detailed that it seems based upon personal obser-
vations (perhaps not Abercrombie's); his mission in
1884 was to lead a military reconnaissance up the
Copper River. His report includes a survey of the
conditions, attitudes and military capabilities of all the
coastal tribes. He accurately distinguished between the
major southern and northern Tlingit groups. The latter
include, among others, "the Chilcat tribe, on Lynn
Canal; the Yukutat tribe; [and] the Chilcats, of Comp-
trollers Bay." He discusses as a separate people the
"Ugalentsi" of the Copper River delta, "who call their
principal village Eyak, and designate themselves by
the same name" (Abercrombie, 1900, pp. 393, 397).
He found the "Yukutat" living in two villages,
probably on Khantaak Island and Situk River; the
population comprising about 100 able-bodied males,
not counting a few slaves, which their masters said they
had owned for a long time. They had been apparently
traded from the Kaigani, who until 20 years before
used to raid the "Flathead villages" (ibid., p. 395).
"The village of Yukutat proper consists of six
large houses built above ground in the form common
to this part of the coast. . . . They are square struc-
tures of logs and slabs or roughly hewn planks, with a
bark or thatched [sic] roof, leaving an opening in the
center for the escape of smoke, and each will accomo-
date several families. Around the sides within are
closet-like divisions used ordinarily for storage, but
convertable to sleeping apartments, although too low
to admit of standing up, and too short to admit of
lying at full length. The floor is of hardened earth
and, as may be expected, cleanliness is not an object
of solicitude. A few miles below Yukutat are three
similar houses.
"During the summer months these Indians wander
along the coast in their canoes. They are governed
in their movements by the running of the salmon,
the presence of the seal and sea otter, the ripening
of berries, and the necessity for visiting the trading
post. Away from their permanent villages they
occupy summer houses at the points where the
length of their stay is considerable, or build tem-
porary shelters of brush. In winter certain villages
are regularly occupied, and travel except upon land-
locked waters almost entirely ceases. The results,
therefore, of our enumeration of these natives at
any one village might differ greatly, taken at one
time or another." [Ibid., pp. 394-395.]
[Abercrombie also gives us information about the
settlements to the west:]
"Between Yukutat and Copper River are the
following villages, whose population includes 100
able-bodied men. [The description given of the Yaku-
tat (see below) applies to these people also, since
they differ in only a few details.] Each village has
some man whose personal qualities or riches give
him a certain amount of influence, but there are no
chiefs in the full meaning of the term.
"Going west, after leaving Yukutat, two small
villages of three houses each, not constantly occupied,
are found at Cape Yukutago. On the south side of
Comptrollers Bay, just north of Cape Suckling, is a
permanent winter establishment of three houses,
known as Buchta-lee [sic], at the upper end of the
bay. A short distance up the Chilcat River is another
permanent village of four house, Guch-la-togee
[gutc-na-?, 'wolf-people-?' ?]. Three miles farther up
are three large houses, occupied only during the
fishing season. At Cape Martin are eleven houses.
The Alaska Commercial Company abandoned its
post here a few years ago as unprofitable. A few
families sometimes winter on Kyak Island." [Ibid.,
p. 396.]
[In bis description of the personal appearance of
the Yakutat natives, Abercrombie offers insight into
the degree of acculturation.]
"In personal appearance the Yukutats do not
differ from their southern brethren. They are coal-
black [sic], have coarse hair which is worn of mod-
erate length, possess reddish skin, have high cheek
bones, thick full lips, and are of medium stature.
Ear rings are quite commonly worn, nose rings
much less often. The hideous lip ornament formerly
so much in vogue among the Thinklets living
farther south has never [sic] been worn by the
women of this tribe. The usual summer clothing
of a man is a light cotton shirt, and a pair of drawers,
supplemented in colder weather by a blanket or
parkee. Over rough ground, boots made from the
skin of the hair-seal are worn; some covering of the
head is usual; it is either a hat obtained from the
trading post or is made from mink, squirrel, or
martin skins." [Ibid., p. 394.]
[After describing their canoes (see p. 340) and
186 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
food, Abercrombie has a few observations on religion
and morals.]
"Christianity has made little or no advance
among them. Some wore crosses which are recog-
nized as being connected with the religion of the
whites, but these are worn rather as ornaments
than as religious tokens. The women are, as a rule,
unchaste, provided they are paid for their lapses,
and their male relatives often negotiate for the sale
of their favors. [The totemic system, legends, the
custom of giving potlatches,] although the latter is
not carried to such extremes," are similar to those
of the more southern Tlingit. [Ibid., p. 396.]
[The Yakutat, Abercrombie believes, are the only
coastal tribe] with whom trouble might reasonably
be anticipated. [Ibid., p. 393.]
"Probably the fact that intercourse between them
and the whites is almost entirely limited to occa-
sional visits from trading vessels, and to the period-
ical trips to Port Etches, explains the absence of any
disturbance in late years. The Russians were unable
to maintain a trading post at Yukutat with any
ordinary force, and finally abandoned the attempt
after the destruction of their buildings seventy
years ago. The Alaska Commercial Company [in-
corporated 1869] has made no effort in that direction,
preferring to let the natives do their trading at Port
Etches or, as it is commonly called, Nuchek,"
[where the Alaska Commercial Company had taken
over the old Russian American Company post].
[Ibid., p. 394.]
"The murder of a white man a few years ago,
for which crime the native murderer was executed
by the process of law, is not necessarily to be taken
as an index of the general feeling of the tribe. It
grew out of a quarrel between some prospectors
and three Indian boatmen, and in revenge for a
beating one of the white men was killed; active
participation was limited to the criminal's own
family. The visit of the 'man-of-war' upon which
the murderer was taken away, and the exhibition
of the power of her guns, particularly in throwing
shell, produced a very salutary effect in checking
any hostile tendencies. When the U.S.S. Adams
subsequently visited Yukutat and landed a party
of prospectors, the Indians received them civilly,
furnished boatmen and canoes, and expressing the
utmost anxiety lest some accident might befall
them that would be attributed to Indian agency.
The chief himself selected the Indians to accompany
the party with great care, saying that all of his men
were not to be trusted." [Ibid., p. 394.]
Although Abercrombie refers to the killing of only
a single White man, this is probably the same murder
that Commander Lull had to investigate in September,
1881.
Abercrombie also reports that two trading schooners
had touched at Yakutat, "during the past season,"
(1883?), and though not very successful in trading,
had no trouble with the natives unless the latter were
"excited with hoochenoo, of which they are exceed-
ingly fond, and under the influence of which they
become very quarrelsome. They can hardly be
considered hostile, although they are not all to
be trusted under temptation. [Ibid., p. 394.]
"To the behests of their chief, Vanduk, con-
siderable attention is paid, although his authority
does not extend much beyond the two villages
above mentioned [Khantaak Island and Situk
River?], and his influence and power is much less
than that possessed by his predecessor, Skin-Yah,
who died in Sitka five years ago, and whose author-
ity was respected from Yukutat to the mouth of the
Copper River. The present chief is well disposed
toward white men, although not sure of his ability
to control some of the unruly members of his tribe."
[Ibid., p. 395.]
It is necessary to remember that there was never
one chief at the head of any Tlingit tribe. At any given
time, however, a particular sib or lineage chief in the
community might have the most prestige and so appear
to the Whites as if he were the chief. This is the type of
mistake which almost every American visitor to
Yakutat was to make. Unfortunately, Abercrombie's
report is so full of typographical errors that it is difficult
to identify these names. "Skin-Yah" is evidently
Skfnya, a Tl'uknaxAdi and TlukwaxAdi name at
Yakutat, but not one ascribed to a chief by any of
my informants. "Vanduk" may be YAnAct'uk", 'Firing
a Gun,' a Teqwedi name, but again not one specified
as a chief's. (However, see p. 200).
Of equal or more authority than this chief was the
shaman, Abercrombie goes on to observe, referring to
a particular man whom I would like to identify as
TEk-'ic, 'Little Stone's Father,' a Teqwedi shaman
who is said to have lived on Khantaak Island at that
time. Abercrombie describes the shaman as "a man of
about 50, possessed of considerable natural ability,
and not particularly well disposed toward the whites.
He speaks a few words of Chinook, but no Russian."
He is supposed to have paralyzed a rival Tlingit who
was living among the Eyak at Alaganik, and "although
so heartily disliked by the majority [at Yakutat] that
they once requested a white man to kill him, his
opposition or favor might become of serious moment
to small parties of white men visiting this part of the
coast" (ibid., pp. 395, 397).
The Indians at Yakutat and on the coast farther
west seem at this time to have had plenty of guns, the
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 187
favorite being a combination 44/100-inch caliber rifle
with a 14 or 16 gauge shotgun. They lacked breech-
loading weapons, and sale of "fixed ammunition"
for such modern guns to Indians was forbidden.
"Therefore, for certain purposes, notably sea-otter
hunting, the use of the bow and arrow is continued"
(ibid., p. 395).
Knowledge of Chinook indicates trade relations,
and these were also discussed by Abercrombie (ibid.).
"The trading is principally at Nuchek, to a lesser
extent with trading schooners, and occasionally with
canoes from Sitka. Tea, tobacco, sugar, powder, ball
lead, percussion caps, calico, axes, a few blankets, and
a small amount of clothing are the articles purchased.
[This corresponds with reports of our oldest inform-
ants]. In past years they have been accustomed, on
visiting Nuchek, to take posession of the settlement,
compelling the Aleuts [Chugach], to take refuge at
Port Chalmers, some 20 miles distant, during their
stay, and causing considerable anxiety to the traders.
Although this practice ceased seven or eight years
ago, it, with the remembrance of troubles during
Russian occupation, is not altogether forgotten, and
a certain amount of unfriendliness occasionally
shows itself between members of the two tribes."
Abercrombie is doubtful that the Yakutat would or
could present any serious military problem, and if they
did cause trouble, "the destruction of their villages and
canoes would soon bring these natives to terms." This
could be accomplished during the comparatively storm-
free summer months by howitzers mounted on boats of
light draft. The only allies of the Yakutat would be
the "Uhgalentsi," or Eyak, and these are "little to be
feared as foes, or desired as friends" (ibid., p. 396).
This report must be understood in the light of the
long period of anxiety and fear of trouble with the
Tlingit of southeastern Alaska, and the misunderstand-
ings there which had already led to the destruction of
the Kake villages, and the towns of Wrangell and
Angoon. At this time, too, the free-roving tribes on the
Plains had not yet been crushed by troops and starva-
tion; their despair had not yet led them to the last
frightening manifestations of the Ghost Dance. More
than most contemporary men, Abercrombie writes
with understanding and with sympathy for the Indians,
although his language was directed to and edited by
higher authority in Washington for Congressional ears
(see Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 11-13, for
an appreciation of Colonel Abercrombie).
Schwatka and Seton-Karr (1886)
In 1886 the U.S.S. Pinta, commanded by Captain
Nichols and including Lt. George T. Emmons among
her personnel, brought to Yakutat the "New-York
Times Expedition" to attempt the ascent of Mount
Saint Elias. This was led by Lt. Frederick Schwatka,
and included Dr. William Libbey, Professor of Physical
Geography at Princeton College, H. W. Seton-Karr, a
British Alpinist, Joseph Wood and John Dalton as cooks,
and from the mission at Sitka a youthful native inter-
preter named Frederick or Kersunk. Of the last,
Schwatka (1891, p. 866) says that while his English
was imperfect, he was "throughly reliable," and "also
did good duty for us as a packer, an art in which all
T'linket Indians are proficient." Kersunk may be the
Kagwantan man, known to my informants as Qasank
or Fred, who married a Tl'uknaxAdi woman from
Yakutat, Stella, later known as Mrs. Pilot Jackson.
She was the daughter of a Teqwediman, the assistant
of the shaman, TE&-'ic.
The writings of Schwatka and Seton-Karr give us
considerable information about Yakutat and its people,
and their relation to the Whites; unfortunately less was
published by Libbey. The expedition was at Yakutat
from July 12 to July 16, and returned again on August 2,
after an unsuccessful assault on the mountain. Seton-
Karr left on August 9 for Nuchek; Schwatka and
Professor Libbey remained at Yakutat until some time
in September when the Pinta brought them back to
Sitka. During this period Schwatka made a canoe trip
through the Ankau lagoon system and Libbey took over
200 photographs (pis. 62-63) and collected ethno-
graphic specimens.
Schwatka, writing in the New York Times (June 21,
1886) before his departure, explained that little was
known about the Yakutat Indians because of their isola-
tion, but that this was an advantage for the expedition
because it promised a rich field for ethnographic speci-
mens. The rest of the Tlingit, he observed casually, had
already been so thoroughly studied that "it is only in
minute matters that anything new can be learned." He
did not, however, find the Yakutat as primitive as he
had hoped. It is clear that they were no longer con-
sidered as thieves and potential murderers, even though
he reports that they still need naval threats to make
them behave. He had previously (1883) had experience
with the Chilkat as guides and packers, he is ready to
appreciate the Indian sense of humor, their stamina on
the trail and their skill as canoemen, yet he regards them
with condescension as a labor supply to be tapped at
will, or inferiors to be ordered about, and is perhaps a
bit shocked when they take advantage of him in com-
mercial dealings. Although he, Seton-Karr, and Profes-
sor Libbey are all writing for a general audience who
want to hear about the Indians as wild, superstitious,
blanket-clad savages, there is nevertheless real ambiv-
alence in the attitudes of these explorers towards the
188 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Yakutat people. The latter have certainly become more
sophisticated than they were in 1880 or even in 1884.
Apparently the U.S.S. Adams had previously made a
trip to Yakutat, and the U.S.S. Pinta had been there in
1885. In 1884, the Alaska Commercial Company had
built a store (probably on the mainland at the site of the
mission), but gave it up the following year as unprofit-
able. It had been managed by "the famous Dr. Ballou,"
(Seton-Karr, 1887, p. 52), who was now replaced by
some young Swedes, Louis Carlsen and his brother, and
the Andersen brothers, Nils and Olaf. These men also
owned the schooner, Three Brothers.
"Having a good understanding with the Alaska
Commercial Company, they have set up a store at
Yakutat Bay, and another at Kaiak [on Wingham
Island, see p. 103], but the natives are not great fur-
hunters at these places, and their most profitable
trips are made on behalf of the Company." [Ibid., p.
140.]
[The log cabin store and living quarters for the
trader had been built on the mainland, opposite
the native village on Khantaak Island,] "for exactly
the same reason [Schwatka believed] that I pitched
my camp 300 or 400 yards away from them [the
natives]. They were seldom annoyed by Indians,
except those who wanted to buy something, and
this was surely annoyance enough, as I found out
afterward, when I had an opportunity for witnessing
some of their dickering." [Oct. 20, 1886.]
[The Swedish traders were happy at the arrival
of the Pinta. Carlsen] "expressed himself as very
pleased to see the man-o'-war, because the Indians
had lately become troublesome and threatening, but
now they would do whatever was required of them.
He had even been obliged to menace them with
the visit of a man-o'-war if they did not behave.
Our timely arrival had thus acted as a corroboration
of his threat. The Yakutats have lately been dis-
tilling a good deal of the vile spirit like vodki from
sugar, and have been so frequently drunk that the
traders were glad their store was as far removed
from the village as it was." [Seton-Karr, 1887, p. 53.]
[The Swedish traders seemed to regard the U.S.
Navy as a handy means of coercing the natives
to do what they wanted. When Seton-Karr went
with them to their post at "Kaiak" in Controller
Bay they wanted him to put on a uniform to impress
the Indians.]
"I was to parade as an officer from a man-of-war?
the only thing that keeps the Indians in awe. Among
the few trade articles calculated to take the Indian's
fancy that remained was a gold-braided cap and
military coat with brass buttons, exactly suitable,
and fitting to a nicety.
" 'We were telling the Indians,' said Olaf, who
was one of the three [White people at "Kaiak"] . . .,
'that the war-ship was coming, and would punish
them if they didn't behave themselves. They wanted
their big canoe to go to Oodiak [Eyak village],
but they will let us have it now to take us to Nu-
chuk. . . . The squaws may clear out when they see
the cap with the gold band, and are told that you
come from the big war-ship.' " [Ibid., pp. 144-146.]
"Coming ashore, I found the natives evidently
not deeply impressed by the presence in their midst
of a naval officer; the two decrepit men [the rest
were out hunting], the slovenly squaws, and half
naked children did not 'clear out,' but merely pointed
and whispered." [Ibid., p. 147.]
It is not, however, clear whether the undoubted
effectiveness of real naval officers in dealing with the
Tlingit was due solely to the fear which their terrible
military power could inspire. It may have been equally
due to their prestige as chiefs, surrounded by military
pomp, dressed in resplendent uniforms, attended by
obedient subordinates, and controlling obvious wealth.
Naval officers, as already pointed out, often took the
trouble to learn something of native customs and
could treat native chiefs with suitable protocol.
But if the Swedish traders were glad to see the
Pinta put into Port Mulgrave, the explorers were not
particularly happy to find them at Yakutat, for they
had understood that the Alaska Commercial Company
store was vacant and that the natives were still un-
accustomed to money as a medium of exchange. They
were afraid that they would have difficulty in using
the trade goods which they had brought to hire Indian
helpers. But as Seton-Karr observes (ibid., p. 54):
"it made no difference in the end, except entailing a
terrible amount of haggling, 'chin-music' as the lieu-
tenant [Schwatka] styled it, with the Yakutat Indians."
On their arrival, July 12, the party found the settle-
ment on Khantaak Island deserted except for "a
dejected wolfish-looking dog," for the natives were
almost all sealing in Disenchantment Bay (ibid., p. 50).
Peremptory blasts on the Pinta's whistle, however,
summoned a few canoes from houses on the mainland?
evidently the move towards the "Old Village" had
already started. In one canoe was a half-blind
shaman, with long hair, who was told to send a mes-
senger up the bay to get two large canoes and a crew
of six. The shaman explained that this would take two
days (ibid., p. 51). Seton-Karr (ibid., p. 56) suggests
that the chief may not have been far away, "but on
the sight of the war-vessel had hastily 'vacated the
situation' and left for 'parts unknown/ until satisfied
that she had not come to bombard his village."
Now began an irritating wait for the eager explorers,
which they blamed upon the dilatory tactics and
prevarication of the natives. The expedition proposed
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 189
to start for the mountain from "Icy Bay," and needed
a large Haida "war canoe" to go there, since this was
considered the only type of craft capable of carrying
the party and their equipment.
"Although the Yakutat clan [sic] of Thlinkets was
about the furthest away from the Hydah Indians
who manufactured these peculiar canoes?a distance
equal to from about New-York to Savannah?yet
it was pretty fairly known that these Yakutats had
two or three of the Hydah craft by intertribal barter
with the adjoining clans, mostly the Sitka clan, who,
fitting out in Sitka among the white men there
annually visited the Yakutats to barter for furs,
skins, and any Indian handicraft that was salable
among the white men." [Schwatka, Oct. 3, 1886.]
But when Chief Yen-at-set'l (YAn-'At-sel' 'Tears It
Up Completely,' probably referring to the Bear of the
Teqwedi sib) and a number of his men returned from
the head of Yakutat Bay, there was no large canoe.
One was, however, reported in a nearby lagoon, but
since the owner was at the sealing camp, another
messenger had to be sent to get his permission, entailing
a further delay of a day and a half, before word came
that it would be all right to take the canoe. Schwatka
was to furnish his own men, "which I had supposed
could be picked up at almost a moment's notice among
those around. After much delay a crew was secured to
send after the big Hydah craft." But the latter re-
turned to report it completely unusable, "and as if I
had doubted their word each and every one brought a
handful of rotten punk from the canoe's bottom to
verify their doleful story." Schwatka believed that
these men had known beforehand about its condition,
as did the messengers who went to see the owner. But
what was worse, "at the very time they were at the
head of Yakutat Bay there was another Hydah canoe
that could have been had for the asking and paying of
the usual price per diem or for the trip." That this
arrangement was not undertaken by the messenger,
was because the canoe belonged to a man of the wrong
clan (ibid.).
"Among the Yakutats, I understand, the highest
of the high castes is the dogfish family [Teqwedi of
Shark House]; to which the chief Yen-at-set'l be-
longs, and it was into the Semitic clutches of this
aristocracy that I fell when I got to bargaining for
my Hydah canoe for the Icy Bay trip, while it was
to some other clan (probably the tadpoles or chip-
munks of low caste) that the good canoe belonged,
and the royal blood would not deign to negotiate
with me for fear of contaminating their princely
caste by having to associate with their plebian
brethren." [Ibid.]
Schwatka is, of course, telling a good story. The
chief's or the messenger's reluctance to secure the other
canoe could not have been due to the low position of its
owner?in fact, he was probably a wealthy house chief
if he could afford such a canoe?but because Yen-at-
set'l probably saw no reason to promote any deal that
might benefit a rival. Or else Schwatka had simply told
the Indians too explicitely what to do, and they were
following his wishes to the letter, avoiding as long as
possible reports which would displease him. According
to Seton-Karr (1887, p. 56), the chief was not only
prevaricating, but was jealous of George, the "second
chief," whom he had sent as messenger.
Schwatka was also annoyed because, while the chief
had advised a landing at "Icy Bay," the owner of the
canoe, who had hunted about "Icy Bay" and the foot
of Mount Saint Elias, had freely expressed his opinion,
"without being asked for it, however," that the con-
templated ascent was not only impossible from that
side (as it proved to be), but that the attempt would
be very dangerous. In consequence, the Yakutat men
that Schwatka tried to hire as packers demanded three
to six times the rate established for Indian wages in
southeastern Alaska, harping upon the great hazards
to be encountered. They professed to doubt Schwatka's
promise that they would not be asked to go beyond the
foot of the mountain. The Indians were certainly ex-
ploiting the situation. The deadlock was broken when
Captain Nichols volunteered to take the expedition to
"Icy Bay;" and when a party of Sitka Indians who had
come to Yakutat to trade offered to go to "Icy Bay"
for about two-thirds or three-fourths of what was de-
manded by the Yakutat natives, although that was
still two or three times more than the usual rate of
pay at Sitka. The Yakutat men promptly underbid
the Sitkans, so that Schwatka finally was able to hire
them at the regular rates, "they making, even then
some slight concessions to ward off any offer that the
Sitkas might make" (Schwatka, Oct. 3, 1886).
Accordingly the Pinta took the party to what was
then "Icy Bay," where Lieutenant Emmons landed
them and their supplies through the surf. Schwatka
and Seton-Karr were, however, far more impressed
with the skill displayed by an Indian whom they called
"Bear Hunter" in landing the small Yakutat canoe
that Professor Libbey had purchased.
On their return, the party had great difficulty in
launching their boat from the beach, for it swamped
on their first attempt, even though a great deal of gear
had been left behind to lighten it. The Indians, who
were acknowledged as the only ones who really knew
how to handle small craft, brought them off success-
fully on the second try, and confessed that they had
been frightened before since the White men evidently
did not understand the danger (Schwatka, 1891,
p. 872).
We would admit that the Indian porters had earned
190 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
their wages. Their packs weighed from 50 to 60 pounds
(see also pp. 196,206), and they also carried the White
men over the first main glacial river. The latter after-
wards waded.
"[When on the glacier] The Indian frequently
stopped and pointed to his moccasins, which cer-
tainly were worn through; but to an Indian accus-
tomed to go barefoot over rough ground what did
that signify? However, to induce him to follow, he
had to be given a thick pair of woollen socks that
I happened to have. . . . Meanwhile the Indians
had been grumbling audibly. As translated by
Kersunk, the boy interpreter, their mutterings
signified that they would prefer to go no farther,
for their moccasins were worn out. . . . But after
a little persuasion there suddenly appeared, as if
by magic, and from whence it was impossible to
say, two new pairs of moccasins." [Seton-Karr, 1887,
pp. 90, 92.]
Seton-Karr gives us an interesting description of
the Yakutat chief, whom he calls "Noearpoo," the
same man as Schwatka's Yen-at-set'l, although "No-
earpoo" is not a Tlingit name, since the language
lacks both P and B. (Can it be YAnAc?ukw?) Seton-
Karr also mentions "George," as "the second chief."
The titles of head chief and second chief had been
created by the Russians and seem to have been taken
over rather uncritically by the Americans. An attempt
to identify these persons will be made later.
"Next morning [after the arrival of the Pinta]
'George,' the second chief, came on board, and was
followed soon by Noearpoo, the chief of the Yaka-
tats, dressed in a U.S.S. Adams riband and uniform,
presented to him when that vessel came to arrest
and bring to justice the murderer of two white men.
It appears that the latter had come to 'prospect'
for indications of gold, and that soon after their
arrival the Indian or Indians, for some fancied
grudge, had shot down both of them as they were
landing from their boat." [Ibid., pp. 54-55.]
[Seton-Karr may mistake the visit of the U.S.S.
Wachusset in 1881 to apprehend the muderer of
1880 (see pp. 182-186) with a visit of the U.S.S.
Adams on a later date; or were there two similar
murders?]
"Meanwhile the chief, with his gorgeous coloured
neckcloth and gold uniform, had been taken to
the captain's cabin, where, with the two interpreters,
we descended to interview him. After a long speech,
which he had evidently prepared beforehand, about
white men always speaking the truth and Indians
sometimes [see what is probably the correct version,
Libbey, New York Times, Nov. 16, 1886], he was
asked for information, . . .
"After more talk the captain presented him with
a U.S.S. Pinta riband to wear instead of the Adams
one, and the interview was over." [Ibid., pp. 55-56.]
[The chief, "Noearpoo" or "Yen-at-set'l," had
a flagpole in front of his house on Khantaak Island
(pi. 69), on which he ran up the flag as soon as
the expedition was seen approaching from "Icy
Bay," while the natives crowded the house tops to
watch. Seton-Karr (ibid., p. 124) who describes
the scene, is a little irritated.] "As we draw up on
the beach, crowds of Yakuat Indians, men, women,
and naked children, surround us. They have returned,
since we left, from seal hunting. Most of them have
their faces painted black or red, and stare intently
and silently without one of them offering to help
us."
[Apparently the chief is waiting in his house to
receive them.]
"We find the chief seated on a magnificent bear
robe by the side of his wife and daughter, and wear-
ing his uniform and the U.S.S. Pinta riband. The
crowd fills the house and still pours in by the small
circular opening called a door. The smoke ascends
through a hole in the roof, across which are hung
strings of dried salmon and salmon-trout." [Ibid.,
p. 124.]
Later, Seton-Karr sketched the chief's daughter in
oils.
"Several men were asked first to sit, and all
showed some reluctance, so I was surprised to find
the chief willing to allow his daughter to do so.
She is about fifteen years of age, and came escorted
by her husband and father-in-law, as well as by the
chief and his wife. I had to make brushes out of
bits of rope, the others being at Icy Bay. I kept her
sitting an hour, and gave her a looking-glass." [Ibid,
p. 126-127.]
A photograph of "Yen-aht-setl, chief of the Yaku-
tats," taken by Professor Libbey, was published in
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, June 21, 1890
(p. 422). He appears to have been a fine-looking,
vigorous and dignified man (pi. 62).
Yet Seton-Karr does not find the chief above begging
from the Whites, for while the schooner, Three Brothers,
on which he had started out for Kayak Island, was
waiting for the wind only two miles from the Yakutat
village, "a canoe shot out from the promontory con-
taining the chief and his wife. They had come to
beg! As the little schooner lay becalmed they thought
it a good opportunity to do so, unobserved by the
rest of the tribe" (Seton-Karr, 1887, p. 134).
We are also given considerable insight into trading
customs at Yakutat, and in particular in the ties
linking Yakutat with Sitka. As had been the experience
of every navigator to Port Mulgrave, they found the
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 191
Indians
"anxious to prolong the stay of the vessel [the
Pinta, while waiting the return of the messenger
from up the bay], for money soon began to be in
brisk circulation. Many curios were brought to the
ship's side and at once bought up by the officers
who were making collections of native objects. The
Indians too were now all the more desirous of money,
as a disreputable Indian woman, known as Mrs.
Toms, had made her way up from Sitka in a large
hydah or war-canoe, and was busy trading, and
supposed to be possessed of a large fortune amassed
by doubtful methods. The greater part of the articles
of native manufacture brought for sale consisted in
baskets of a variety of shapes, neatly plaited out
of roots, dyed different colours and designed in
different patterns; charms, carved walrus tusks,
bows and arrows, and horn spoons." [Ibid., p. 59.]
[The walrus tusks are puzzling; they must have been
procured in trade from the north, if, indeed, identifi-
cation of the specimens is correct.]
[Schwatka explains this trade with Sitka in more
detail:]
"I have spoken of the fact that the Sitka clan of
Indians sometimes fit out with trading material from
the white stores at Sitka and visit the Yakutat clan
for trading purposes, charging two and three prices
for their wares-?-a mild form of extortion that one
might think would justify the Yakutat in demanding
proportionate wages. At the very time of our arrival
at the Yakutat village there were two or three Hydah
canoes with men and trading material from Sitka,
bartering among the natives. . . .
"Among the Sitka Indians?in fact, at the head
of the trading expedition?was a character well
worth a brief description. This character was a female
with the Anglicized name of Mrs. Tom, a burley
Amazon of the Northwest that had ten times more
to say than females in those parts generally have;
and throughout all Thlinket-land the consent of a
squaw is needed by her husband to conclude any
arrangements that he may want to make, unless of
a very trivial and immediate nature, and even then
the by far "better half' can undo the contract. Mrs.
Tom was reputed to be worth some $4,000 or $5,000,
most of it in blankets (the Thlinket standard of
commercial valuation instead of the 85-cent dollar,)?
and with this at her bidding she more than lorded,
or ladyed, it over all her sex?and the other sex, too,
for that matter. She rejoiced in two husbands?if
more than one husband can be a source of rejoicing
to the average woman?and for the latter, who was
an ordinary slave before he became one of extraor-
dinary nature, it is said she paid something like $1,000
in goods and chattels?certainly a very low figure
considering the usual market price for husbands in
civilization. She was, in her youth, a Yakutat Prin-
cess, and this gave her influence in this clan, which
she improved to the utmost for trading and bartering
purposes. When she first arrived she gave forth that
she was bent on missionary work to convert the
Yakutats, but as she shortly after made some hoo-
chenoo (vile alcohol made by the natives from sugar
or molasses), from some of her trading material and
got on a prismatic spree, in which one of her husbands
blacked both her eyes, this line of attack was aban-
doned and she settled down to her trading with
unwanted energy." [Schwatka, Oct. 3, 1886.]
The important role played by Tlingit women in
trading had already been noted in 1788 by Captain
Douglas (Meares, 1790, p. 323). The high prices charged
by Mrs. Tom at Yakutat are not to be equated with
the extortionate demands made by Tlingit who enjoyed
the monopoly of middlemen between the White man
and some more remote interior people, although no
doubt she charged extra to compensate for the risks
and expense of the voyage. Mrs. Tom was a Yakutat
woman, trading with her relatives, and as will be seen,
the ties of kinship among the Tlingit necessitate the
"payment" of especially handsome reciprocal gifts in
exchange for initial presents (see pp. 481, 495). No
doubt Mrs. Tom was shrewdly capitalizing on this
situation. Already in 1893 she is described as "pos-
sessed of great wealth in silver dollars, and is one of
the shrewdest and richest traders in the Territory,
owning schooners and branch stores. Extensive adver-
tising has made her famous and raised the prices of her
goods, but few of the romantic histories current have
any foundation in truth." (Scidmore, 1893, p. 120.)
"The wealthiest Sitka is the 'Princess Tom,' whose
wealth in blankets, furs, and articles of vertue is esti-
mated from $20,000 to $45,000. Her skill as a trader is
freely conceded by all tourists" (Stevenson, 1893, p. 80,
note 1). Although known as a "Princess," she was not
of high rank and has been identified as Mrs. Emeline
Baker. She owned the schooner Active, which took
cotton, blankets, sugar and flour to Yakutat, and there
exchanged them for furs and curios, some of which had
come from the interior. These were resold at profit to
Sitka merchants (Knapp and Childe, 1896, pp. 103,
106-107).
According to Swanton (1909, p. 405), "Princess
Thorn, (Gadjl'nt)" was the sister of QIa'dustin, a
Kwac&qwan man from Yakutat who was living in
Sitka in 1904 when he told Swanton the story of his
sib's migration from the Copper River country to
Yakutat (Tale 105; summarized on pp. 241-242). He
was known to our informants as Sitka Jake, Q'atAsftn.
His sister, Qadjint, was a paternal aunt of Xadanel:
Johnstone, the father of one of our informants. When-
192 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
FIGURE 5.?"Princess Thom," sketched by John S. Bugbee.
(After Bugbee, 1895, p. 190.)
ever this K^ackqwan woman came to Yakutat from
Sitka she brought handsome presents to her Teqwedi
relatives by marriage. Her husband, Thom, Swanton
(1908, p. 439) mentions as "the Sitka chief," that is,
the ranking Wolf man invited from Sitka to a potlatch
at Chilkat shortly before Swan ton's visit in 1904. Was
he therefore Anaxuts, chief of the Sitka Kagwantan?
Schwatka's party were certainly eager to acquire
ethnological specimens at Yakutat, and we must re-
member that there were two important collectors on
board the Pinta: Professor Libbey, whose material
went to Princeton (pis. 109, etc.), and Lt. George T.
Emmons, whose Tlingit collections with their meticu-
lously detailed descriptions are now in all the major
museums of the United States. Seton-Karr (1887, p.
125) reports that on the return of the expedition from
"Icy Bay" to Khantaak Island:
"The last two days [August 3-4] have been con-
sumed in bargaining with the Indians in trading
material for curios (such as masks and arrows, spoons
of wild sheep and goat horns, charms, carved bones,
and baskets woven out of roots and grass), but in a
manner tedious and trying to the patience. Besides
salmon, and occasionally a small halibut, the Indian
squaws have been daily bringing clams, cockles,
crabs, and baskets of strawberries, salmon-berries,
and blueberries."
Prior to the departure for "Icy Bay," while negotia-
tions were still underway for the canoe, some one from
the Pinta or from Schwatka's party went out in a conoe
and found a shaman's grave, from which two sackfuls
of objects were taken, representing his "outfit" (pis.
170-177).65 This was not regarded as grave-robbing or
theft; it was justified by the consideration that the
things had been left to rot, and that since no Indian
would ever dare visit the grave (a misconception), the
loss would never be noticed or lamented. Lieutenant
Emmons is known to have acquired the contents of
many shamans' graves in different parts of Tlingit
territory. Such activity was common during this period,
but some "finds" were made by collectors that no one
could condone. Thus, Niblack (1890, p. 337) notes that
this same summer "white men robbed a cache of the
Klawak chief Tin-ga-ate of all its contents to the value
of over $2,000. The booty included five hundred
blankets, fifty wash bowls [used as feast dishes], thirty-
six mirrors, six valuable dancing robes, and many other
articles."
In this connection it may be significant that Seton-
Karr found all the native houses at Yakutat to be locked
up while the people were at sealing camp. Mrs. Shepard
in 1889 (1889, p. 278) tried to look into the chief's
house on Khantaak Island to see if there were totem
poles inside but found that "when he goes away he
locks his door behind him with a padlock and takes
the key, and was not at home when we called. Every
nook and cranny through which we might have peeped
was filled up in some way or other." On a small island
in the bay, she noted what was perhaps a shaman's
gravehouse, evidently rendered as secure as possible
against intrusion. It is described as "a deserted log
hut, a canoe, and a small square enclosure, tightly
boarded over, but into which we managed to peep.
In it we saw a bundle of what we thought were skins,
and a large chest or leathern trunk" (ibid., p. 230).
One hundred years has thus brought a great change
in the relation between Indians and Whites, for it is
the former who now have property that is irresistible,
and it is the latter who have to be watched and against
whom precautions must be taken to prevent the theft
of tempting treasures that seem to have been aban-
doned. On the other hand, the Indians are, with few
exceptions, to be trusted as honest. Although Schwatka
(Oct. 20, 1886) warns that they should never be paid in
advance, that even the small boys at Yakutat were
"as shrewd and exacting in all the bargains they made
as their elders," and that: "Another salient point in
their character is the perfect indifference with which
they will break their contracts," nevertheless, Schwatka
and his men did not seem to hesitate to leave valuable
equipment, including the goods with which his native
helpers were to be paid, in the house of the Yakutat
85
 The masks, rattles, and bracelets illustrated by Seton-Karr
(1887, pi. opp. p. 56) are inferior in style to those objects known
to have come from this grave. I believe that they represent the
stock-in-trade of some curio dealer in Sitka.
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 193
chief while the expedition was climbing Mount Saint
Elias. The large tent, blankets, clothing, and so forth,
were all safe on their return. Furthermore, on leaving
"Icy Bay" they had to leave behind a great deal of
equipment on the beach, to recover which they sent
back two Indians. As Seton-Karr reports (1887, p. 127):
"One of them, who owns a partly ruined hut there
[at "Icy Bay"], is bold looking, with an honest and
trustworthy as well as picturesque appearance. He is
one of the only two men who hunt bears in this neigh-
bourhood; the other is one of our Indians, 'the hunter,'
as we called him."
Others were also to pay tribute to Indian honesty
(see Russell, 1893, quoted p. 203).
Although Schwatka's party sometimes found the
natives' curiosity in their doings to be annoying, espe-
cially when the children were constantly hanging around
their tent on Khantaak Island, it is interesting that the
Indians did not go near the "observatory," a box of
instruments which Professor Libbey had screwed to a
tree. Seton-Karr (1887, p. 126) believed that this was
because "they consider it must be 'big medicine.' "
Whatever the reason, we see here a great contrast
with the behavior displayed toward Malaspina's instru-
ments. It is clear, however, that as soon as the Indians
come to regard the Whites as friends, they treat them
as such, and this means entering the house or the tent
of a friend with complete freedom, without knocking
or announcement, since such respect for spacial privacy
is not part of the aboriginal code of good manners.
Thus when the chief visited the camp and was given
some pilot bread and bacon, "Rows of brown naked
children, with black beady eyes, sit round four deep
and watch every operation with an intense and speech-
less interest" (ibid., p. 125).
Schwatka's party was offered the hospitality of the
chief's house on their return from Mount Saint Elias,
although they declined, and this seems to have been
not an unusual kindness at this time, as we shall see
from accounts of later expeditions.
That friendly relations were preserved to the end of
Schwatka's stay at Yakutat is extraordinary, for a
tragedy occurred which might have led to further
deaths. While camped near the edge of the Malaspina
Glacier, John Dalton had put some arsenic in a baking
powder can or yeast can in order to prepare some
poisoned bait for foxes or wolves. An Indian had found
the can, still partly full, which Dalton had carelessly
thrown away. Professor Libbey took it from the Indian,
trying to explain the deadly nature of its contents, but
gave it to Dalton to destroy. The latter simply hid the
can, and the Indian, with what Seton-Karr called
"his thievish propensities," (1887, p. 130), had found
and kept the tin, "concealing it this time in another
Indian's bundle. . . . " A t any event, it was finally
brought back to Yakutat where it was found and used
by some Indians in baking bread. The man himself
had meanwhile gone back to Icy Bay where he intended
to trap all winter.
The Whites first discovered what had happened to the
arsenic on August 7, only a few days after their return
to Port Mulgrave, when some Indian women came to
them, ostensibly to trade curios, but bringing the fatal
can and wondering what was the matter with the
"baking powder" since all who had eaten the bread
made with it were sick. These were "Bear Hunter," who
had been with the expedition, his wife, their three
children, and a Sitkan.
Professor Libbey recognized the can and immediately
explained to the chief, through the interpreter, what had
happened. According to Professor Libbey's dispatch to
the New York Times (Nov. 16, 1886); the chief replied
by saying "that white men lied, that Indians sometimes
lied, but that he never lied." He had promised Captain
Nichols of the Pinto, to take care of them and would do
so. He realized, he said, that the Whites had been care-
ful?we would surely blame them, especially if, accord-
ing to Professor Libbey's own statement, the can was
taken a second time from the Indian and still not de-
stroyed! The blame was the Indian's, the chief admitted,
but he was sorry to lose his friend.
The Whites did what they could to help the sick, who
were all lying in the chief's house, although the Profes-
sor's medicine chest had been left at "Icy Bay." One
child apparently died almost immediately, and was
cremated behind the village the next day. Meanwhile,
Professor Libbey set the interpreter to making strong
coffee and, to induce vomiting, gave each patient a
feather from an eagle wing that was hanging in the
chief's house. Although all drank the coffee, only
the Sitkan and the two remaining children would
use the feathers, perhaps because they had more faith
in the White man's knowledge. They felt better after a
few hours, so "Bear Hunter" and his wife agreed to follow
the same treatment. Professor Libbey believes that this
might have saved them, had not the medicine man been
called in. His treatment, together with the fact that the
other inmates of the house, including the couple's own
son, were afraid to share their food or even the hot
water from their kettle with the suffering man and his
wife, resulted in the deaths of the latter on the third day.
The callous behavior of the other members of the house-
hold was due to terror of contamination through any-
thing shared with those who had been so mysteriously
stricken. From what one informant told me about the
death of an older brother who had eaten "poisoned
seaweed" on Khantaak Island, I believe that there may
have been another victim of this arsenic poisoning, one
who died at sealing camp and whose fate was therefore
not known to Schwatka's party. There was a suspicion
194 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
of witchcraft in this man's death. This might explain the
behavior of those associated with "Bear Hunter" and
his wife.
Descriptions of the shamanistic seances written by
Seton-Karr and Professor Libbey will be found on
pages 720-722.
Even after these tragic deaths there seem to have
been no threats or accusations leveled at Schwatka's
party, not even a demand for indemnity, which the
relatives of the deceased might have been expected
to make. We gather that the Sitka man and the two
children survived.
It was on August 14, only a week after the poison-
ing, that Schwatka, Wood, and Kersunk went with
an Indian, "Yeet-shwoo-doo-kook," also known as
"Gums" M from his grin, on a five day canoe trip
through the Ankau lagoon system to Lost River, and
perhaps beyond. There was apparently no hint of
unpleasantness from the two parties of Tlingit en-
countered in the Ankau lagoon (Schwatka, Oct. 26,
1886). Although fear of reprisal from the Pinta, which
was due to return early in September, might have
prevented any actual attack on the Whites, it would
certainly not have suppressed bitter accusations,
threats, or sullen behavior. There is no mention of this,
although the Whites were evidently worried when the
poisoning was first discovered, for the two Swedish
traders hastened in their dory to stand by Schwatka
and his men as soon as they heard the news (Seton-
Karr, 1887, p. 131). Perhaps the shaman convinced
the village that no ordinary human hand was to blame.
Topham (1888)
In July 1888, a new expedition came to attack
Mount Saint Elias, but again without reaching the
summit. This was led by Harold W. Topham and his
brother, both British Alpinists, who were accompanied
by George Broke, and by William Williams, an Ameri-
can; four Sitka Indians and two miners, Harry Lyons
and Shorty MacConahy, served as porters. The party
came up to Yakutat from Sitka on a rather unsea-
worthy fishing schooner, the Alpha, chartered for that
purpose.
If in what Topham writes about Yakutat and its
inhabitants we detect the condescending tones of the
Victorian English gentleman, secure in his established
position and conscious of his ablutionary superiority
88
 Identified a,3 Jimmy Jackson (1861-1948), a Kwackqwan
man knownas"Kook-sook-eish," i.e., KusAx"kw-'ic or QusAt!kw-'ic
(Frank Johnson, letter of January 1, 1965).
over the heathen, we must remember that he is address-
ing the Royal Geographical Society and the readers of
the London Alpine Journal, not anthropologists.
Williams, writing for Scribners, displays more sympa-
thetic interest in the natives. Together, their stories
amplify our picture of Yakutat in the late 1880's.
Thus according to Topham:
"Yakutat is an Indian village consisting of five
houses, which afford shelter to 250 natives. That the
place is extremely offensive to a white man's nose need
not be stated. Provided that a government gunboat
has been along the coast shortly before your visit the
people will be friendly; if it has not, you had better
keep away" (1889 b, p. 347).
When the schooner came into Port Mulgrave, "the
chief had raised his flag, and all the inhabitants were
congregated around the village . . ." (ibid.). Of this
chief, presumably the same as "Yen-at-set'l" and
"Noearpoo," Williams (1889, p. 389) observes: "The
chief, Billy, is quite friendly, and will allow one, if
without shelter, to spend several days in his house. If
he expects anything in return, he will say so before-
hand."
Nothing is said about the Swedish traders, so pre-
sumably they had left Yakutat; rather: "At Yakutat
we found a Mr. de Groff, who was trading with the
inhabitants, and acted as our interpreter for us in our
negotiations with them" (Topham, 1889 b, p. 347).
Edward de Groff was a leading merchant of Sitka.
He was known at Yakutat as KBnisnu-'ic, 'Killisnoo's
Father,' because he was in charge of the Northwestern
Trading Company that had an establishment at
Killisnoo near Angoon (de Laguna, 1960, p. 162).
Later he also became President of the Chichagofi
Gold Mining Company, and in 1900 U.S. Commis-
sioner at Sitka. Minnie Johnson remembered him as
the skipper for the Northwestern Trading Company
who used to visit Khantaak Island when the village
was there. Her father, who died in 1888, bought a
big doll for her and an accordion for her older brother
from de Groff. He is said to have photographed "Bear
Bit Billy" (1862-1902), a K>ackqwan man of Fort
House, while the latter was lying wounded after his
encounter by the bear, although the picture is ascribed
to Taber of San Francisco (pi. 81).
Since Topham wished to hire some local Indians, in
addition to the four whom he had brought from Sitka,
and to secure a canoe, the explorers and de Groff paid
"a state visit to the chief, who had donned his best
clothes for the occasion. He had on an evening dress
waistcoat and trousers, and a naval cap; and he
stood, surrounded by his dirty family, at the foot
of some feather mattresses, on which he requested
us to be seated. He was much more interested in
our clothes than in answering our questions about
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 195
canoes and men; but he made great promises of
assistance, more in fact, than he had the power to
keep, and he made us promise, on our part, to give
him, upon our return, so many of our clothes that
we should have been reduced to a state of nature if
we afterwards adhered to our word." [Topham,
1889 b, p. 347.]
Topham is apparently not bothered by his own
insincerity because he feels that the chief was also
promising what he knew he could not perform (Topham
1889 a, p. 426), yet it is possible that the amiable
chief was not so much trying to deceive his White
visitors as to please them by saying what was agreeable.
Topham hired "Gums" who had been with Schwatka
in 1886, but then encountered difficulties and delays.
As he observed: "An Indian will notbehurried" (1889 b,
p. 347). And further:
"Before deciding upon a thing Indians have to do
a lot of talking. They talk the matter over with their
families, and with the medicine man. Of these last
there had been two in the settlement, but one of
them, luckily for us, disappeared in a rather curious
way. He went out in his canoe halibut fishing, and a
very large halibut took his bait?and it took the
doctor too. Neither fish nor doctor were ever seen
again." [Topham, 1889 a, p. 426.]
One reason for the reluctance of the Yakutat natives
to settle quickly on Topham's terms was that the
latter, while in Sitka, had hired and subsequently
discharged a native from Juneau nicknamed "Dick the
Dude."67 He was a "mission Indian," who built what
has been described as "almost the best house in Sitka,"
at the northern end of the Indian settlement, giving for
it a house-building potlatch in 1892 which cost about
$500 (Stevenson, 1893, p. 82). This man had sent ad-
vanced word to Yakutat, via some Indians who came in
a canoe to visit friends, that some wealthy "King
George Men" were on their way, who were very anxious
to hire packers and would pay good wages. Topham
believed that it was partly in anticipation of his arrival
that the Yakutat natives had delayed starting their
annual sea otter hunt (it was then early in July).
Although Williams (1889, p. 389) reports that: "The
inhabitants evinced a sort of stupid interest at our
coming . . ." yet they "stood out for three dollars a
day for some time," which was the wage for White
men, not for Indians. Because his four Sitkans and his
two white porters made him relatively independent of
local labor, as the Yakutat realized, Topham finally got
the latter to come to terms, but not before he had
threatened to go away if they did not supply men and
67
 Is this George Dick, "Don-Nah-icth," or DAna-'ic, 'Dollar
Father,' who was a song leader at the Sitka potlatch of Decem-
ber 9, 1904? (Cf. pi. 210d and pi. 211Z).
canoes at once. Thus, he was able to rent two large
Haida canoes, bought a small forked-prow canoe "of
the Yakutat pattern" (Topham, 1889 b, p. 348),
hired four natives for two dollars a day, and two more
White men for three dollars a day. This difference in
rate prevailed despite the accepted dictum that Indians
"are generally capable of carrying heavier loads than
white men . . ." (Williams, 1889, p. 387), for they
could not yet be trusted as equally reliable.
Now the party was ready to start for "Icy Bay," but
the Indians reported the weather unfavorable. Although
admitting that he had to rely on their judgment in such
matters, Topham ordered them to go. ". . . the village
has turned out en masse to see us depart, and the chief,
in his robes of state with his infant son in his arms, is
standing at the edge of the water, so that he may be in-
cluded in the photograph which de Groff is to take"
(Topham, 1889 b, p. 348). The scene illustrated in
Williams (1889, p. 391) is based on this photograph
(pi. 70). Around the point, the Indians again proph-
esied what Topham understood was a storm, and de-
manded to return, just so they could be present at a
feast in the village that night, Topham thought. Williams,
while describing their conduct as "aggravating,"
explains that they were waiting for a favorable breeze
because they (understandably) preferred sailing to
paddling 55 miles, although the Whites were more con-
cerned to land while the surf was low than when whipped
up by a southeast wind. Nevertheless, they did turn
back, and the Whites spent a miserable time ashore,
"surrounded by dirt and dogs. These dogs are every-
where; they are innumerable. They steal everything
they can get at and are very clever in their methods of
searching after food," even digging under the walls of
the tent if they could not force the door (Topham,
1889 b, p. 348).
Next morning, the expedition started in earnest.
Although the Indians could not understand the White
man's hurry: "We finally succeeded in making them do
as we pleased by threatening to proceed in the Alpha"
(Williams, 1889, p. 390). A favorable breeze gave the
party the delightful experience of sailing, and of seeing
the skill with which the Indians landed the canoes in
spite of the surf (see Williams' description on page 343).
Landing was made at the delta of the Yahtse (Yase')
River, whence one canoe and its crew were to return to
Yakutat. The Indians wanted to stay to fish, and, more-
over, Topham had promised that they would be paid
so much a day until they reached home. Finally a com-
promise was achieved, whereby the Indians were to be
paid for three more days; they could leave when they
liked, but were not to depend on the expedition for food.
Now the party began to ascend the course of the
Yahtse River, "Gums" leading the way by virtue of
his prior experience with Schwatka. Topham complained
196 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
that at first the Indians laid down their packs every
few hundred yards. He ordered them not to stop until
he himself did so. This seemed to work well until they
came to an irresistable strawberry patch, where the
natives (and I imagine the Whites, too) gorged for
20 minutes. That the Indians may have been glad of
a rest is understandable, since Williams reports: "Our
native packers carried from seventy to ninety pounds,
our white men from sixty to eighty" (1889, pp. 390-
392).
The party also had to cross glacial streams. "Curi-
ously enough the Indians seemed to prefer wading to
walking over dry ground. The first day out, they took
us through deep water no less than ten times in the
course of half an hour, much of which could have been
avoided, as we subsequently found, by making a
short detour through the woods." (Ibid., p. 401.) The
jovial "Gums," in fact, apparently found it amusing
to trick the Whites in this way, especially since he
told the miner, Shorty, who used to wade barefoot,
that they had passed the last stream, and as soon as
the latter had resumed his boots, led him across three
more! It is evident that the hardy conditioning which
the native men had undergone since childhood enabled
them to stand much more cold than the Whites could
tolerate.
" 'Gums' was in his element. He thoroughly enjoyed
the water, and sometimes he would stand half-way
across a stream with the water up to his chest, with
his arms folded, and with a grin of delight upon his
huge gums, waiting calmly whilst the rest of us shivered
across" (Topham, 1889 b, p. 352). On the return
journey, when the river was very high and wading was
so difficult that the shortest Indian had to be relieved
of his load, lest he be swept off his feet, "Gums"
crossed the stream, dropped his pack on the bank,
"and returned to the deepest part where he literally
took a bath with all his clothes on and seemed to re-
joice in our unsuccessful efforts at finding a shallow
place for crossing. The water coming directly from the
glacier was so cold that we white men were only too
glad to get out of it, but its temperature seemed to
have no disagreeable effect on the Indians" (Williams,
1889, p. 401).
The Indians also proved themselves capable of
negotiating the ice, for they helped to carry supplies
up the Agassiz Glacier (a branch of the Malaspina)
to a campsite at the base of the Chaix Hills.
"Most of our Indians had never been on ice be-
fore, yet they carried their loads of eighty or ninety
pounds over rough and slippery places with com-
parative ease; more than once we took great pains
to cut steps across an ice-slope to prevent anyone
from slipping; but they generally disdained using
them, crossing either just above or just below where
we had prepared the way. They refused to wear
the shoes with nails he had provided for them,
preferring their moccasins; several reached camp
one night with bleeding feet, but they nevertheless
persisted in using their own footgear. We subse-
quently discovered that one of their objects in so
doing was to avoid wearing out good shoes in our
service." [Williams, 1889, p. 393.]
Their concern to acquire or preserve White man's
footgear reminds us of Schwatka's experience. Yet we
must also recognize that stiff-soled leather boots would
have been intolerable to feet that had never worn
anything heavier than soft moccasins.
Nevertheless, the Indians did not like the glacier.
Two were left at the upper camp with George Broke,
who had suffered an accident, while the remaining
Whites made their unsuccessful attempt to scale
Mount Saint Elias. The two Sitkans were not happy
that they had been chosen to remain because they
were the most reliable, and envied those who had been
sent back to the shore.
"They expressed a decided desire to go no farther;
they said they were afraid, and spent the greater part
of the time during our absence in chanting mourn-
fully. When asked why they chanted, they answered,
'Indians have sick tumtum, and want go home.'
The word tumtum means a variety of things, from
a bootjack up to the soul. This time it meant 'mind,
spirit,' and implied weariness." [Topham, 1889 a,
p. 429.]
There seems to have been no difficulty at launching
the two canoes at "Icy Bay." The large one carried
12 men, all the baggage, and the remaining food; the
smaller Yakutat canoe held only 4 men. They reached
Yakutat on the morning of August 8, after sailing
and paddling about 14 hours. The Indians were glad
to return, but we do not know if they were satisfied
with their wages, or if the chief was satisfied with what
Topham may have left him in fulfillment of the original
bargain.
We should note that Topham's manner, which seems
to have been rather autocratic and peremptory, may
have prevented him from receiving information of value.
Thus, after his return to Port Mulgrave, having failed
to reach the summit from the south side:
"I was told subsequently by George, the second
chief at Yakutat, that he had once made a journey
after goats towards the north of the peak, and that
the northern sides were much less steep than the
southern, and were covered with snow. He landed
further west than we did, near a river similar to the
Yahtse'-tah [Duktoth River?], and made three days'
journey inland over ice. It is characteristic of the
Indian character that he never said a word of this
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 197
till our return to Yakatat. Until the Indians are
sure of your good intentions, they will give you no
help." [Topham, 1889 a, p. 432.]
Of course, it is possible that Topham neglected to
ask George for bis advice. However, the latter did tell
Topham about the ancient village which was over-
whelmed by the glacier in Icy Bay (see p. 286).
Williams sums up the character of the Yakutat as
follows:
"The average Indian is a competent being, though
it takes some time to discover his good points. He is
quick at grasping ideas, and is especially good at
imitating what others have done. But it requires great
patience in dealing with him, the more so since he
deals with the white man at arm's length. He is
exceedingly distrustful, nor does he cease to be so
until he has become thoroughly convinced of the
honest intentions of the stranger." [1889, p. 393.]
Skill at imitation is probably a result of the native
methods of education, that stress watching and doing
on the part of the child, rather than following purely
verbal instructions. Quiet listening is also better than
asking questions (see pp. 508-514).
Since the Alpha, which was supposed to pick them
up, was delayed, the expedition split up for the return
to Sitka. Williams took advantage of the unexpected
chance to go back on the Active, "a small schooner
which was already crowded with miners" (Williams,
1889, pp. 401-402). A week later another member
went in a native canoe, the voyage taking 7 days.
At Sitka, the Leo, a schooner with auxiliary engine,
was chartered to fetch the remainder of the party.
This vessel sprang a leak in a gale and had to return
to Yakutat for repairs, so did not reach Sitka until
September 17.
Miners, Missionaries, and the U.S.S. Rush
(1888-90)
Although members of Topham's expedition were in
and out of Yakutat over a period of 2 months during
what is reported to have been the height of the gold
excitement, we hear little about it from them, other
than that two miners were extracting $20 a day in
gold from the black sands of Khantaak Island (Top-
ham, 1889 a, p. 426). In reviewing the events of the
preceding decade, the Census of 1890 (Porter, 1893,
p. 230) reports that these gold-bearing sands had been
discovered in 1887 and that the next spring some 40
to 50 prospectors went to Yakutat. They staked out
many claims that summer and the next, then all but
abandoned the ground. This was because a storm
piled the beach with dead dogfish, the oil from which
saturated the sand and prevented the use of mercury
to extract the gold, and soon after another storm
washed away most of the beach. Still, in July 1891,
three miners were working the sands, and sluiced out
about $3,000, getting as much as $90 in 10 hours'
work.
There is also a report of gold-bearing sands found
earlier, resulting in a flurry of excitement in 1886-87.
This may have been at Logan Beach above Knight
Island, or at Black Sand Island off the mouth of the
Situk (Porter, 1893, p. 53; Tarr and Butler, 1909,
p. 165). Seton-Karr had visited the black sands on
Khantaak Island in 1886, and reports that the pros-
pectors who had previously come up on a naval vessel
became discouraged when some of their party acci-
dentally drowned shortly after their arrival, so that
the rest simply returned to Sitka (1887, p. 55). If
sluicing gold during the summer of 1888 had seemed
very profitable it is unlikely that Topham could have
hired four miners as porters. We should note that
already by August 15, the schooner that took Wil-
liams back to Sitka was filled with miners leaving the
area. The boom was evidently over.
John Dalton who had served as camp hand for
Schwatka had either remained in Yakutat or had
returned, for Topham mentions (1889 a, p. 425) his
discovery of coal fields up Yakutat Bay in 1887.
These were above Esker Creek near Bancas Point,
where Dalton and his partner or partners sank several
shallow shafts to reach the veins of lignite, before
abandoning the project. Russell in 1891 was to seak
shelter in the cabin which these miners had built and
abandoned (Russell, 1893, p. 67).
Prospectors were evidently moving freely about the
country, for Topham (1889 a, p. 425) met a miner who
had traveled alone from Dry Bay to Yakutat. Dalton
and a companion, while prospecting for gold, had gone
above Haenke Island to the head of Disenchantment
Bay, and apparently into Russell Fiord, the first White
men to do so (Russell, 1893, p. 84).
The miners at Yakutat certainly produced effects
on the native population at Yakutat, even though we
cannot specify these exactly. One of the prospectors,
Steve Gee, stayed to marry a Kwacli:qwan girl, Annie
(1877-1915), and this same man, in 1917 or 1918, is
said to have built the first jail at Yakutat for the
Reverend Axelson, who was also U.S. Commissioner.
Other miners doubtless established relations with
native girls; in fact, it was not long before White men
came to have the reputation of falsely promising
marriage, or a permanent alliance, only to abandon
their child and the mother, even though there were
men with more sense of responsibility. Some of the
native women on Khantaak Island apparently earned
198 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
something by washing the prospector's clothes.
Not all intercourse between the Indians and the
miners was on an amicable basis, even though Topham
and Williams give no information about this. However,
Mrs. Shepard, visiting Yakutat in the fall of 1889 on
board her husband's ship, the U.S. revenue cutter
Rush, reports that two White men had been murdered
in 1887, if indeed, she is correct about the date and is
not confusing this incident with the murders of 1880.
"Two years ago [1887] there were two white men
wantonly murdered a few miles from Yakutat. They,
with two Indians, had gone out on a hunting ex-
pedition. Their wood gave out and the two white
men went a short distance from their camp, together
in a boat, to procure some, leaving their guns behind
them. On returning they were met by the two In-
dians, who fired upon them with then- own guns,
killing one of them instantly, the other, still par-
tially alive, was finished with the stab of a knife.
One of the Indians was caught, taken to Portland,
tried and hanged; but the principal one, it is rumored,
is still at large. The second chief of the Yakutat
tribe (I did not learn his name), of the smiling coun-
tenance, went to Portland and testified against the
murderer who was hanged. It was an event which
forever afterward raised him to pre-eminence in the
eyes of the rest of the tribe." [Shepard, 1889, p. 232.]
The Reverend Albin Johnson, missionary at Yakutat
from 1889 to 1905, tells almost the same story but
without giving any date (Johnson, 1924, pp. 115-116).
The murdered White men had been prospecting for
gold when they were killed, and when the two natives
were seized by the U.S. warship they confessed their
crime. The chief who went to Portland, Oregon, to see
them hanged was George "Naa-kaa-nee," i.e., nakani,
'sib brother-in-law.' This is not a proper name, but
denotes a chief's relative who, by virtue of his marriage
to a woman of importance in another sib, is chosen
to act as go-between, peace-maker, ambassador, or
chief of protocol, in some ceremony involving his own
sib and that of his wife (see pp. 494-495). My inform-
ants identified him as the Kwackqwan chief, known as
Yakutat Chief George Yaxodaqet (pi. 64), who be-
came the most important man in Yakutat after the
death of the Teqwedi chief Yanatcho, or Minaman (see
p. 201). Yakutat Chief George Yaxodaqet is evidently
"George, the second chief," of other writers, although
the natives gave the name "George Second Chief" to
his younger brother, Qa'A, who is said to have died
"crazy from too much religion." His older brother died
about 1903. Reverend Johnson reports that Chief
George was noted as a friend of the Whites and es-
pecially of the missionaries, a brave and skillful hunter.
It is surprising that no mention is made by Topham
and Williams of the beginnings of the Mission at
Yakutat. According to the Reverend Hamilton, whom
I knew at Yakutat in 1949 and 1954, the Covenant
Mission was started by one of two men from Sweden
who had originally wished to go to Siberia as mission-
aries. Unable to enter Siberia from Sweden, they came
to Alaska, but also failed here to get the necessary
permission to go to Siberia. One, the Reverend Axel
Karson, went to Unalaklik, an Eskimo village on Norton
Sound, while the other, Reverend Adolf Lydell, came
to Yakutat. This was in the spring of 1887. The sect
which they represented had been founded in 1878 in
Sweden by a number of congregations in revolt against
the State Lutheran Church; it spread to the Swedish
colonists in America, and became established with head-
quarters in Chicago in 1884-85, as the Evangelical
Mission Covenant Church of America. I t emphasizes
individual religious experience leading to salvation, the
supreme authority of the Bible, and the relative inde-
pendence of each congregation. Services are charac-
terized by individual testmonials and public confessions
volunteered by members of the congregation.
Lydell remained at Yakutat through the summer of
1887 and went outside in the fall, returning the following
summer. He had to leave again for reasons of health.
Apparently the Reverend K. J. Hendrickson had come
with him, but remained behind.
Minnie Johnson reported that Mr. Lydell purchased
the log trading post from "Doc" (i.e., Doctor Ballou,
the trader). There is further evidence that this trader
was in Yakutat during the summer of 1888, for her
father, who died of tuberculosis that year, sold his sea
otter bow and arrows to "Doc" in exchange for a pair
of copper-toed shoes for his little daughter.
On May 11, 1889, the Reverend Albin Johnson
arrived in Yakutat to take the place of the ailing Lydell
whom he had met in Portland on his way north.
Johnson was to stay in Yakutat for 17 years, the longest
period of service for any preacher attached to the
Mission, yet I judge that Hendrickson, because of his
skills as carpenter and his energy, made more impres-
sion on the natives. Others attached later to the Mission
and remembered by our informants were Gustavensen
who helped Hendrickson build the church, Miss Selma
Peterson who came as cook and teacher, Mrs. Albin
Johnson (Agnes Wallin), who came all the way from
Jankaping, Sweden, in May, 1891, and who "couldn't
speak a word of English." Miss Carlsen is also men-
tioned as a teacher, and Paul Page, a native trained
at the Sheldon Jackson school at Sitka, for a time
acted as interpreter (Jackson, 1894, pp. 15-16; 1903,
p. 47).
Johnson's first impressions of Yakutat were not
favorable, for, as soon as the little schooner arrived
that had brought him from Juneau, "the savages?
copper-colored, dirty, and badly clad?climbed aboard
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 199
in swarms, begging "Thlinket, Haete, Nowu, Haete,
Nowu; Haete Kunse, Haete Kunse?Give us liquor
[ha 'At nauwu], Give us tobacco [ha 'At gantci]"
(Johnson, 1924, p. 21).
The missionaries began at once to improve their
quarters, and when Mrs. Shepard visited Yakutat the
following year she found a small garden in which beets,
turnips, potatoes and carrots were thriving (Shepard,
1889, p. 230). Later, quite a few of the converts,
according to my informants, had similar garden plots,
although Johnson complained (1924, p. 51) that they
did not really take to agriculture.
The two "kindly looking, noble men," Johnson and
Hendrickson, had had, according to Mrs. Shepard,
"much trouble in establishing their mission; there
was a scarcity of lumber and their house was too
small. At the time I was there they were able to
accomodate only five Indian boys. The only way
to do the Indians any good was, as has been proved,
to keep them entirely under their supervision.
. . . I could not but admire those humble good
men, so far from their native land, staking their
very lives for the salvation of these poor degraded
beings. I asked one of them, 'Mr. H?, do you feel
safe among these Indians?' 'Hardly safe,' he replied,
'though I do not fear them. One day not long ago,'
he continued, 'one of them came to me and wanted
to use my grindstone; it was Sunday, so I refused
him, whereupon he said he would kill me. He had
an axe in one hand and a knife in the other. I told
him he could kill me, I was helpless; and he walked
away. They are like dogs; had I shown fear he would
have killed me.' " [Mrs. Shepard recalls that Dr.
Duncan of Metlakatla had told of a similar experi-
ence.] "These Indians admire courage and will
seldom kill but the craven or coward, right out in
the broad light of day. Their usual method is to
steal upon the victim unawares and shoot from
behind and ambush." [Shepard, 1889, pp. 231-232.j
Before the church and mission buildings were finished,
meetings were held in the big native houses on Khantaak
Island, using each in turn, and an effort was made to
train children who could serve as interpreters.
According to the Census of 1890, the Swedish Free
Missionary Society had at Yakutat a church worth
$1,200, with 17 native and 3 White communicants
(Porter, 1893, p. 183).
"In 1890 this institution reported 2 male teachers
and 28 pupils, 17 boys and 11 girls, with an average
daily attendance of 20 for 312 days of tuition. The
new mission and school building built in 1891 is 45
by 35 feet and 2 stories high [housing the church,
dining room and kitchen on the ground floor, with
the boys' dormitory and teachers' room above]. The
chief obstacle which confronts the teacher of native
children is the indifference of the natives and the very
irregular attendance of the pupils, and these diffi-
culties are very hard to overcome in the Yakutat
school." [Ibid., p. 189.]
Albin Johnson describes a number of events, such as
the first conversion, that of a cripple named Satshrook,
who was baptized Ned Swanson; the first Christmas at
the mission; a potlatch on Eliantaak Island in 1890
(?, see p. 650) given by the chief "Jana-Shoo" (see
"Yanatcho" of Mrs. Shepard, below); adoption of a
6-year old orphan girl, Datt-sherke, baptized Esther;
an outbreak of religious hysteria or "shouting" in the
winter of 1890 (see pp. 724-725); the establishment of
the sawmill and the native reaction to this. However,
because these and other incidents occurred during the last
decade of the 19th century, they are remembered by
some of my informants, and it seems more appropriate
to combine Johnson's accounts and descriptions with
those of the natives.
I have already had occasion to quote from Mrs.
Shepard who visited Yakutat in 1889. In September
of that year, her husband's ship, the U.S. revenue
steamer Rush, on which she had just made a trip to
the Aleutian Islands, was ordered to Yakutat. This
was because the schooner, Alpha, was overdue at Sitka
and was feared wrecked. This was the same schooner
that had failed to pick up Topham's party the previous
summer. The delay in 1889 had been caused by a
shortage of provisions, and by disputes between the
captain, the trader on board, and Mr. H., a photog-
rapher from Taber's in San Francisco. Since Captain
Shepard found the schooner to be also unseaworthy,
she was left behind at Yakutat, and the Rush took all
on board back to Sitka. Mrs. Shepard has given some
spirited descriptions of Yakutat, although probably
not all her information is accurate. She was the first
White woman to come to this area, unless we except
the mysterious woman that native tradition reports as
the sole survivor of a wreck west of Icy Bay (see
pp. 233, 256).
It is clear that the visit of a Government vessel was
still not an event to be welcomed without reservation
by all of the natives.
"We were told by a person who understood
Thlinket, that when the Rush first appeared at
Yakutat there was great alarm among the Indians
for fear of punishment, the making of liquor being
prohibited. Their consciences troubled them. Some
little time before a party of Copper River Indians
had come on a visit: they had made a great deal of
'hoochinoo' (the native liquor) and had had a grand
time. Each chief was anxious to lay the blame on
the other." [Shepard, 1889, p. 228.]
[The natives soon overcame their timidity, how-
ever, and hardly gave the people on board the
200 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
steamer any privacy, behavior which naturally
Mrs. Shepard found very trying.] "I will mention
here that the Indians in the village spent all of the
time we stayed in the harbor aboard the Bush.
On more intimate acquaintance they grew bolder
and would follow us into our private apartments in
a most provoking manner." [Ibid., p. 224.]
[The personnel on the Rush were eager to purchase
Yakutat baskets, since these were considered to be
the finest made by the Tlingit, and Yakutat was
also known as a source of mountain goat and bear
skins.] "We found some good basket-work, but at
high prices. These Indians seemed as shrewd as
those at Sitka at bargaining. Several of the lieuten-
ants [from the Rush] found some pretty baskets at
the small store just opened, three mountain-goat
skins, and one of them a blanket of eagle's breast-
feathers, which made the rest of us green with
envy." [[bid., pp. 220-221.]
[Although there was no regular service between
Yakutat and Sitka,] "trading schooners [come] up
once in a while. The Pinta, the naval vessel stationed
at Sitka, runs up occasionally, that is all." [Ibid,
p. 231.] [However,] "A branch store from Sitka had
been opened recently at Yakutat and was doing
well. . . . We inquired of the storekeeper if he could
trust the Indians? he said 'Yes.' and added, 'in
almost every case where he had allowed them to
have clothing with an agreement to pay when they
had money they had faithfully fulfilled their prom-
ise." [Ibid., p. 230.]
"The Yakutat Indians, like those at Sitka, all
understand what 'How much?' means, and never by
any chance make a mistake and confuse two and
three dollars. They dislike to change money, the
greater the number of small pieces the more they
imagine they have." [Ibid., p. 227.]
Trade was certainly brisk, and the natives came
continually to the ship. "We were surrounded by a
whole fleet of canoes, going and coming all day, after
our first raid on the village, in search of baskets."
Among the curios they brought to sell "the most
unexpected and amusing of all were half a dozen hair
switches" (ibid., p. 224). Although Mrs. Shepard as-
sumed that these were for use as false hair, it is far
more probable that they were intended for decorat-
ing regalia, ceremonial costumes, and totemic carvings,
and they may very well have been made from slaves'
hair (Keithahn, 1954).
Mrs. Shepard was also concerned to see children,
mostly boys, running around in the cold, wet September
weather, dressed in nothing but a cotton shirt. She was
told that for "recreation" they plunged into the
breakers in winter or slid barefoot on the snow, not
realizing that this was part of the severe hardening
training for children. (This was a practice which
universally horrified the Whites; in some communities
it was forbidden by ordinances.) Mrs. Shepard noted
that, despite this "terrible exposure," some Yakutat
natives live to old age, and reports that the missionary
said that two Indians, both over eighty, could remember
when the Russians were massacred (Shepard, 1889, p.
225). In addition to the men from the derelict Alpha,
the Rush was to take back to Sitka
"a distinguished couple and their family . . . Yana-
tcho, chief of the Yakutat clan and his wife. His
'Boston' name . . . being 'Billy Merryman,' named
after a captain in the navy who had once been here.
[Commander E. C. Merriman, captain of the U.S.S.
Adams, in 1882.] Yanatcho was a haughty looking
man, who spoke as one having authority. He begged,
or rather expressed, his desire to go to Sitka in a
somewhat peremptory manner. He first asked my
husband to take him down to Sitka. Captain S?
said, 'All right.' Next he asked him if he could take
his wife." [And then in turn, separately asked for
permission to take his son, a box of seal oil, and
finally three children, at which the captain exclaimed]
" 'No more!' However, at the time appointed for
their embarkation, just before our departure, three
canoes, full of men, women and children, with all
their goods and chattels, a most incongruous mixture,
appeared. It was too late to single them out. Two
canoes full were bundled aboard and off we started.
[One wonders whether hardships resulted from
separation of families.]
"The next two or three days must have been
trying even to them[!], for the poor creatures had no
shelter but such as they could get under the 'fo'-
castle,' and an awning put up to keep the rain off.
For, besides the rain, we had a heavy gale on our
way back to Sitka. The ship thrashed about most
unmercifully. Mr. D? played the good Samaritan
and took the chief, with his wife, and children, under
his protection in the engine-room, where they were
at least warm. Yanatcho made his tribe believe the
'gunboat' had come after him especially, so we
learned from those that understood the Thlinket
aboard the schooner." [Ibid., pp. 221-223.]
"Yanatcho" is evidently the Teqwedi name,
YanAct'ukw, 'Firing a Gun' (perhaps yJL-nA-ci-t'trkw).
This name was later borne by B. B. Williams, son of the
Kwackqwan house chief, Bear Bit Billy. "Yanatcho,"
"Jana-Shoo," is, I believe, the same man as Williams'
"Billy," Schwatka's "Yen-at-set'l" and Seton-Karr's
"Noearpoo." The various Tlingit names which he bears
would appear to be honorable titles, assumed in suc-
cession as he gave new potlatches; the last which he
gave was apparently that witnessed by Reverend
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 201
Johnson in 1890. He was evidently the ranking chief of
the Bear House-Shark House lineage of the Teqwedi,
and the same man that my informants remembered as
"Chief Nelemen," or "Chief Minaman," evidently
mispronunciations of "Merriman." In the old grave-
yard on the hill above the mission, where perhaps the
Russian blockhouse once stood, are the collapsed re-
mains of what was once a large wooden gravehouse, in
the midst of which is a stone shaft with the names:
"JACK SHA-KOO-KAWN, 1831-1899," and "CHIEF MINA-
MAN, KAWH-DA-WHEALH, 1810-1980." The latter was
identified as Kaxaxel, chief of Shark House, and is
evidently the last title assumed by this chief. He is
said to have been originally chief of Shark House at
Diyaguna 'Et at Lost River, from which he brought the
carved house posts to his new residence on Khantaak
Island. His last title was later assumed by his nephew,
Sitka Ned, drowned 1926, who collaborated with Jim
Kardeetoo (1862-1937) in building Shark House in the
"Old Village." Sitka Ned married the daughter of Jack
Sha-koo-kawn. "Sha-koo-kawn" is properly Ca-
kuwakan, 'Mountain Deer,' referring to his title as
'deer' or peace-hostage. All of these men were Teqwedi
of the Shark House-Bear House line, the last chief
being Jim Kardeetoo. Chief Minaman of Shark House
was usually called Daqusetc by my informant (MJ),
who identified him in the picture of Chief Yen-at-set'l
taken by Professor Libbey (pi. 62). Daqusetc and his
daughter died of bad whiskey in Sitka, and it is interest-
ing to speculate that it may have been on the trip to
Sitka, described by Mrs. Shepard, that he met his death.
A potlatch was given for him in Sitka "about 1900 or
1901," but my informant was poor at remembering
dates. The photographs taken by Chase and Draper in
Sitka, December 9, 1904, (pis. 210-211), were identified
as showing part of the "seven tribes" who were enter-
tained at the potlatch given when a tombstone was put
on the grave of "Wan-a-chook," i.e., "Yanatcho." The
chief and his daughter were buried at Sitka (p. 536);
the shaft at Yakutat was simply a memorial to him.
The so-called "second chief" at Yakutat in 1889,
whom we have already identified as Yakutat Chief
George Yaxodaqet, ranking chief of the KwacKqwan,
Mrs. Shephard found to be "as amiable a looking
person as one could wish to see," with a round, moon-
like countenace, and a huge smile from ear to ear that
exhibited his strong white teeth, and which he per-
petually maintained except when yawning (Shepard,
1889, p. 223).
The Yakutat Indians had certainly learned the value
of writing, if not from the Americans, then long ago
from the Russians who used to pass out receipts for
tribute collected or other documents intended both to
impress the natives and to serve as warnings to any
foreigners that might read them that the holders were
365-517?72?TOL VII, pt 1 15
subject to the Tsar and the Russian American Company
with whom trade was forbidden. As in the case of the
inscription on the portrait given to Yelxak by Ismailov
and Bocharov in 1788 (see p. 135), these documents
also indicated something of the experience of the
writer with the native recipient, and thus served as a
testimonial or warning.
"Both Yanatcho and the second chief had letters
of recommendation from one gentleman and another
who had strayed to that far northern port on business,
or for pleasure, which they presented to my husband.
It was customary among the Indians to ask for
these. Unable to read, but confident of their flatter-
ing contents, they presented them with a great deal
of pride to the person whose favor they wished to
secure." [Shepard, 1889, pp. 223-224.]
It was all too common for wags or disgruntled
Whites to write derogatory bits of doggerel, jokes, or
condemnations, instead of the expected testimonial.
Similar examples of frontier humor were exhibited in
the signs painted for Tlingit chiefs to hang above their
house doors. We sense that the Yakutat natives are no
longer savage antagonists to be feared or hated,
shrewd and powerful controllers of the territory and
its resources whose monopolistic business acumen
commanded respect, but were becoming second-class
citizens in their own homeland.
Of particular interest in tracing the history of
Yakutat, is the statement by Mrs. Shepard that
indicates that the presence of the store and the mission
on the mainland had already attracted native settle-
ment to the site now called the Old Village. "Yakutat
consists of an Oakland and a San Francisco. On one
side of the bay lives one chief and part of the clan, and
on the other side the other; communication is entirely
by water." [Shepard, 1889, p. 228]. The Teqwedi chief
Daqusetc or "Yanatcho" was probably still living in
Shark House on Khantaak Island (pi. 71); perhaps
it was Chief George who had already established the
Kwackqwan Raven's Bones House on the mainland.
The Conquest of Mount Saint Elias and the End
of an Era (1890-1900)
On June 25, 1890, the U.S.S. Pinta returned again to
Yakutat, commanded by Lt. Comdr. O. F. Farenholt,
bringing Mr. Henry Boursin, census enumerator, the
Honorable Lyman E. Knapp, Governor of Alaska who
was simply along for the ride, and a third expedition
to climb Mount Saint Elias. This was led by Israel
Cook Russell, and was sponsored by the U.S. Geological
Survey and the National Geographic Society.
202 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Russell describes the two settlements at Yakutat as
follows:
"At Port Mulgrave there are two small Indian
villages, one on the southeastern end of Khantaak
Island, the other on a point of the mainland a mile and
a half east" [1891 a, p. 872]. "The village on Khan-
taak island is the older of the two, and consists of
six houses built along the water's edge. The houses
are made of planks, each hewn from a single log,
after the manner of the Thlinkets generally. . .
"The village on the mainland is less picturesque, if
such a term may be allowed, than the group of houses
already described, but it is of the same type. Near at
hand, along the shore to the southward, there are
two log houses, one of which is used at present as a
mission by the Reverend Carl J. Hendricksen and
his assistant, the other being occupied as a trading
post by Sitka merchants." [Russell, 1891 b, pp.
79-80.]
"The native inhabitants of these villages number
about fifty and call themselves Yakutats." [Russell,
1891 a, p. 872.]
"The Yakutat Indians are the most westerly
branch of the great Thlinket family which inhabits
all of southeastern Alaska and a portion of British
Columbia. In intelligence they are above the average
of Indians generally, and are of a higher type than
the native inhabitants of the older portion of the
United States. They are quick to learn the ways of
the white man, and are especially shrewd in bargain-
ing." [Russell, 1891, b, p. 80.] [They are] "of fine
physique, have well-built houses of their own design
and workmanship, and live by hunting and fishing."
[Russell, 1891 a, p. 872.] "They are canoe Indians
par excellence, and pass a large part of their lives on
the water in quest of salmon, seals, and sea-otter."
[Russell, 1891 b, p. 80.] "The catch of sea otters,
whose furs are the most valuable of all, during the
summer of our visit numbered thirty, and they were
sold at from seventy-five to one hundred dollars
each. The money derived from this source, and from
the sale of bear, goat, and hair seal skins, and from
baskets woven in large numbers by the women for
the tourist trade in Sitka, brings a comparatively
large revenue to the village and enables the natives
to live in comfort." [Russell, 1891 a, pp. 872-873.]
[He also indicated, however, that the Indians do not
use this cash income wisely.] "Improvident, like
nearly all Indians, the Yakutat villagers soon spend
at the trading post the money earned in this way."
[Russell, 1891 b, p. 81.]
The Census of 1890 gives a count of 7 male Whites
at Yakutat, one female halfbreed, and 300 natives (146
male and 156 female). However, these data include
also the native villages at Dry Bay and Lituya Bay,
with a total of 20 houses counted, sheltering 75 families
(Porter, 1893, pp. 3, 161, 163). "The Yakutats are the
darkest colored and most primitive," and have "been
little visited hitherto by whites, but the establishment
of a mail route from Sitka to Unalaska gives Yakutat
regular communication with the outside world for 7
months of the year" (ibid., pp. 54, 53). Not only are
they linked to Sitka by a "considerable trade" in furs
and curios, and especially in baskets, "at making which
they are more expert than the women of any other
tribe," but it was also predicted that "the extension of
tourist travel to the foot of Mount St. Elias is one of
the certainties of the future that will greatly improve
the fortunes of the place" (ibid., pp. 230, 53). The
spectacularly beautiful glaciers of Disenchantment Bay
first became known in 1890, when Capt. C. L. Hooper
of the U.S.S. Corwin, who had come to Yakutat to
bring Russell's party back to Sitka, took them into
Disenchantment Bay, to the very face of the ice, and
"So far as is known, the Corwin was the first vessel to
navigate those waters" (Russell, 1891 b, p. 100).
As might have been anticipated from the tone of
these passages, Russell's relations with the Indians
were friendly. Mr. Hendrickson acted as interpreter
for him in hiring some natives and their canoes;
another canoe was purchased from the trader. Russell
did not attempt to reach Mount Saint Elias from "Icy
Bay," but because his mission was also geological, he
went up Yakutat Bay to approach the mountain
from the east, via Esker Creek, Blossom Island,
Pinnacle Pass, and Seward Glacier.
On the evening of June 30, while at the first camp
on the mainland east of Knight Island, Russell's
party was joined by
"Indians returning from a seal hunt in Disenchant-
ment bay. They brought their canoe high on the
beach, and made themselves at home about our
camp-fire. There were seven or eight well-built
young men in the party, all armed with guns. In
former times such an arrival would have been
regarded with suspicion; but thanks to the some-
what frequent visits of war vessels to Yakutat,
and also to the labors of missionaries, the wild
spirits of the Indians have been greatly subdued
and reduced to semi-civilized condition during the
past quarter of a century." [Russell, 1891 b, p. 84.]
After eating some wild celery, the Indians went on
to Yakutat; the expedition then ate their own supper,
and evidently did not offer to share it with the hunters.
One of Russell's party had been taken sick and was
sent back with "an Indian who chanced to pass our
camp in his canoe" (ibid., p. 83). Not only did this
man arrive safely, but Russell further seems to have
had complete confidence in the Indians' reliability
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 203
in caring for the sick man, as well as in their ability
to land and take off through the surf on the west
side of the bay.
The following year Russell returned for a second
but equally unsuccessful expedition. This attempt
was made from "Icy Bay," by ascending the Agassiz
Glacier to its junction with the route previously taken
from the east. Again, the party was forced to give
up just below the summit. On this occasion, Capt.
M. A. Healy had brought the party to Yakutat on the
U.S. revenue steamer Bear. On board was the Rev.
Sheldon Jackson en route to purchase Siberian reindeer
for introduction into Alaska. In trying to land Russell's
party at the mouth of the Yahtse River, one of the
ship's boats, less skillfully handled or perhaps less
seaworthy than the natives' canoes, was swamped.
Lieutenant Robinson and five seamen were drowned.
Some of the bodies were recovered at the time, and
when Russell finally returned to the mission in late
September, he learned that "a party of Indians, while
sea-otter hunting, found the two remaining bodies and
gave them burial" (Russell, 1893, p. 11). From this
we may infer that not only was inhumation familiar to
the Indians, but that the White man had been adopted
into the Tlingit's social and moral world.
The White man's possessions are secure. Thus,
Russell had left a cache at "Icy Bay." On returning from
the mountain, the party saw tracks of animals and
human footprints, but the contents of the cache were
intact.
"On a board nailed to a tree was a rude charcoal
sketch of two men, which we understood to mean
that two Indians had visited our encampment and
left this sign as their card. On several other occasions
we left food, tents, etc., unguarded, where they would
be sure to be seen by Indians, but in no instance
was a single article taken or the caches in any way
disturbed. Everyone who has had experience on
the frontier will understand from this that the
Yakutats are to be classed among the 'good
Indians.' " [Ibid., p. 54.]
In September, 1891, Russell with two companions
made a boat journey through the whole of what he
called "Disenchantment Bay," but which includes
that long fiord which is named for him. On his return
he also visited "an Indian village known as Setuk,
about 15 miles east of the mission, but space will
not permit my giving an account of that interesting
excursion" (ibid., p. 91).
Fortunately, we learn a little more about Dry Bay
from the account written by E. J. Glave, who descended
the Alsek River from its headwaters to Dry Bay, and
from there came along the canoe route to Yakutat.
Glave had been previously with Stanley in the Congo.
He had gone into Yukon Territory in the spring of
1890 with a large party of explorers, led by E. H. Wells,
and financed by Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper of
New York City. At Lake Kusawa, the headwaters of
the Yukon, the expedition divided, one party going
down the Yukon on a raft, a second heading for Forty-
mile Creek and the Copper River, while Glave crossed
to Klukshu Lake at the very head of the Alsek. He
was accompanied by John Dalton, who not only
proved himself an excellent canoeman and woodsman,
but who now could speak Tlingit fairly well. Their
guide was an Indian named "Shank," whose services
had been engaged at the Southern Tutchone village of
Wesketahin on the upper Alsek. Here, " 'Sitka Jack,'
a well-known Indian trader, who speaks fairly good
English," was met with a party of Chilkat Indian
traders, and interpreted for Glave and Dalton (Glave,
Nov. 19, 1890, p. 310). A Tutchone medicine-man also
went with Shank and the two White men down the
river, although this man was too terrified of the dan-
gerous rapids to be of any help in handling the canoe.
As Glave writes: (Jan. 10, 1891, p. 438):
"We arrived at the mouth of the Alseck at seven
in the evening. There we met two Indians who
invited us to their village a few miles from the
seashore, and we put up for the night in the house
of old Shata, the Alseck medicine-man, a powerfully-
built but wrinkled old fellow, and straight as a
gun-barrel. This antiquated being of magic extended
to us all hospitality, which consisted of a small
nook in his smoky hut and a dried salmon, both
items being truly acceptable. Our provisions had
now almost run out."
"Shata" was probably Cada, a Kwaclkqwan name,
although this sib is not associated with Dry Bay. A
Cada was, however, reported as the son's son of
DExwudu'u, the Tl'xrknaxAdi chief at Gusex, who was
involved with the war on the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi in
which the latter were exterminated. In fact, according
to one informant, the trouble really began with a
dispute between DExwudu'u and his Teqwedi son
(p. 262). A later Cada was the chief of Fort House
on Khantaak Island, who died a very old man in 1908
or 1909.
"During the evening, [Glave continues his ac-
count,] Shank, the Indian guide, narrated to the
attentive villagers our trip down the Alseck River,
coloring the scene with fetching tints reflected from
his own fertile imagination. His story was evidently
an interesting lecture for his audience, who listened
throughout without the least interruption. Shank,
flattered by his sudden popularity and fired with his
own importance, assumed a tone and presence quite
oratorical.
"Old Shata's hut was twelve feet square; here all
the occupants of the other dwellings 'rounded up'
204 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
to hear the recent news from the interior. There
were about thirty Indians, men, women, and chil-
dren, crowded into the little place, which, to say the
least of it, rendered the atmosphere rather 'close.'
As the Indians squatted and lay around the fire
listening to Shank, shadows and light from the
nickering blaze playing over the swarthy group,
their eager bronzed faces formed quite a study. It
was past midnight before Shank had exhausted his
subject of our Alseck journey, and the party retired
to their several habitations. The most of them, I
found, were lodging in our present quarters, some
in rudely-built compartments of heavy planks which
were built on the side of the dwelling; others had
small cotton tents, while a few contented them-
selves with rolling in their blankets on the hard
wooden flooring. A corner of the hut was reserved
for us, but mosquitoes and the atmospheric defects
were hardly conducive to pleasant sleep, and we
were right glad to be out in the fresh air again at
early morn." [Ibid.]
[Glave and Dalton were anxious to push on to
Yakutat as soon as possible.] "Shank and the Gunena
[gunana] doctor decided to remain where they were
with old Shata and their other coast friends; they
had only engaged to accompany us to the sea, and
they had faithfully and devotedly fulfilled their
promise. They were both of excellent character,
willing, energetic, and good-tempered. The Gunena
had had but little experience of the dangers of rough
water, and felt considerably more at ease on terra
Hrrna; but Shank was thoroughly conversant with
canoe work, full of pluck and dash, and possessed of
a keen and rapid judgment, qualities which, combined
with his strength of limb and river experience, fitted
him admirably for the dangerous duty of steering a
canoe down the Alseck Eiver." [Ibid.]
It is never quite clear to what tribe Shank belonged;
he was descended from the extinct "Nua Qua," coastal
Indians who had settled in the interior, yet he might be
taken as typical of the TlukwaxAdi who so often made
this dangerous journey.
Of the medicine-man, Glave had earlier observed
(Jan. 3, 1891, p. 414): "The Gunena doctor was of but
little use on the water; he became easily scared and lost
command of himself when we were in the dangerous
places." Yet Glave does not blame him. "He was a
willing and genial-hearted soul, but he was more at
home with a horn spoon and a dried salmon than in a
boat." Glave was also enthusiastic about the cottonwood
canoe in which the descent had been made.
We should note that he was continually impressed
with the fine character, intelligence, and splendid
physique of the natives he encountered on his journey.
It is no wonder that he seems to have established the
most cordial relations with all of them.
"Among the Indians staying in old Shata's house,
were two Yakutat natives, who had come to this river
to catch salmon. We succeeded in obtaining the services
of these men and their canoe to take us back to their
own village, and started off the morning after our
arrival" (Glave, Jan. 10,1891, p. 438). The Indians took
the White men's belongings in their canoe through the
inland channels, while the latter, who were tired of boat
travel, walked along the shore, carrying only their guns.
"At eight o'clock in the evening we arrived on the
banks of the river Ar Quay [Akwe], and shortly after-
ward our Indians came along and ferried us across to
a small unoccupied village on the opposite bank.
There were only three houses?all ramshackle old
places in a dilapidated and tumble-down condition?
though formerly strongly built structures. They con-
tained an odd miscellany of property?old boxes,
native and imported, salmon-poles [spears? or drying
racks?], snow-shoes, pots and pans, skins, traps, etc.,
everything grimy and blackened by the smoky fire
always burning in the center of the dwelling." [Ibid.]
Unfortunately, it is impossible to identify which
village on the Akwe this was (see p. 83).
The next morning the two White men again set off
on foot, and "after six hours' hard walking . . . arrived
at the edge of a small stream on which one solitary house
was standing quite unoccupied." Two hours later the
Indians came in the canoe and told them that unless
they went on at once to catch the high tide in the
lagoon, they would have to portage the canoe over 10
miles of sand flat. Consequently, they boarded the
canoe and went downstream. This river was apparently
the Italio, for Glave calls it the "Thetl Wor" (qe'lhwa)
(ibid.).
Rough water was encountered at the lagoon, and
there was still a portage of a mile and a half across a
sandbar. The two Indians shouldered the canoe, while
Glave and Dalton carried all their own belongings as
well as the Indians' blankets and dried salmon. After
reembarkmg, they paddled again, until at eight o'clock
in the morning, they reached "Setuk, a small village on
the banks of the river of that name." They had been on
the way from Akwe River for 24 hours, out of which
they had rested only 2. "Arriving at Setuk we partook
of a little more salmon, and lay down in our blankets on
the floor of the hut."
The next day another portage of a mile was necessary
before they reached the Lost River-Ankau lagoon
system.
At Yakutat they were "hospitably received by Mr.
J. W. Johnson, of the trading firm of W. P. Mills, who
has his headquarters at Sitka" (ibid.). We can assume
that Johnson was the trader occupying the store at
Yakutat.
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 205
The Census of 1890 also gives us some information
about the Gulf Coast tribes between Yakutat and the
Copper River. Their numbers are obviously dwindling
and their culture already doomed.
Going west from the meridian of Mount Saint Elias,
the first people are met in the vicinity of "Cape Yak-
tag," or Yakataga.
"The settlement here consists of single dwellings
scattered along many miles of coast. The houses
are now occupied only during the winter season.
With the advent of spring the whole population
embark in their large wooden canoes, and, passing
by the inaccessible ice cliffs of the Bering glacier,
they make their first camp at Cape Suckling. Here
they fraternize with another branch of their tribe,
who have their homes and winter hunting grounds
on the lakes and streams of the level strip of land
between the St. Elias alps and the coast of Con-
troller bay. [This suggests a distinction between
the Galyix-Kagwantan to the east and the Tcicqedi
to the west.]
"After spending a few weeks together hunting
and feasting, the Yaktag people paddle or sail
across the wide but shallow strait which separates
Kaye, or Kayak, island from the mainland. This is
another favorite hunting ground, where until a few
years ago a party of Norwegian hunters and traders
maintained a station, which fierce competition from
stores connected with canning enterprises forced
them to abandon." [Porter, 1893, p. 65.]
[The traders were the Swedish Andersen and
Carlsen brothers whose post Seton-Karr had visited
in August, 1886. At that time two Norwegian hunters
had just settled at Cape Suckling (Seton-Karr, 1887,
p. 150).]
[There had formerly been a salmon cannery on
Wingham Island.] "The whole plant, together with
the trading store, was subsequently removed to one
of the many mouths of the Copper river for the
greater convenience of fishing. [This was to Koken-
henik Island.] This cannery, which employs between
40 and 50 white men and 50 Chinamen, also offers
to the Yaktag tribe an opportunity for remuner-
ative labor throughout the fishing season. They
come here each successive season, bringing with
them their families and most of their household
goods, to sail homeward again in August or Sep-
tember, laden with the proceeds of their labor, to
enjoy a season of ease and plenty.
"The Yaktag people, who have also been known
by the local name of Chilkhat [from the village
on Bering Kiver, Controller Bay], were still quite
numerous 10 years ago; now there are scarcely 100
of them left." [Porter, 1893, p. 65.]
At the Kayak Island village, Seton-Karr had noted
the squalor of the native huts, hi one of which a man
was dying of consumption (Seton-Karr, 1887, pp.
156-159).
Under the heading "Wingham Island," the Census
noted a population of 150 natives, composed of 15
families living in 15 houses (Porter, 1893, p. 163).
"Wingham Island includes Cape Martin station and
Chilkaht settlement on Controller bay" (ibid., p. 161).
It is at Cape Martin, where "a small trading post
has been located here for many years," that the "Yak-
tag" and Chilkat of Controller Bay meet the "Ugalentz"
or Eyak of the Copper Kiver delta (ibid., p. 66).
There are only a few more observations about
Yakutat before 1900 where we will abandon this
historical survey.
In 1896, A. P. Swineford, Governor of Alaska (1885-
89), visited Yakutat, and described it as follows:
"Mulgrave Harbor is a small indentation setting
off to the right of the entrance to the bay, and on
the north side is the native village of a dozen or
more houses, in which live some two hundred people.
There is also a trader's store and a Swedish Lutheran
mission and school, and of late years the population
has been augmented by a number of white men,
intent upon amassing fortunes by washing gold from
the ruby sands found on the beach." [After men-
tioning the Russian colony which had been estab-
lished] "on an inlet which sets off from the east side
of Yakutat Bay" [he notes that:] "Except for a few
Creole families, nothing is now left of what was once
a busy and flourishing settlement." [Swineford, 1898,
pp. 101-102,]
Although a number of Yakutat people had mentioned
the possibility of Russian blood in their own ancestry,
citing the clear complexions of their parents and grand-
parents as possible evidence, this admixture has not
so far been discussed by any writer.
"The natives are not unlike those of Sitka, speak
the same language and live in houses similarly con-
structed. They maintain themselves by fishing and
hunting, and are more cleanly in their persons and
houses than those of most other native villages."
[Ibid.]
We may gather from this description, as well as from
the photograph in Albin Johnson's memoirs (1924, p.
51), that already the Tlingit had largely moved from
Khantaak Island and had built frame houses at the
"Old Village" near the Mission with lumber from the
Reverend Hendrickson's sawmill.
In 1897, two more expeditions made an assault on
Mount Saint Elias. That led by H. G. Bryant of Phila-
delphia failed, while the very large, well organized and
well supplied expedition of Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke
of Abruzzi, was successful. The latter's party included
206 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
the Prince's aide-de-camp, the president of the Italian
AJpine Club, an Italian photographer, Dr. Filippo de
Filippi who wrote the official narrative (1900), 5 Alpine
guides, 10 Americans of whom C. W. Thornton con-
tributed a popular account (1898), and 4 natives from
Yakutat. Among these was Peter Lawrence (1871?
1950), a Kagwantan man born in Sitka, named Qatciti
or Kadjati (pis. 2lip, 216), the son of a Decitan (Raven
sib) man from Angoon. He had apparently served on
a number of trading schooners, and came to Yakutat
in 1888 as interpreter for Chief Jeff King, a trader. On
this voyage they took 600 sea otters for which they
obtained $70 apiece, and claimed to have discovered
gold on Yakataga beach. I met Peter Lawrence as a
crippled old man, in 1949, living in dire poverty and
neglect, but still treasuring among his few belongings
a photograph of the Abruzzi expedition which the
Prince had signed for him.
Among the Yakutat people, Peter Lawrence had the
reputation of being a wag and a good joker in his
younger days, and this trait he also exhibited on the
expedition. The quality of his humor seems to have
been typically Tlingit, without malice. He could take
a joke equally well. The expedition had landed at Cape
Manby and had reached, by hard backpacking up a
stream, a campsite at the edge of the Malaspina
Glacier, the "Bean camp," some 3% miles from the
shore. As related by Thornton:
"A funny thing happened here. Four Indian guides
had been hired to help us as far as the snow line.
They were an intelligent lot of fellows, strong and
reliable. They were a jolly lot, too, but some of us
thought it strange that they laughed and joked
among themselves so frequently. They were even
'kittenish' at times, and even when we knew about
the propensity of one of them for 'joshing' it did not
seem to be sufficient explanation. This fellow's name
was Peter Lawrence. I believe he had the greatest
sense of humor of any one I have ever seen. He
would not only joke on all possible subjects, but could
laugh as heartily as anyone when the joke happened
to be on himself. We soon called him 'Peter the
Josher.' But, as I have said, even his well-known
propensity for making fun was not sufficient to ex-
plain their behavior on this occasion. At last the
explanation came.
"After we had moved a certain portion of the
outfit to the Bean camp, it was decided to begin
moving it to the edge of the snow on the Malaspina,
four and a half miles farther, giving the Indians
ten dollars for moving up to the Bean camp that
portion of the outfit which was left at the beach, and
which was considered necessary for the trip. The
remainder, a large supply of provisions, had been
cached as a reserve. After making one trip to the
snow line and returning about noon, what was our
surprise to see the Indians come in with the last of
the provisions, having accomplished in a half day
what we had expected them to do in something over
a day. When asked how they did it, Peter laughed
and said, 'Injun git contract; do 'em up quick.'
[Upon investigation it was discovered that the
Indians had a canoe hidden on the river.]
"Those rogues had brought all of that stuff up in
their canoe, one of them staying in the boat to steer
it and keep it off the bank, while the others pulled
it upstream with a rope. We felt cheap then, to
think what time and energy we had wasted during
the last two days." [Thornton, 1898, p. 294.]
[Again, as in leading Topham's party through the
cold glacial streams, the Indians amused themselves
by demonstrating their superior hardihood.
Filippi praised the natives as porters.]
"The Indians, although undersized, carried heavier
loads than our own men could manage?i.e., from
60 to 68 lbs.?without a word of complaint. They
did not use the [pack] frames, but preferred to
fasten the loads on their backs by means of two
straps coming over the shoulders and crossing over
the chest, a system that compelled them to walk in
a stooping posture. They were shod with moccasins
of undressed sealskin, with the fur inside, unfitted for
tramping over this waste of sharpedged stones, which
bruised our own feet in spite of our heavy boots."
[Filippi, 1900, p. 75.]
[The pack straps are like those described by my
informants.]
"Our four Indians, small, thick-set men, are so
exactly alike that they seem turned out of the same
mould. The development of arms and chests is
exaggerated in comparison with the rest of the
body, owing to the constant work at the oars entailed
by their life on the water.
"They either sit together in a contented group,
patching their moccasins, or loaf around in the
camp with contented, smiling faces, peeping inquis-
itively into the tents and speaking incomprehensible
words to us in their gutteral tongue, full of Z's and
k's. One of them, however, knows a little English,
and acts as interpreter to the rest. Their language
has nearly all lost its special characteristics. Owing
to frequent contact with French and Russian
travellers, sailors, trappers, and whalers, these
Indians speak a jargon known as 'Chinook,' now
common to all the aborigines of the region and long
used as the language of commerce on the coast of
British Columbia, Oregon and Washington State."
[Ibid., p. 78.]
[I certainly never gathered the impression that
Chinook Jargon was ever well or commonly known
IN THREE PARTS THROUGH ALIEN EYES 207
at Yakutat, but the men who might have been most
familiar with it had all died before my visits.]
"One honorable trait of the Indians' character is
honesty. They steal nothing?not even food; and
this verdict is confirmed by everyone who has
employed them. All expeditions, such as our own,
have had to leave stores of provisions, tents, etc.,
in spots easily to be discovered by the Indians;
yet these caches are always found undisturbed and
with no single article missing." [Ibid.].
In June of 1899, the year of the Klondike Gold
Rush and of the earthquake at Yakutat, the Harriman
Alaska Expedition came to Yakutat Bay, and, as we
have already noted, visited the village, the sealing
camps above Point Latouche, and cruised through
Russell Fiord, to which they gave its name. On board
were such naturalists and scientists as John Burroughs,
John Muir, George Bird Grinnell, Charles Keeler, B. E.
Fernow, and E. Hart Merriam. Yakutat was now a
modern town of some 300 natives, with a permanent
store and a post office, as well as the Mission school
and church. Apparently the site on Khantaak Island
had been abandoned. And if Keeler (1902, p. 217)
thought the Indian village was "composed of houses
built in the most hideously modern fashion with clap-
boards and paint," Burroughs (1901, p. 54) saw them
as "eight or ten comfortable frame houses."
Pictures in Albin Johnson's book, dating from this
period, show the natives?or at least the members of
his congregation?wearing the ugly, uncomfortable but
stylish garments affected by prosperous Americans at
the end of the century. The people pose with a stiff,
self-conscious pride in their best Sunday clothes, just
as do Reverend Johnson and his family. The mission
living room is dark and cluttered with Victorian
draperies, heavily printed wallpaper, and shelves
overflowing with mementoes. The great Indian "tribal
houses," facing the beach, stark but impressive,
gleam with white paint (Moser, 1899, pi. 4); each has
its flagpole on which the American flag could be flown
on great occasions, such as potlatches and Sundays
(pis. 82-84). They were probably cold and drafty
after the stoutly built, smoky houses on Khantaak
Island, but inside (to judge from photographs I have
seen) faithfully copied the splendid decor of the mission.
On the beach in front rested a fleet of canoes, many
the valuable imported Haida "war canoes." At the
W. W. Mills Company store, Dick Beasley (for whom
Beasley Creek at the head of Russell Fiord was named)
had cookies to sell that some informants still remem-
ber from their childhood.
Despite these obvious outward changes, much of life
was still as it had always been. The people deserted
the village when it was time to go to the sealing camps
or to the salmon streams. There, the free life could
still be lived, in the comfort of old clothes, even though
the Harrhnan expedition found that: "The Indian
women frowned upon our photographers and were
very adverse to having the cameras pointed at them.
It took a good deal of watching and waiting and
maneuvering to get a good shot. The artists with
their brushes and canvas were regarded with less
suspicion" (Burroughs, 1901, pp. 60-61). In 1954,
copies of the photographs made at the sealing camp
in 1899 by Merriam (pis. 72-80) were examined with
eager pleasure by the people who had been children
there.
In the hearts of those who went regularly to church
the earnest preachings of Johnson and Hendrickson
had not been able to erase the deep-grained fearful
confidence in the shaman, or terror of the witch and
Land Otter Man.
Although the herring and salmon had not yet been
commercially exploited, Captain Moser, of the U S.S.
Albatross, had stopped at Yakutat to make investiga-
tions for the U.S. Fish Commission. On his return in
1901, he was to find that F. A. Fredericks Company
of Seattle had just built a large herring saltery at the
head of Monti Bay, while A. L. See and A. Flenner
were building another inside the mouth of Ankau
Creek. Already there were plans for the cannery at
the head of Monti Bay with a railroad running to
Dry Bay (it never went farther than Johnson Slough
just beyond Situk River), and the cannery wharf wa3
to be built the following year (Moser, 1901, p. 390).
In September, 1899, occurred the great earthquake
which some of my informants remember very well.
This shook down so much snow from the mountains
onto the glaciers that these began once more to advance,
and this phenomenon again attracted the attention of
geologists to Yakutat. Of more immediate concern,
however, was the question of the International Bound-
ary; indeed title to Mount Saint Elias was in doubt,
so surveyors from both the United States and Canada
began to explore the ranges above Yakutat and Dry
Bays.
Just as the first sight of Mount Saint Elias by White
men in 1741 began our long history of Yakutat, so
the determination of its position astride the Alaskan-
Canadian Boundary shortly after the end of the
century (1906) should bring this story to a close. Let
us turn now to the Yakutat people themselves. Let
them tell their own history, and describe how their
ancestors came to these lands, guided by the beautiful
mountains.

Myth, Legend and Memory: The Native Histories
of Yakutat
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 16
210 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
SETTING THE STAGE
Myth and History
Yakutat, like any Tlingit community, has a large
body of oral traditions, even though there are only a
few persons who can tell the old stories in all their
rich detail. These tales include solemn accounts of a
religious nature, dealing with the creation of the world,
of fabulous adventures, and of the feats of shamans;
there are stirring histories of wars fought long ago and
of the glorious deeds of the ancestors; there are also
stories explanatory of customary usages, often capped
by a proverb, or illustrative of the consequences of
moral and of immoral behavior, and so told to instruct
the young. Idle hours are enlivened by humorous
stories, both mythical and trivial, or by a wealth of
personal reminiscences, anectodes, and current gossip.
Tlingit stories are essentially "historical" in char-
acter; that is, they deal with what are believed to
be true events. Even though the main function of a tale
and the purpose for recounting it may be entertain-
ment, there is no category of story corresponding to
our "fiction." To tell a "made-up" story, like fabricat-
ing a claim or making an unfounded boast, is 'telling
a lie' (?Ati-'ik; Boas, 1917, p. 131, ^a-h-iyel). For the
Tlingit, the English word "story" carries the connota-
tion of falsehood, and is often applied to beliefs or
practices which the missionaries have labeled as
"superstition." A respectable narrator does not "tell
stories." My Tlingit friends were, in fact, much con-
cerned that the versions of tales told to us be the true
and correct ones, warning us against statements made
by misinformed persons. Sometimes an interpreter
would even refuse to translate part of a story because
he felt that the narrator was confused, or another
might be unwilling to tell a story that he did not know
thoroughly, for fear of mistakes. Even a well-informed
person might hesitate to tell the traditions associated
with a sib not his own, just as he would refuse to
record a song that belonged to another sib, unless a
member of that sib specificially requested him to sing.
Other informants were evidently loath to speak of
old troubles between sibs, especially of wars, since the
very retelling of these stories is apt to rouse long-
dormant enmities.
In general, it was usually the oldest persons, even
though partly senile or able to speak only the most
broken English, who were cited as the authorities on
native traditions. This was because they were old and
had learned the histories in their youth from equally
venerable relatives. On the other hand, many appar-
ently well-versed middle-aged or younger persons might
be disparaged as "too young to learn," and indeed they
were sometimes too diffident to tell a story when their
elders were present. This is because a "mistake" or
deviation from an approved version could be inter-
preted as a deliberate falsehood or slanderous remark.
This did not mean, however, that I did not actually
record several different versions of the same tale, nor,
paradoxically, that the Tlingit themselves do not recog-
nize the existence of several versions. The degree of
toleration of such differences seems to depend upon
the personal relations between the listener and narrator.
Sib loyalties and enmities are recognized as accounting
for conflicting versions, and of provoking bitter accusa-
tions of untruthfulness.
In order to appreciate the significance of these "his-
torical narratives," it is necessary to understand how
the tales and their events are categorized, and also
what the actors or characters in the stories are supposed
to be, for only in this way can we come to see how all
these various folkloristic accounts are "history," and
therefore "true" in different ways.
First, the Tlingit distinguish a special category of
stories as 'of the long ago' (tlagu). These are true, but
refer to a time so remote that one does not expect events
to have the realistic qualities of the present, nor can
one expect to understand clearly how or why things
happened. The most important of these myths are
those concerning Raven, and how his activities led to
the establishment of the present world: that is, to the
presence of the stars, moon, and sun in the sky, the
distinction between men and animals and their arrange-
ment in the totemic order, the occurrence of fresh water
on land, the movements of the tide, and the appear-
ance of special landmarks (particularly in Dry Bay and
Controller Bay). Raven was also indirectly responsible
for the Flood, since this was produced by his jealous
uncle in order to drown him. Although the Flood
clearly does not come at the end of the Raven cycle,
when these myths are considered together, nevertheless,
since the Flood is held accountable for the dispersal of
the various human groups, it may be taken in another
sense as marking the transition from myth time to the
human era. "It's just like the Old Testament, and after
that it's New Testament again," explained an inform-
ant in referring to sib migrations after the Flood.
I am not sure, however, how most sib origin and crest
origin stories are classified by the people. Some of these
have the character of myths, and apparently deal with
events in the remote past; others would seem to belong
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 211
more logically to a recent historical period. While the
Yakutat people recognize a distinction between myth
(tlagu) and history (ckAlnik), individuals may draw
the line in different places. Thus, some versions of sib
histories were criticized as "mixed-up" by one inform-
ant, because they included what were essentially epi-
sodes belonging to 'myth,' in this case involving a
giant seagull. The same man was equally careful to
point out the anachronism involved in the alleged use
of a gun long before the first contact with Europeans.
On the other hand, I believe there is some uncertainty
as to how other informants would classify Raven's en-
counter with the Russian captain who tried to get him
drunk on whiskey. Indeed, Raven can hardly be rel-
egated entirely to mythology when one old man spec-
ulated that he might be still alive, living in a cave
"in the Aleutians"!
Because myths belong to the shadowy past, these
stories of long ago form a kind of "prehistory" for
the Tlingit traditions that belong to "history" (ckAl-
nik), 'it really happened.' In the latter category, of
course, belong the accounts of sib migrations, of wars,
of the coming of the Russians and of their eventual
expulsion, as well as of more recent events. As one
comes forward in time, such history obviously includes
personal reminiscences of the narrator, as well as
accounts of events witnessed or experienced by his
parents or grandparents. While the careful teller will
usually make clear the source of his information if it
were obtained from an eyewitness or a participant,
or will specify from whom he heard the account, I
do not know whether the Tlingit make any distinction
between what we might call "living history" and the
more traditional and older accounts belonging to
"ordinary history." Obviously, personal anecdotes may
range in character from the trivial, humorous, or
scandalous, to serious narratives of important events.
It is the latter which acquire through repetition a
standardized form and which gradually pass into the
category of family or lineage tradition, and eventually
may become part of the history of the people or of
the sib.
Because a considerable number of stories were
collected, I have had to make a more or less arbitrary
selection of those to be included in this chapter dealing
with the native history of Yakutat. Thus, myths and
sib origin stories of a mythical nature have been ex-
cluded, especially if their locale is vague or does not
belong to the Yakutat area. Such tales will, however,
be found elsewhere. Excluded also are historical tradi-
tions referring to events which did not clearly involve
the Yakutat people. Because the latter were often
told us to illustrate some point concerning war and
peace, or shamanism, for example, these stories are
appended to the chapter with which their subject
matter is most clearly connected. A complete listing
of all stories and anecdotes, together with page ref-
erences, can be found in the Index.
What follows in this chapter has been selected to
exhibit what the Yakutat people think about them-
selves as Yakutat people, and how they understand
the events that took place in their home territories.
In reading these stories we must also remember that
the Yakutat people think of themselves as linked by
recent events and by very ancient happenings with
other groups in other parts of the native world. Here,
however, I would like to concentrate on the native
history of Yakutat itself so that this can be compared
with the accounts recorded by alien observers.
These White visitors were conscious of their national
origins in distant lands and remote times; they acted
and recorded their experiences in terms of what they
conceived to be their origins, their national destinies,
and their own human roles. This is equally true of
the people they met at Yakutat. The history of the
latter, like their mythology, is only fully understandable
if we recognize that their moieties and sibs, established
at the beginning of time, are the fundamental units
of history. These were not only the groups that com-
manded native allegiance, and with reference to which
people acted, but they had for their members a sig-
nificance perhaps deeper than did the nations of Russia,
Spain, France, England, or the United States, for
their citizens who came to Yakutat. To the native,
the "nations" or sibs of the Tlingit are not only deeply
rooted in the mythical past, they are the embodiments
today of the very origins of the world and of humanity,
reflecting the natural order and Unking men to it by
totemic bonds. The sibs constitute the eternal and
unchanging order of the Tlingit people, fixed because
no individual can exchange or lose his sib identity,
and because a sib can never, in theory, be changed
except through the total annihilation of all its members.
For these reasons it is clear that to exclude the
mythical past from the native history of Yakutat is
to present an incomplete account. Also, it is evident
that to understand Yakutat history, even in our sense
of history, means that we must first attempt to identify
the sibs that were the real actors in that history. For
the native, however, there is no single history, but
rather the traditions of the several sibs, even though
that of his own is the "correct" version.
Tribe and Sib
In earlier sections the tribes along the Gulf Coast of
Alaska were listed (pp. 17-21), and their present and
212 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
former settlements and their traditional territories
described (pp. 58-106). It is now necessary to identify
these groups more closely.
The five regions of Lituya Bay, Dry Bay, Yakutat
Bay, Controller Bay, and the Copper Eiver delta,
could be considered as the territories of as many
different tribes. Thus, the territory south of Cape
Fairweather, including Lituya Bay and Cross Sound,
"belongs to" the Hoonah of southeastern Alaska.
The mouth of the Alsek River, Dry Bay, and the
Akwe River were occupied by a separate group, the
Dry Bay people. From Italio to Icy Bay was Yakutat
territory proper; beyond, from Cape Yakataga to
Cape Martin, including Controller Bay, was the home
of the Kaliakh tribe; in the Copper River delta country
lived the Eyak. However, to designate these groups
as "tribes" and the areas they utilized as "tribal
territories" would not reflect either the actual situation
or native thought. Thus, while the 'inhabitants' (-qwan,
contracted from qu-han) of each geographical district
were to some extent united by feelings of local pride,
local sociability, and ties of affinity, they still did not
constitute a tribe in the sense of a politically organized
and autonomous group. Rather, a sense of community
identity definitely took second place to the "patriotism"
felt by the members of each sib for their own matrilineal
exogamous kin group.
Sib members recognized their common kinship even
though they might be scattered in distant villages in
different tribal areas, for only a few sibs were restricted
to one region. It is the sib (na) that is commonly called
"tribe" or even "nation" by the English-speaking
Tlingit, who follow the vague use of terms employed
almost a hundred years ago by travelers and mission-
aries. Today, the Tlingit stnl insist on equating "tribe"
with sib, and this inaccurate or special usage has
caused endless confusion when they have had to deal
with official Governmental or legal documents in which
the word "tribe" is used with its ordinary (primarily
territorial) meaning.
Although the sib is certainly independent of the
local community or tribe, native traditions do suggest
a real link between the unilinear kin group and the
locality. Thus, the origin stories of many sibs suggest
that each of these groups was associated with a specific
place, as if at one time sib and tribelet had been one
and the same (disregarding, of course, the affiliated
spouses). The names of such sibs usually reflect that
of the locality where the sib originated or of some
spot with which it was particularly associated. Other
sibs, however, bear names appropriate to lineages or
house groups, even though they may be just as numer-
ous and widely dispersed. Traditions of most sibs
usually refer to the locality that was the site of their
ancestral house.
A sib of any size is composed of several lineages or
house groups (hit-tan), and the latter in turn may
consist of a single house fine or a cluster made up of
"mother" and "daughter" houses. Again, while some
sibs are found only in single tribal districts, most sibs
are established in several areas where they own house
sites and territories for hunting, fishing, and gathering.
The local segments of such a widespread sib may or
may not be felt to form distinct subsibs, perhaps
depending upon the recency or circumstances of then1
dispersal. On the other hand, a single sib in one locality
may exhibit two (or more?) fairly independent lineages
or clusters of houses, perhaps reflecting the process of
splitting into separate sibs, or the incomplete fusion
of two formerly distinct groups. The relative inde-
pendence of these subdivisions may be seen in their
historical traditions, in their sharing or exclusive use
of totemic crests and other prerogatives, and in whether
or not they form rival groups at local potlatches. (At
Sitka, for example, the Box House Kagwantan danced
opposite the Wolf House Kagwantan and the Eagle's
Nest Kagwantan, and the first were usually called
simply "Box House People" (Swanton, 1908, p. 435.))
It is natural that these subdivisions should be of most
concern to the residents of the local community. To the
Tlingit in another district such lineage divisions are of
little significance, and indeed they are temporarily ig-
nored in intertribal affairs, when the lineages of a sib
are always grouped together in a cooperating unit.
Similarly, the exact sib or subsib involved in some
legendary or historical event may be ignored by a nar-
rator who is not related to the group in question and who
is apt to apply the familiar designation of the larger
parent sib to its subdivision. Futhermore, in a distant
place, even the name of the sib may be forgotten so that
it may have to be called by the name of the tribe, as
when some Yakutat informants told me about the war
between the Sitka Kagwantan and the C&Atqwan
(Wrangel people, actually Nanya'ayi sib). It is hardly
to be expected that a northern Tlingit should know the
names of southern Tlingit sibs. And when a non-
Tlingit group is concerned, any consciousness of their
internal social divisions is usually masked by their over-
all foreignness. Nevertheless, in recounting Tlingit
history, the sibs (na), and the geographical groups
(-qwan) or villages ('an) which may be involved should
be specified. A complete account will also include the
house (hit) or houses of the protagonists, as well as their
personal names. Since the latter, as we shall see (pp.
781-790), are inherited within the lineage or sib, mention
of the name alone is often sufficient identification.
The histories told at Yakutat show how the fortunes
of the different groups have fluctuated, how some
became prominent through prowess and wealth, or how
misfortune or internal dissension might weaken a group
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 213
through schism. The emigration of one branch might
lead to the establishment of a separate group. We can
also see the conduct of intersib relations, in potlatching,
trade, and in friendly intermarriage. The last often
leads to the eventual establishment of a sib in far
lands, as the children and brothers of married-in
women found their own house in new territory. Or,
warfare can lead to the extermination of a sib, with
its surviving members enslaved by then1 conquerors.
In other cases, a sib simply seems to disappear; perhaps,
reduced in numbers, its members have merged with
some related stronger group. Finally, the fortunes or
misfortunes of a sib or of a whole community may
turn upon a supernatural event, an incautious word to
a powerful spirit, or the violation of some taboo. In
fact, the destinies of each sib are to some degree deter-
mined or set by the original supernatural encounters
which endowed the group with its totemic affiliations
and character.
Foreign Peoples
A number of foreign tribes and peoples have figured
in Yakutat history, or were mentioned by informants.
In identifying these I shall begin with the native
peoples who live to the westward.
ALETJTS AND ESKIMOS
The Chugach of Prince William Sound, the Koniag
of Kodiak Island, and the inhabitants of the Aleutian
Islands are all popularly known as "Aleuts" to Alaskan
Whites and natives alike. Few bother to distinguish
between the Pacific Eskimo and the Aleut proper.
The Yakutat and Eyak had contacts with the Chugach
in Prince William Sound and in Controller Bay before
the Russians brought fleets of Aleut, Koniag, and
Chugach sea-otter hunters into Indian territories. The
native word for Aleut, more properly applied to the
Chugach, is Eyak, and we heard this variously rendered
as Got'ex, (gotfefc gofex, Kot'ex, and guf!e*). The copper
River Eyak word for a Chugach Eskimo is GoDEiyiq
or GoDBiq (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, p. 543)
or ^Adi-q (Krauss). They were the traditional enemies
of the Eyak and Yakutat. A number of place names
in the Yakutat area, as far east as the Situk River,
were said to be "Aleut," and some informants believed
that they were the original inhabitants of the area.
Others said that they came to Yakutat in pre-Russian
times only to hunt sea otter and to raid. Still others
believe that the Aleut hunters brought by the Russians
were the first to come to Yakutat Bay. There are
traditions that Fort Island near Knight Island was
fortified as a protection against them, that they used
to camp on Dolgoi Island and at other places in the
bay, where they lurked in ambush to capture the local
Indians, and that an Aleut camp was massacred near
Knight Island. They are also mentioned as making war
on the village of GalyAx on the Kaliakh River, and of
attacking the Yakutat when the latter went to trade
at the mouth of the Copper River. The Indians had
to drive them out of Yakutat Bay and out of Controller
Bay, and some of the Yakutat people in their turn
even went to Prince William Sound to fight them
(pp. 158,163,164,169, 172, 175). At a later period, the
Yakutat used to trade with the Pacific Eskimo at
Nuchek in Prince William Sound and at Kodiak, and
liked to imitate their dances. Even now the traditional
enmity is not forgotten, although a few Yakutat
natives in recent years have taken Aleut or Koniag
spouses.
The Yakutat were also aware of the Eskimo of the
far north, people who live where it is cold, wear fur
clothes all the time, etc. During World War II, some of
the Yakutat men met Eskimos in the Army or on con-
struction jobs at Nome or Fairbanks. We recorded no
native name for Eskimo (except for one evidently given
in error).
Jack Ellis called the Eskimo "haa dAnaa, 'outer-
edge-of-the world people,' " and George Johnson agreed
that they could be called "haadaa-khwaan, 'way-out
people.'" The former specified that the southeastern
Tlingit call the Aleuts "kiyAk-khwaan," which he and
an informant from Kake admitted to Harrington was
an attempt to say "Kayak-people," but at Yakutat
they were called " 'AnA'uut ['Aleut' with the usual
substitution of n for Z], or khuthe'ex." George Johnson
[an Eyak-speaker] pronounced this "kuttheex or
kuttheex," and evidently applied it specifically to
the Chugach, for the true "westward, further-up
Aleuts" he said might be designated as "naakkhii-'
'aa-kuttheei." (Harrington, MS., 1939-40).
ATHABASKANS
The Athabaskans were called Gunana, 'strange people'
(Boas, 1917, p. 158, gunana, Swanton, 1908, p. 414,
Go'nana 'strange or different nation;' Harrington,
MS., 1939-40, "kunAnaa means merely 'different
Indians,' though was generally applied to all interior
Athapaskans"). This term was specifically used at
Yakutat to designate the Athabaskans living up the
Stikine, Taku, Chilkat, and Alsek Rivers, and also the
original inhabitants of Dry Bay (ThikwaxAdi). It was
very seldom used in referring to the Atna of the Copper
River, although they were known to be related to the
other interior Athabaskan groups. Although George
Johnson, in talking to Harrington used the common
214 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
English designation "Stick Indians," apparently with
its usual somewhat derogatory connotations, we found
that the Yakutat people, in contrast to the more
southern Tlingit, did not look down on the Athabaskans
as inferior peoples to be exploited in trade whenever
possible. Rather, they admired their fine looks, their
open grassy country, their rich furs, and their beautiful
skin clothing and beadwork. They learned their songs
and imitated their style of dancing; and they envied
them the tribal regalia which the more conservative
interior peoples (Tlingitized Athabaskans and Inland
Tlingit) have preserved. There was active intermarriage
and trading up and down the Alsek until about 40 or
50 years ago.
The Yakutat people also distinguished between
different interior tribes, in addition to the Atna (see
below). Thus, these Athabaskan tribes were categorized
as "some good, and some bad," the former being those
who acted as trade partners to the coastal Indians.
Thus, the Southern Tutchone of Klukshu (tl'ukcu) at
the head of the Alsek, were the partners of the CAn-
kuqedi of Dry Bay (see p. 355). A CAnkuqedi informant,
Frank Italio, mentioned the Tagicqwan (Tagish,
Athabaskans), Nuqwaqwan (a former Tlingit group
on the upper Alsek, cf. pp. 89-90), and the Aiyan
(Northern Tutchone of Fort Selkirk on the Yukon).
These were all apparently friendly with the Dry
Bay and Chilkat Tlingit.
Tasnaqwan is the name given to the people living in
the far north on the Tasna, "the biggest river in the
world." My informant believed that the river was the
Yukon and hazarded that the people might be the
Eskimo. I would suppose they were more likely to be
the Tena. George Johnson told Harrington that "in
1909 [he had] met a Stick Indian man in Valdez who
said he came from Thaasnaa, was well-dressed, . . .
[and] had lots of money [because he] had worked for the
Government for years. . . ." These natives, "like the
Copper River Indians, are all slim and tall fellows like
me [Harrington]." Mr. George M. Grasty identified the
river as the Tanana.
The Copper River Atna, although Athabaskans,
were "not Gtrnana," but were specifically designated as
'copper-diggers,' 'iqkahaqwan, abbreviated as 'iqaqwan
(Cf. Boas, 1917, p. 123, 'eq' ' copper'; p. 134, kl-si-hl
'to dig.') Harrington renders the name as 'iik-kh.AAh.AA-
kkhwaan 'copper-digging people,' or 'nkh-kaa-kkhwaan
for short. They might also be known as 'iikkhAhAnaa.
The Eyak called them yaanAhk (Harrington).
These people, at least those on the lower river and its
tributaries near Chitina, are felt to be closely related to
the Eyak and the Indians at Yakutat. They have
matrilineal sibs and moieties like the coast-dwellers.
The Eagle sib at Chitina is known as the Tcicqwedi,
and the Raven sib as the Gmexqwan or tdaxEnqwan
(Itahinqwan), both names derived from the rivers
where they lived.68 The latter were the ancestors of the
Yakutat Kwackqwan, and, according to some, of the
Raven sibs among the Eyak (GanAxtedi and Quslkedi).
The Atna were recognized as speaking a different lan-
guage from Eyak, from Tlingit, and also from Dry Bay
Gtmana, although it was more like the last.
The Gulf Coast Indians seem to have been on friendly
terms with the Atna, and the Atna we met on the
Copper River were full of friendly respect for the coastal
Indians, especially the Yakutat Tlingit. The latter
formerly used to travel to the mouth of the Copper
River, and during the last century to Nuchek in Prince
William Sound, in order to trade with the Atna who
descended the Copper River to meet them. The Copper
River Eyak, I believe, were traditionally the middlemen
in such trade. The overland route from the Chitina
River to the Duktoth River near Cape Yakagata was
presumably used at an earlier period. From the Atna,
the Yakutat obtained copper, furs, and spruce gum.
More recently, a small group of Atna are said to have
lived on the Bering River at Controller Bay. Both the
Yakutat Tlingit and the Atna were very much excited
when work on the Copper River railroad in the first
quarter of the present century reintroduced them to
each other, and they could exchange songs and versions
of their common history.
The "McCarthy Indians," probably the Nabesna
who came over the passes from the Upper Tanana
valley to the McCarthy area on the Chitina River,
were among the former enemies of the Atna. They were
called Nakiqwan, 'way-up-above people,' by my
Yakutat informant. Those invited to the potlatch at
Chitina (see p. 898) were assumed to be Tlayinedi,
that is, to belong to the Raven moiety. (It is doubtful,
however, that the Upper Tanana Indians had com-
pletely comparable moieties.)
Harrington's informant used the term "Stick Indians"
especially in referring to these inhabitants of the
"upper Copper River country," although we may infer
that he was not very careful about distinguishing
between the various groups. He said that they used to
come down the coast to Dry Bay, which was in conse-
quence called "kAnnaaxxuu. . . . This name means
'Stick Indians' place." We know that there were former
trade routes linking the copper country of the Nabesna
68
 The Atna moieties should more properly be called "Seagull"
and "Crow," from their "grandfathers," although they are actu-
ally unnamed. The Tcicqwedi are the Tcicyu, 'red-paint people.'
But while there are several sibs in each moiety, we have been
unable to identify the Gme?qwan (de Laguna and McClellan,
field notes, 1954, 195S, 1960).
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 215
and White Rivers with the upper Alsek (map 12, p. 88),
so that even if the Nabesna-Upper Tanana Indians
themselves may not have traveled to Dry Bay, their
copper and furs evidently did. The same informant
also reported that these Stick Indians used to come
frequently to the coast at "KAlyAx" near "Yakataga
Beach," and as a matter of fact, they could do this as
easily as could the Atna from Chitina. It is interesting
that he did not associate the latter with this route, nor
the Southern Tutchone with that to Dry Bay.
As Harrington reports:
"The Stick Indians wanted continually to come
out to the coast, and followed down these 2 rivers,
but after the whites came in the Stick Indians
found in Cordova a nice place to "come out," [with]
stores and [a] place where they could trade their
skins. The Stick Indians used to come down the
Copper River railroad to Cordova, and informant
was surprised how they could speak English. Once
informant saw a white fellow . . . in 1916 take 6
Copper River men to the States and back again on
a trip.
"There is one big bunch of Copper River Indians
at the very head of Copper River which bunch is
called by the Yakutat naakkhii khwaan, lit. way up
the river people. Those 6 were from there, had long
hair, their hair reached to bottom of thorax. These
stuck close to the white people who [were] taking
them on the trip. They talked poor English.
"They early cleaned up all the whites who came
in there looking for gold, the Indians having only
bows and arrows, but were quick fighters. 20 pros-
pectors went up there and were pretty near all fall
asleep when the Copper River Indians came quick
and attacked the camp, killing 19, while only one
old Irishman named Mike . . . [D] escaped with
one ear cut off. Mike lived for years at Cordova. . . .
"They say there is lots of game among the Stick
Indians up there at the head of the Copper River,
and they come down in a moose skin canoe made
with alder ribs, coming through the boiling rapids
where the Copper River comes between the 2 moun-
tains there. And they will not let any Cordova
Indians go up there to hunt unless the Cordova
Indian got permission from the Stick Indian chief?
they wanted the hunting for the Stick Indians them-
selves. If you go up there without permission they
will kill you right there, you can't get away, infor-
mant's maternal uncle told informant. And the
white people when they first came in there had a
hard time. And the Stick Indians give a time limit
to Cordova Indians hunting there and if you don't
go away they kill you right that minute." [George
Johnson to Harrington, 1939-40.]
BYAK
The Eyak of the Copper River delta were not
really foreigners; rather they were friends and relatives
of the Yakutat people who were a trifle old-fashioned
and backward. They were usually called Yatqwan, an
expression meaning 'local people, original inhabitants'
(cf. Boas, 1917, p. 95, jki 'here'). Their speech is
called yatqwan ?enAX. This is because the Yakutat
people know that they once spoke Eyak, like those at
Cordova. The same expression was used by a Dry
Bay man to designate the language of the original
Athabaskans in that area. Harrington renders the name
yaat khwaan, 'here-people.' One of my informants,
however, believed that originally the Cordova people
spoke like the Chitina people (Atna), but later changed
their language to Eyak, although he did not know why
or how.
In referring to the Eyak, the particular subdivisions
(town or sib) are designated just as they would be
among the Tlingit. Thus, another term is 'i-yaqqwan,
'people of Eyak,' for their former village on Eyak
Lake, while others might be called 'Alaganik people,'
or 'AnAxAnA-qqwan (cf. Birket-Smith and de Laguna,
1938, pp. 543-545). The Copper River Eyak sibs, one
Eagle (gutcgalAq) and two Raven (or Crow, tcile),
were fitted into the Yakutat and Tlingit system.
The Tlingitized people of QaryAx formed a connecting
link between the Cordova Eyak and the Yakutat.
TLINGIT
Whereas lingit (cf. Boas, 1917, p. 129) means simply
'human being, man/ the Yakutat people in using the
English word "Tlingit" may mean by this only the
"southeast Alaska Tlingit," or may also include them-
selves, depending upon the context. The attitude of
any given resident towards the Tlingit of the south-
eastern Alaskan panhandle apparently varies according
to his own derivation, since quite a few people have
moved to Yakutat, especially from Sitka, or are the
children of such a southeastern man or woman. Or,
his attitude may depend on the traditions of the sib to
which he belongs, or of that of his father, as well as
upon his own personal experiences. Thus, for a man from
Katalla, the southeastern Tlingit as a whole were
evidently rather alien and to be distrusted when visited
in their own country. Most of my other informants
however, traced their descent on one or both sides
from Tlingit immigrants who had come long ago to
Dry Bay or to Yakutat, and they distinguished clearly
between the Sitka or Juneau sibs to which they could
claim affiliation, and those with which they had no
ties or which were perhaps traditional enemies or rivals
of their sib. Yet perhaps all felt somewhat on the de-
fensive, ready to resent any remark which might be in-
216 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
terpreted as a slurring reference to the backwardness of
Yakutat in general, and quick to praise the superiorities
of Yakutat, while stressing their own personal connec-
tions with the more aristocratic and sophisticated south.
The Yakutat people were familiar with all the
Northern Tlingit tribes?most had been to Sitka or
Juneau, some to Hoonah and Klukwan and Angoon?
but when they came to speak of the groups living south
of Frederick Sound, their knowledge was less secure.
All the Southern Tlingit might be lumped together as
"Kake." Few persons knew the names for even the
major geographical features, or were content to desig-
nate a locality as vaguely "below Ketchikan."
Farther south, beyond Tlingit territory, live the Haida
and Tsimshian, with whom the Yakutat people had
commercial dealings.
HAIDA
The Haida, Dekina, (Swanton, 1908, p. 414, Deki'na,
'Nation-far-out [at sea]'), were sometimes included
in the vague expression "West Coast Natives" by the
Yakutat people. They were known to make excellent
canoes, highly prized by all the Tlingit. Some of the
Yakutat people had such canoes 50 years or so ago,
and some of their slaves had been purchased from the
Haida. Harrington was told by a White man at Yakutat
that at one time the Haida, as well as the Sitka Tlingit,
used to come in big canoes to the Copper River to
trade for native copper. The Cordova Eyak demanded
high prices for their bars and knives of copper, but the
Haida were rich and could offer many goods in return.
These voyages were not mentioned by our informants.
Rather, we gather that it was the Yakutat themselves
who sometimes journeyed south to meet the Haida. A
type of song, usually a love song addressed to sib-
children (pp. 571-572), is called a 'Haida mouth song,'
because it is composed in Haida style. These and Haida
love songs with Haida words were sung at Yakutat.
The term, Dekina, however, is not applied exclusively
to the Haida. It was used (primarily?) for the people of
Dall Island: Henya and Klawak Tlingit, as well as the
Haida Kaigani. One of our informants, in fact, spoke
of the "Tekina?'people way out,' maybe Klawak," and
again as "Klawak people, almost the same as Haida."
The word may originally have designated the Tlingit
of Dall Island, before the Kaigani settled there, rather
than the Kaigani or Haida. This is suggested by the fact
that when Kuskov, in reporting to Baranov the Indian
plot against the Russians (July 1, 1802, pp. 171-172),
used this name, he seems to have been referring to a
Tlingit group, probably the KiksAdi sib of the Henya.
Harrington's informants were also uncertain as to the
exact use of the name. Jack Ellis reported that "Teek-
khiinaa" meant "the outermost tribe," specifically the
Haida, "since the Haida were on the islands that lay
way off the coast." Peter Lawrence from Sitka said that
"Teekkhiinaa," or "way out," meant a "Haidaburg
Indian," and he called the Masset Haida "Teekkhi-
ikkhwwcon." While others of Yakutat agreed that
"Teekkhiinaa, way-out people" were the Haida, they
felt that "Teekkhiikkhwaan" ['way-out dwellers'] were
more properly the coastal Tlingit from Juneau to Sitka
(Harrington).
TSIMSHIAN
The Tsimshian, Tsutsxan, (Boas, 1917, p. 10,
tsutsxAn; Swanton, 1908, p. 414, Tshitsxa'n), were
regarded by the Yakutat people as the smartest, best
carvers, and the best painters. "Tsimshian made" was
an expression indicating the finest workmanship. A
great deal of the carved regalia, including headdresses
(cAki'At), dance batons, and rattles, used at Yakutat
had evidently been made by the Tsimshian. Swanton
(ibid.) reports that, for the Tlingit as a whole, the
Tsimshian were "esteemed as a people of high culture
from whom new ideas and customs reached them."
Thus, many persons at Yakutat are said to know and
sing Tsimshian songs; some are dancing songs with
"old-fashioned words," purchased from the Tsimshian
when they used to come to Yakutat in the 1880's and
1890's to hunt sea otter, and would sing and dance.
Other songs are shamanistic, with Tsimshian words
because the spirits have come from shamans of that
tribe. Probably many ceremonial and religious elabora-
tions reached the Northern Tlingit, including the
Yakutat, from the Tsimshian. The Yakutat people
used to go to Metlakatla to trade with them, especially
since the Tsimshian, like the Haida, could supply big
husky slaves. The Tsimshian parties that came to
Yakutat had to obtain permission to hunt sea otter
from the "Yakutat Chief," the leading chief of the
Kwackwan sib who controlled the hunting grounds at
Icy Bay. On one occasion there was almost a fight
between the Tsimshian and the Yakutat Indians.
Harrington gives the name "Tsuutz-xi.n" for the
Tsimshian; the people of Nass River would be known
as "Naaskhwaan."
WAKASHAN AND SALISH
"West Coast Indian" is the English expression
applied to the Kwakiutl, Nootka, Makah, and Coast
Salish, who have flattened heads. They are called
T'awyat or T'oyat in Tlingit, although this name does
not mean literally 'flat head.' In former times a num-
ber of Yakutat chiefs had some of these "Flathead
Indians" as slaves; the last were freed at a potlatch
in 1910; others are said to have attempted an escape
in a canoe perhaps 50 or 60 years before that. In the
last century a few wealthy people at Yakutat also had
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 217
Nootka-type 'goose canoes,' obtained from the "West
Coast Indians." These were purchased from parties of
flat-headed Indians who used to come to Yakutat on
a schooner to hunt sea otter. Every night they and
the Yakutat people danced "against" each other; one
night the West Coast or "Washington Indians" danced
onboard their schooner, the next night the Yakutat
people danced on shore. They also bet against each
other in the stick game. The Yakutat people learned
many of their songs. West Seattle and Victoria were
specifically mentioned as their homes. The heads were
said to be flattened in order to "fit their head pieces"!
Swanton (1908, p. 423) applied the term "Tlawiya't-
q!a" to "the Flatheads (i.e., Kwakiutl)." According to
Harrington, Jack Ellis equated the term "T'owya-t"
with "Siwash," a derogatory term. "The Tlingit get
mad if you call them Siwash," it is said. "They come
to blows." The true T'owya-t or Siwash were "far-
south Indians who were the source of slaves, notably,
but it was mostly the Haida who captured or got them,
and sold them to the Tlingit. I t was the Coast Siwash
who got made slaves, the inland Siwash naturally
could not be gotten." GJ rendered the name as
"T'uuyyaat," but knew only that they had flat heads.
Peter Lawrence called them "T'awyaat," and specified
that they came from Neah Bay, i.e., were Makah.
"They used to come here fur-seal hunting; twenty
schooners would put in at Yakutat to get water, and
sometimes a Japanese schooner."
A number of Cordova and Katalla Eyak and some
Yakutat people had evidently had some contact with
"States Indians," expecially at the native school at
Chimawa, Oreg. As George Johnson told Harrington,
when he was a boy, "they took 12 boys from Katalla to
Chimawa, Oregon, school. Only two came back alive,
two girls. Ten died there." They wanted the informant
to go, but he apparently refused. "The State Indians
and the Alaska Indians never get along so good at
Chimawa, for the State Indians are wards of the
Government and the Government has never declared
the status of the Alaska Indians. . . ." The inform-
ant's maternal grandfather made two trips to Portland
(called "hr-iwaatl'An"). "That used to be a risky trip,
for these State Indians used to attack these Tlingits.
The Tlingits had to be on the watch all the time."
ETTHOPEANS, AMEEICANS, AND ORIENTALS
White people are sometimes called Gus-liAyi-qwan
or Gus-Mya-qwan (the old pronunciation), or Gus-
lA-qwan (the newer, faster form). Many variants were
recorded, such as Guts-kiya-qwan, etc. The name was
translated as "people from the other side of the world,"
literally 'cloud outside-of people.' (Cf. Boas, 1917,
p. 155, gus, 'cloud.') Harrington (MS 1939-40) recorded
the forms "Kuts kii-khwaan" from GJ, and "Xuus
[Kus] Myi khwan" from JE, meaning 'horizon people,'
'people from where the sky, or clouds, meet the ground,'
or 'horizon-end-of people.'
This was apparently the older name for all White
people, but used at Yakutat now to designate the
Russians. A White person is now commonly called
TlEd (or Tlet)-qa (cf. Boas, 1917, p. 164, tlet, 'snow').
Jack Ellis told Harrington that it was not until after
1850 that this translation of the English term, "White
man" ("Tleet^khwan," 'like snow people'), began to
be used. "And now the school youngsters distinguish
between English, German, French, etc," he added.
This was in 1940, before World War II brought so much
knowledge of foreigners and distant parts. Swanton
(1908, p. 414) writes that "Let qoan (white or snow
people)" or even "Gu'tskli qoan (people from the
place where the clouds reach down to the earth?i.e.,
horizon people)" are terms used by the Tlingit for
White people in general, but that the Russians were
"A"nu'ci," while the British were "Gl'ndj ttcw&n, a
corruption of the 'King George Man' of the Chinook
jargon." We also recorded Gandjitcwan or KmdjidjwAn
for the "King George Men of Prince Rupert" (Ca-
nadians and British). This was said to be the newer
term, the older name being NAngmAn. Americans
were Wactmqwan, or 'Boston Men.'
Other nationalities known to the Yakutat people
because of their visits or residence in the area were
Swedish (missionaries) Norwegian (seamen, fishermen),
Finnish (missionary), German (prospectors, traders,
etc.), Italian (Alpinists), Japanese (cannery workers,
seamen, photographers), and Filipino and Chinese (can-
nery workers). The last were called TcanwAn, 'China-
man.' A number of Americans, foreign Whites, and
Orientals have married native women. Despite the fact
that a number of Yakutat boys served in the Army
overseas, there seems to be no enmity felt toward the
Germans or Japanese. The Russians are still remem-
bered, however, with hatred. Two Yakutat natives
were at first suspicious of my name and questioned me
closely to make sure that I had no connection with
the Russians.
Sibs Among the Gulf of Alaska Peoples or
Important in Their History
A list of sibs among the Yakutat and their neighbors
has already been given on page 20, but it may be
repeated here with some modifications. These groups
are identified and then- history briefly sketched in the
following pages:
218 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Tldymedi {Raven)
Eyak "GanAxte'di" (GanAXAdi)
Qiisledi (Kosl&di)
"TlukwaxAdi"
GalyAxqwan "GanAxte'di"
[Kwaci:qwan]
Yakutat: Original residents. __Hinyedi
Koskedi
StaxAdi
Later residents KwacKqwan
(from Copper River)
TTuknaxAdi
(from Dry Bay)
Most recent immigrants__ThikwaxAdi
from Dry Bay
Recently married in
CAnJcuqedi (Wolf-Eagle)
Tcicqedi (Tcicqwedi)
Tcicqedi
Galyix-Kagwantan
.YEnyedi
Dry Bay?Akwe River TlukwaxAdi
Kos&edi
TTuknaxAdi
(from SE Alaska)
Lituya Bay
DAqdentan
Other Groups involved in Yakutat History:
KiksAdi of Sitka
GanAxtedi of Chilkat
Tlaxayik-Teqwedi
. GAlyix-Kagwantan
(from the west)
Teqwedi (from Dry Bay)
-CAnkuqedi
Kagwantan (Box House)
-Tcicqedi (from Katalla)
Kagwantan (from Sitka,
and Chilkat)
YAnyedi (from Taku)
Wuckitan (from Juneau)
CAnkuqedi (from Chilkat)
Kagwantan (from southeast
Alaska)
TcukAnedi
"Daqt'awedi" i.e., Nanya'-
ayi of Wrangell
Wuckitan of Angoon
GANAXTEDI
The"GanAxte'di" were an important Raven sib at the
mouth of the Copper River, said to "own" Cordova
and Alaganik, and also to live as far east as Katalla.
They are said to have been part of the original group
that emigrated from Chitina on the Copper River, but
became lost in the fog and so were separated from those
who went on to Yakutat and became the Kwaci:qwan.
The first settlement of the GanAxte'di on the Copper
River delta was at Saxwfel:, 'Behind the Cockles.'
Xatgawet, a prominent Teqwedi trader from Akwe
River and Yakutat married one of their women and
gave her "brothers" the name GanAxtedi hi imitation
of the famous Chilkat sib at Klukwan. Those from
Cordova used to come by canoe to Yakutat in June,
presumably to trade. Swanton (1908, p. 400) recognizes
groups at Chilkat and Yakutat whom he calls
"GanAXA'dl." However, when one of our informants
said that long ago there had been GanAxtedi or
GanAXAdi at Yakutat, I believe he was referring to
visitors from Chilkat, like those encountered by
Ismailov and Bocharov at Yakutat in 1788 (pp. 134-135).
The GanAxtedi or GanAXAdi of Chilkat are associated
with the early history of the Tl'uknaxAdi (Ravens) and
the CAnkuqedi (Wolf-Eagles) of Dry Bay (see below).
TLTJKWAXADI
Althoughagroupcalled"TlukwaxAdi"weresaid to have
lived at Alaganik, nothing further is known about
them, except that they were distinct from the people
of the same name at Dry Bay. They may have been
given this same designation, however, to imply an
Athabaskan origin.
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 219
QUSK'ilDI
A branch of the "Kos&edi" of Yakutat and Dry Bay,
or more probably an entirely different group, since
they are usually called QusKe'di or Quskedi, was one of
the Raven sibs at Cordova, said to have been named
by the much-marrying Xatgawet.
TCICQEDI
The Tcicqedi or Tcicqwedi are an Eagle sib of the
Eyak, especially associated with Katalla and Cape
Martin, although they also lived at Cordova and on
Controller Bay. They had settlements at Kokenhenik
on the Copper River delta, at Cape Martin, on Salmon
River near Katalla, at Katalla, on Wingham Island,
at Chilkat on Bering River, and on Bering Lake. The
Tcicqedi are reputed to be a branch of the Gatyix-
Kagwantan, who followed the latter "after the Flood"
to Kaliakh River. Finding that the only dry land was
already occupied, they had to settle farther west in a
swampy area, where they were given lands by their
"fathers," the Eyak GanAxtedi. However, the latter
took back some of their territory when they found
that the Tcicqedi were getting too many furs. The
latter event is said to have taken place when the
grandfather of a man born in 1892 was still alive. The
Galyix-Kagwantan are said to consider them rather
low class.
The version of then- origin as told by another in-
formant is simply that they branched off from the
Galyix-Kagwantan because there were too many
people in one house. For a time they seem to have been
on good terms with the latter, for the two groups are
said to have had houses side by side on Bering Lake.
These were destroyed by a flood. More recently, during
the lifetime of the father of a man born in 1912, the
Tcicqe"di attempted to build a house at Chilkat on
Bering River and at Strawberry Point on Controller
Bay, but were prevented by the Galyrx-Kagwantan,
who also claimed territory as far west as Strawberry
Point, and a fight ensued. The "capital" of the Tcicqedi
was at Katalla. One Tcicqedi man has an Eagle House
at Yakutat, but there are no other representatives of
his sib here. Several Kwaclqwan individuals had fathers
in this sib.
Because the Tcicqedi were considered to be a western
branch of the Gaiyix-Kagwantan, their name is some-
tunes used to designate the eastern branch, or Tlaxayik-
Teqwedi, although the latter were a separate group.
Emmons (MS.) reports that the "Tschisqwaytee"
women did not wear the labret.
The name, Tcicqedi, is evidently synonymous with
Tcicyu, 'red paint people/ a matrilinial sib widely dis-
tributed among the Atna, Tanana, Yukon Tena,
Tanaina, etc. Among the Atna who have moieties, the
Tcicyu are ranked as "Seagull," as opposed to the
"Crow." Our Yakutat informant specified that the
"Eagle" sib at Chitina was the Tcicqwedi, which is
thus in agreement with what McClellan and I found
among the Atna (1954). Possibly a branch of these
people did come to the coast via the overland route to
the Duktoth River near Cape Yakataga, and from
there spread westward. The tradition of their move to
the Copper River is probably that recorded at Cordova
in 1935 as the adoption of a people called "qatliya
d3(iax tflaqEiyu," which should probably be translated
as "people from Kaliakh" (Birket-Smith and de Laguna,
1938, pp. 124, 544).
(JALYIX-KAGWANTAN
The Garyix-Kagwantan (or GalyAx-Kagwantan) are
an Eagle sib, once very large, which claims territorial
rights from Strawberry Point in Controller Bay to
Williams Creek west of Icy Bay. The first part of their
name refers to their principal village, GaHyAx or
GalyAx, which was formerly at the mouth of the
Kaliakh River. They were also one of the groups
named by Xatgawet, who married their chief's daughter
and called his father-in-law's people "Kagwantan"
after the famous sib at Chilkat and Sitka and Hoonah.
These people, together with their Kwackqwan or Eyak
Raven wives, make up the tribal group called "Guth-
le-uk-qwan" by Emmons (1903, pp. 231 f.).
According to one informant, the Garyrx-Kagwantan
were the group who became lost in the fog when emi-
grating from the Copper River, but this story more
properly applies to the Raven GanAxtedi of Cordova.
According to a Tcicqedi man, the Galyrx-Kagwantan
were originally Sitka people who came in Haida-built
canoes to the Copper River to trade for copper and
who settled at Katalla. But this story is evidently
inspired by an attempt to link his own people and the
Garyix-Kagwantan to the Sitka Kagwantan.
Their own version is that "after the Flood," when
they were drifting on the ocean, they saw a beautiful
mountain (Kulthieth) and so were attracted to the
Kaliakh River, where they preempted the dry ground
for their houses. Here they repulsed an attack by the
"Aleuts" on GaiyAx, when Xatgawet fought beside his
father-in-law. Later(?) they spread westward, and
established themselves in the Controller Bay area.
The site of their original(?) Beaver House was on
Bering Lake, and it was also in the vicinity of Bering
River that they acquired the Beaver as their crest.
They had other settlements at Strawberry Point, at
Redwood Bay, at Chilkat on Bering River, on Wingham
Island, at the base of Okalee Spit, on the Kaliakh
River above GaryAx, and probably also a camp or
settlement at Cape Yakataga.
220 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
One of the groups "organized" for purposes of trade
by Xatgawet were the Wuhxac-Kagwantan, or 'drifted-
away Kagawantan,' who originated at Katalla. It is
not clear whether this term should be applied to the
Galyix-Kagwantan as a whole, since they once drifted
on the ocean, to a branch living on Controller Bay, or
to the Tcicqedi who claimed Katalla as their "capital."
The Galyrx-Kagwantan are associated with the
history of Yakutat proper, for the Raven emigrants
(Gmex-qwan or KwacE:qwan) from the Copper River
encountered at Icy Bay a group of Galyix-Kagwantan
who had moved east after a quarrel with their kinsmen.
These people were traveling in big skin or wooden
canoes. They intermarried with the Copper River
Ravens, and moved with them across Yakutat Bay,
when, according to some, they became known as the
Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. According to others, they were
the first to reach Yakutat. When the Copper River
Ravens acquired Knight Island and the Humpback
Salmon Creek in Yakutat Bay, some informants said
that one or both of these properties were purchased by
a Galyix-Kagwantan chief for his Raven children.
The Garyix-Kagwantan claim to have found the
wreck of a Russian ship (on the coast west of Icy Bay?),
the first Russian ship seen, and one of their number
married a Russian woman, the sole survivor.
The members of this sib are proud of the reputation
which links them with the Sitka Kagwantan as being
fierce warriors. The territory is admitted to be rich in
furs, and they were traditionally wealthy in copper.
The Galyix-Kagwantan have traditionally inter-
married with the Kwackqwan. Emmons (MS.) reports
that they had a house at Khantaak Island, but this
could not be confirmed. In any case, a number have
more recently moved to Yakutat. Here they formerly
owned a lineage house, still standing, but no longer in
the possession of the sib. The Galyix-Kagwantan are
today represented at Yakutat by two women, their
children and grandchildren; a few others live at Cordova
or in the States below Alaska.
ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF THE YAKUTAT AEEA
The original inhabitants of the Yakutat area have
been called "Aleuts," and one informant reported that
the immigrants from the Copper River purchased their
lands from them. According to others, the group that
sold their territories to the Copper River Indians were
the KosSedi (Ravens), the Hinyedi (Ravens), or
YEnyedi (Eagles). Other names applied more specifi-
cally to the original occupants of the lowlands east of
Yakutat Bay are the L'u?edi (Eagles), who may or may
not be the same as the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi, and the
StaxAdi (Ravens). Farther east, in the Dry Bay area
lived the TlukwaxAdi (Athabaskan Ravens) and the
Koskedi. It is possible that at an early time there were
only various groups scattered along the coast that
lacked formal sib or moiety organization, although in-
formants now assign such status to all the peoples
mentioned.
HINYEDI
One very well-informed Kwacl:qwan man said that
his people, on coming from the Copper River, purchased
their lands at Yakutat from the Raven Hinyedi. After
selling their territories, these people emigrated to
southeastern Alaska; most are believed to live near
Ketchikan, but there are a few in Juneau. The Hinyedi
are not mentioned by Swanton. Although the name
suggests that it may refer to a 'river' (hin), this ety-
mology was rejected by my informant. He also told me
that these people were called S tax Adi, after the eastern
branch, Staxe'ya, of the Arhnklin River, the last of
their territory to be sold, and which was acquired by
the Drum House Teqwedi. However, most of my other
informants said that StaxAdi was only another name
for the Kwac&qwan, although a derogatory one, and
no one else used the term Hinyedi.
J
KOSKEDI
The Koskedi (Ravens) were among the names given
by two KwacK;qwan informants to designate the
original inhabitants of the Yakutat area. According to
their version of the tradition, these people sold their
land to the immigrants from the Copper River (the
Kwackqwan), and then moved to southeastern Alaska,
being now found at Sitka. Swanton, who recorded such
a version (1909, Tale 105), lists them both at Sitka and
at Hoonah as Koskle'dt, 'people of Kose'x or Kosle'x.'
He considers them to be Athabaskan in origin, and to
be one of the Tlingit groups that originated in the Dry
Bay area. Some of his informants said that they were
a branch of the Ti'uknaxAdi, "though others state
that they came from the coast farther west from the
StAxa'dt of Copper river, who appear to have been
Athapascans" (Swanton, 1908, p. 413; cf. pp. 399, 400).
Swanton's "Kosle'x" is apparently the famous town,
Gusex, on the Akwe River just west of Dry Bay, the
"capital" of the Ti'uknaxAdi. One of my informants
said that the Koskedi did in fact live with the latter
in Frog House, and that they used to accompany the
Tl'uknaxAdi on summer trips to Yakutat. This group
of Koskedi apparently moved to Sitka when Gusex
was abandoned, but apparently still feel that they are
a part of the Ti'uknaxAdi. It is not at all evident, how-
ever, that these Akwe-Sitka Koskedi were ever the
original inhabitants of Yakutat.
Swanton (1909, Tale 32, p. 161) also records another
version of the origin of the Koskedi. According to this
story they were a branch of the Ti'uknaxAdi at the tune
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 221
the latter moved north from southeastern Alaska to
Dry Bay, but acquired their name from the place at
which they camped in order to obtain roots to make
into a dried pressed food called "t!Aganlsk!ex." Swanton
doubts this etymology. According to this story, the
Koskedi built a house which they roofed with moose
hide, becoming the Moose House People (Xas! hit tan,
cf. Swanton, 1908, pp. 407, 409, 413).
Emmons (MS.) writes that the "Kuse ka di" were
an offshoot of the Tl'uknaxAdi ("Thluke nub. ut di"),
and came with them from Dry Bay to Yakutat, where
they were mentioned as among the first people. How-
ever, they continued westward, and "while a few remain
[as of 1910?], none have houses here today and only a
few are found married in the other families [sibs], so
they do not constitute a family of the tribe today."
As already mentioned, one of the Raven sibs of the
Cordova Eyak were called "Koskedi" or Quskedi,
but are probably a different group.
It seems doubtful that the name, Kos&edi, should
properly be given to any Raven group west of the
Dry Bay area.
STAiXADI
The StaxAdi are also difficult to identify. One
informant said they were named for the eastern branch
of the Ahrnklin River, the last piece of territory sold
by the Hinyedi before their emigration. Others apply
the term to the Kwackqwan, especially to the Moon
House lineage. However, it is said to be a name used
by the Tl'uknaxAdi when "they want to be mean to
the Kwacliqwan." I do not know why it should be
resented, unless it implies assimilation by the Kwaclsqwan
of an inferior autochthonous group. This designation,
however, but without the derogatory implications, is
accepted by several members of the Kwackqwan.
Swanton (1908, p. 413) identifies the "StAxa'dl"
as Athabaskans of Copper River, and says that the
Kwackqwan are called by the same name because
their dances are similar to those of the true "StAxa'dl."
It is true that the Kwackqwan are accustomed to dance
in Atna style.
A Kagwantan informant told me that when the
Tl'uknaxAdi used to come to Yakutat to trade, the
StaxAdi or Kwackqwan would hide in the woods, until
a "great man organized them" into a trading relation-
ship. This is undoubtedly a reference to Xatgawet.
TENTEDI
According to three more Kwackqwan informants,
the original inhabitants of Yakutat Bay were the
Eagle YEnyedi or YAnyedi. After selling their lands, the
last of which was the Ahrnklin region, the YAnyedi
went to Taku, where they now live. They walked into
the mterior up one of the glaciers at the head of Yakutat
Bay (probably via Nunatak Glacier), and went to
Tcanukwa on the headwaters of the Alsek, to "Taku
Lake" (Atlin Lake), and came eventually to Klukwan
and Taku.
A Kagwantan informant said only that they had
separated from other Eagle groups "after the Flood."
Swanton (1908, pp. 399, 412) calls them the Yenye'dl,
?'mainland people' or 'place of hemlock people/ and
believes them to be a branch of the Nanyaa'yl, a promi-
nent Wolf sib among the southern Tlingit. The latter
are said to have come from the Tsimshian coast to the
south, but Lieutenent Emmons is quoted as suggesting
(more correctly) that they were originally an interior
group (Swanton, 1908, p. 411 and footnote). Garfield
(1947, pp. 447, 449) quotes Angoon informants who
identify the YimyEdi as the ancestors of the Daql'awedi
and Wuckitan (Wolf sibs represented at Angoon), who
had moved down the Stikine and Taku Rivers to the
coast (cf. de Laguna, 1960, pp. 137-140). The name,
therefore, may be one which is used rather loosely to
designate any Eagle-Wolf mainland or inland group.
Some 70 or more years ago, a number of YEnyedi from
below Wrangell came to Yakutat. Then- descendants
are today among the Yakutat people, but while there
are also more recently married-in YEnyedi, the sib as
such is not established in the area.
The L'uiedi or Tl'uxedi (Eagles) are also reported to
have been the original owners of Yakutat. They spoke
Eyak. Then? name refers to the muddy glacial waters
(l'u? or tl'ui) of the Situk River which formerly
drained an ice-dammed lake at the head of Russell
Fiord, (Harrington renders 'muddy water, glacier
water' as tl'uux, but give no names for the sib.) This
group is particularly associated with the Situk and Lost
Rivers, east of Yakutat. A few persons even assign
them to the Humpback Salmon Creek or to the Ahrn-
klin River. They are sometimes equated with the
Tlaxayik-Teqwedi, or even with the Garyix-Kagwantan,
although one person said that the latter "just called
themselves L'u^edi." The same informant reported
that the t'u^edi had just come up from southeastern
Alaska, when the G^y^Kagwantan crossed Yakutat
Bay from the west and discovered their presence from
the peeled stalks of wildcelery which the former had
dropped. Her husband, however, reports that this was
the way the Kwackqwan discovered the Hinyedi.
According to Swanton's version of the Kwackqwan
migration from the Copper River (1909, Tale 105),
the "L!uq!oe'dt" and the "Kosle'di," both Athabas-
kans, were then living together at Yakutat, but the
Lluqloe'di emigrated with the latter when they sold
their Humpback Salmon stream.
222 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Most of my informants, however, spoke as if the
L'uiedi were either the same as the Tlaxayrk-Teqwedi,
or had merged with them. They built the Eagle Fort
on the upper Situk Eiver after they had expelled the
Russians. Other towns of theirs were NEtsilhuwA-wAt-
'an on Aka Lake (destroyed by the southeastern
Alaskan Teqwedi), Diyaguna'Et on the west branch of
Lost River (also acquired by the latter), and 'Shallow
Water Town' on Little Lost River (acquired by the
Teqwedi and given by their chief to the Kwacliqwan).
The Teqwedi (Bear House lineage?) do not like to
hear the name L'u&edi, we are told, because the latter
killed so many of them on Situk and Lost River that
they were never able to even the score. The Drum
House Teqwedi, especially, do not like to be reminded
of the L'u^edi. (Is this because they were enemies, or
because the Drum House people merged with them ?)
There are now no L'uiedi at Yakutat, and it is not
known what became of them. If they were the same as,
or were closely allied with, the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi, then
they were probably wiped out by the Raven
Ti'uknaxAdi (see pp. 261-270). Chief Daqusetc, the
leading Teqwedi chief at Diyaguna 'Et and at Khantaak
Island, had a L'u^edi woman slave. She was liberated
at the potlatch after his death (about 1901?) and, like
other freed slaves, was considered a low-class member
of her owner's sib. It is probable that other L'u&edi
have been absorbed in like manner by the Teqwedi.
[According to Emmons (MS.), the Eagle or Wolf]
"Tlu qua di were a very early people before the
Tlingit who originally spoke the Interior tongue
[Athabaskan, not Eyak?], who came down the
Alsech from the Interior. From Dry Bay they went
north and became an important part of the Yakutat
tribe and are mentioned as among the original
settlers there. Their principal village was on the
Situk River where they had a stockaded fort Chak
nu (Eagle Fort) [see page 79]. They were defeated
in wars with the Thluke nuh hut di [Tl'uknaxAdi]
and their fort destroyed. They are said to have led
the attack on the Russian post at Yakutat, and
fearing reprisals, they afterwards returned to the
Alsech. They are no longer represented in this tribe
and the name only is remembered."
In this connection, we should note the traditions
and evidence concerning the movements of coastal
groups up the Alsek River, and the eventual disappear-
ance of these settlers at 'Eddy Fort', or 'Kinnikinnik
Leaves' (pp. 83,89). The YEnyedi or L'u?edi or
Tlaxayik-Tekwedi may have been the parent group
for the "Nua Qua" (Nuqwaqwan), whose last chief,
Tmna sati, died on the upper Alsek about 100 years ago.
We should also note that a different sib, also called
the L'u^edi, are associated with Sitka. According to
Swanton, (1907, vol. 2, p. 766) they are the L!u'q!oedf,
'white people,' an almost extinct Eagle sib, named for
the color of white water. Garfield's Angoon informants
(1947, pp. 466f.) said that they were a branch of the
Teqwedi which had settled at the foot of Mount
Edgecomb on the southern end of Kruzof Island, a
place which my Yakutat informants also called L'u?.
(de Laguna, 1960, p. 144). Here the name seems to
refer to the stormy waters encountered in that locality,
which figure in the early history of the residents
(Swanton 1909, Tale 17). My informant who traced
the Yakutat L'uiedi back to southeastern Alaska was
probably relying upon this similarity in the descriptive
names, for other persons indicated clearly that the
Yakutat group was distinct from any branch of the
Teqwedi from Sitka.
TtAXAYIK-TE QWEDI
The Tlaxayik-Teqwedi, commonly regarded as a
branch of the Galyix-Kagwantan, were the most im-
portant Eagle sib in the early history of Yakutat. They
spoke Eyak, and their name is derived from the Eyak
name for Yakutat Bay, tla'xa'f, plus the Tlingit suffix
-yik, 'inside.' (Harrington, MS., 1939-40, tlhaa-
xxaatthi, 'the whole great Yakutat Bay,' -yik 'inside.')
As already suggested, the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi are prob-
ably the same as the L'uxedi, or these two names may
designate two branches of the same people living on
the bay and on the rivers. Both names were, moreover,
given by different informants to those who defeated
the Russians, built Eagle Fort on the Situk, and were
finally crushed at WuganiyE above Point Latouche. At
an earlier period, the Tlaxayns-Teqwedi are said to
have lived on Knight Island, and, under Xatgawet's (?)
leadership, fortified adjacent Little Fort Island against
the "Aleut." The people of Knight Island were also
embroiled with the TlukwaxAdi of Dry Bay. This prob-
ably represents an early phase of the enmity between
the Yakutat Eagles and the Dry Bay Ravens which
led to the destruction of the Ttaxayik-Teqwedi by the
Tl'uknaxAdi. The Tlaxaydi-Teqwedi are no longer
found at Yakutat; probably the survivors merged with
the Teqwedi from southeastern Alaska, or, as suggested,
fled into the interior. Some of their great names are now
borne by Galyix-Kagwantan and Teqwedi individuals
at Yakutat.
KWACK'QWAN
The Kwackqwan (Swanton, 1908, p. 400, Ka'ckte-
qoan) are named for the Humpback Salmon Creek on
the east side of Yakutat Bay. The name for the stream,
kwac?, is simply the Eyak word for humpback salmon,
whereas the Tlingit word is teas. This Raven sib traces
its origin to Chitina on the Copper River, which they
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 223
left following a dispute over the inheritance of a dead
chief's property. The original group was called
Gmexqwan or GinExqwan after the Bremner River, or
LdaxEnqwan or Ltahinqwan after the Tana River. At
the time of their emigration they spoke the Copper
River language, i.e., Atna Athabaskan, and some songs
in this language are still preserved at Yakutat, and
some personal names are Atna words. Part of the
emigrants became separated from the others and became
the Eyak GanAxtedi. The rest of the group traveled
overland, past Mount Saint Elias, which they therefore
claim as a crest, and at Icy Bay married a group of
Galyix-Kagwantan. They later crossed Yakutat Bay
and eventually obtained possession of that area, in-
cluding the stream from which their present name is
derived, through purchase from the original inhabitants.
Swanton (1909, Tale 105) gives one version of their
story, indicating that their first lineage house, Moun-
tain House, was built at Icy Bay. This was perhaps
the settlement destroyed by the glacier long ago. Their
territory includes Icy Bay and the east shore of Yakutat
Bay as far as the site of the Yakutat airfield.
One of their earliest villages in the Yakutat area was
on Knight Island, with the founding of which some
informants would associate the ubiquitous Xatgawet.
Although the latter is said to have married several
Kwadsqwan women, he is not credited with assigning
a name to their sib, although he named the village on
Knight Island TlAkw-'an, 'Old Town,' after the famous
Chilkat town. The Kwacl:qwan woman who was cap-
tured by the Tl'uknaxAdi of Gusex is said to have
been his sister-in-law; at any rate she was the sister
of the Kwackqwan chief of Knight Island. A member of
this sib played a part in the defeat of the Russians at
Yakutat, and there is also a vague suggestion that they
may have aided the Tl'uknaxAdi when the latter fought
the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi, in order to obtain a share of
the Russian loot. The Kwaci:qwan were also involved
in wars or fights with the "Aleuts," including both the
Chugach and the sea otter hunters impressed by the
Russians. They also fought with people (unidentified,
Galyix-Kagwantan?) living at Icy Bay, who attacked
the Kwackqwan when they came from the Copper
River, and who tried to keep secret their sealing canoes
(gudiyE).
The village on Knight Island was apparently
abandoned in pre-Russian times, and after the expulsion
of the Russians the principal village of the Kwackqwan
was Nessudat on Lost River, where three of their
four houses were Raven's Bones House (the residence
of their ranking chief), Fort House, and Moon House.
They also had Aka on Aka Lake, south of Yakutat, and
'Hill-Top Town' on Summit Lake a little farther east,
both wiped out by smallpox. The site of 'Shallow Water
Town' on Little Lost River had been given by the
Teqwedi chief to his Kwacliqwan brother-in-law, but
at that time it was only a garden for native tobacco.
Later the Kwackqwan had houses at Khantaak Island,
before they moved to the Old Village and the modern
town of Yakutat near the cannery. They are today the
most numerous sib in the area.
Until fairly recently, the Kwac]?qwan used to travel
every year to the mouth of the Copper River, to meet
and trade with their Atna relatives, but these journeys
may not have been begun before White exploration
of the Copper River. The Kwackqwan are particularly
noted for their Copper River style of dancing and
singing.
[According to Emmons (MS.): The] "Quash qua
kwan came from the upper reaches of the Copper
River across the Mt. St. Elias range and reached
Disenchantment Bay. Later they crossed to the
southern shore where they met the Tlingit who at
first turned them back. But later they purchased a
humpback salmon stream, Qwash heene, on the
mainland shore across from Knights Island [sic] in
Yakutat Bay, from which they took their name,
and in time were accepted into the tribe. They are
found at Yakutat and on the numerous waters of
Ankow, and constitute the most numerous family
of the tribe, but socially are looked down upon by
the older Tlingit. Their women never adopted the
labret."
It will be remembered (see page 76) that Emmons
was told that a single household of the Qa^ushfttan,
a Wolf sib of Henya from Prince of Wales Island, once
lived among the Kwaci;qwan at Nessudat, but even at
the time of his first visit (1884?) none remained.
T?UE.WAXADI
The original inhabitants of Dry Bay were the Raven
TlukwaxAdi (Swanton, 1908, p. 400, tuqa'xAdi, 'quick
people'). The daughter of a TlukwaxAdi man described
them as Gunana (Athabaskans), but speaking a
different dialect from that of the Taku Gunana,
although like all "inside people" they used "sharp
words." They are swift, just like an arrow, and other
people were afraid of them because they could not
catch up with them. Another informant described
their language as something like that of the Copper
River Indians at Chitina. It was definitely not Atna,
and not Eyak. The name for Dry Bay is Gunaxo,
contracted from Gunana-xo, 'among the Athabaskans.'
The TlukwaxAdi made regular trips up the Alsek
River into the interior to hunt, fish, gather berries,
and to trade with their more inland neighbors who
also came down the river on visits. In style of dress,
in the use of cottonwood dugouts, in their greater
224 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
reliance upon land animals and their somewhat inept
and limited hunting of sea mammals, the TlukwaxAdi
(or Dry Bay people in general) were more of a river
than a coastal people.
They are said to have raided the Ttaxayik-Teqwedi
on Knight Island, and later, in fear of retaliation,
built 'Eddy Fort' up the Alsek. After peace was declared
they moved back to found a village at its mouth.
(Possibly my informant confused a movement up the
river by the Tiaxayik-Teqwedi with the history of the
TlukwaxAdi.) Other settlements have been at or near
Easting River on the east side of Dry Bay, and on
Stuhinuk Creek on the west side. The TlukwaxAdi also
lived at Gusex on the Akwe River farther west, a town
chiefly associated with the Tl'uknaxAdi, although
probably originally a TlukwaxAdi settlement. They are,
in fact, said to be "pretty near the same" as the
Tl'uknaxAdi. Since these two Raven sibs have married
into the same Eagle sibs (CAnkuqedi, Kagwantan) at
Dry Bay, the Tl'uknaxAdi are said to be "descended
from the TlukwaxAdi," and vice versa, meaning that
each group has the other as their fathers' fathers.
The houses especially associated with the TlukwaxAdi
were Far Out House at Gusex and Canoe Prow House
at Dry Bay. With the abandonment of Dry Bay, the
TlukwaxAdi have almost ceased to exist as a separate
sib, and their original language is now forgotten. It is
exceedingly difficult to identify any specific individuals
as TlukwaxAdi rather than Tl'uknaxAdi, or to discover
which sib owns the present Far Out House at Yakutat,
even though my informants recognized the importance
of the distinction.
The TlukwaxAdi among the Chilkat presumably came
from Dry Bay as a result of intermarriages linking the
two areas (cf. Swanton, 1908, p. 413). Although a
group sometimes called by this name is said to have
lived among the Eyak at Alaganik, it was quite distinct
from the Dry Bay and Chilkat groups, and, as already
suggested, the term probably refers only to their
Athabaskan affiliations.
CANKUQEDI
The remaining sibs in the Yakutat and Dry Bay
areas are all (or all but one) supposed to be immigrants
from southeastern Alaska. First (?) among these were
the Eagle CAnkuqedi (or CAnkukedi; Swanton, 1908,
p. 410, CAnkuke'df, named for a place near Kake
called Can or Caya'). According to one of my informants
they were separated from other Eagle groups "after
the Flood." It should be recognized that their name,
CAnkuqedi, is that given as a designation of the Wolf-
Eagle moiety as a whole. One old man of the sib,
Frank Italio, said that his people came from CXnda
in southeastern Alaska. Their original home was near
the Nass River, where they were nearly exterminated
by the Tsimshian. It was a CAnkuqedi woman who
then married the Sun (see the myth, "Children of the
Sun," pp. 873-875). The CAnkuqedi came north, some
going to Chilkat where they intermarried with the
Raven GanAxtedi. This man also asserts that they
were the first to become acquainted with the Atha-
baskans above Chilkat, and that the GanAxtedi who like
to claim this distinction only followed the CAnkuqedi.
The latter traveled to Nuqwayik (Nuqwayik), the
Tlingit-speaking settlement on the upper Alsek, passed
by Glave (p. 89). They went to Klukshu and to
Hutshi Lakes (tlukcu or tl'ukcu, and hutcai, both
Southern Tutchone). At he latter place, CAnkuqedi
women married Gunana men. From here the CAnkuqedi
went to Tagish (taqic), where they hired the Tagish
as guides. Their farthest journey was to Aiyan-'ani
(probably Fort Selkirk on the Yukon), but many were
drowned when attempting to cross the river at what
appears to be Five Finger Rapids. Here the local chief
gave them a number of songs.
The CAnkuqedi became established at Dry Bay
because a TtukwaxAdi man went to Chilkat to get a
CAnkuqedi wife. The CAnkuqedi in their turn married
the TlukwaxAdi and Tl'uknaxAdi at Dry Bay. Eventu-
ally a better route was discovered down the Alsek, and
this was later followed by the Teqwedi from southeast-
ern Alaska.
Although the CAnkuqedi are said to have been
living with their spouses at Dry Bay long before the
Russians came, they were not very numerous then nor
at the time when the Tl'uknaxAdi were at war with the
Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. They were living at Dry Bay when
the Tl'uknaxAdi took some KwacE:qwan captives,
including the noblewoman said to be Xatgawet's
sister-in-law. Although the CAnkuqedi obtained their
Thunderbird crest from an incident which involved a
boy of their sib during a journey down the Alsek River,
and although they built a Thunderbird House at Dry
Bay in 1909, they do not dispute the prior claims of the
TlukwaxAdi in that area. In fact, they do not seem to
have acquired any formal territorial rights at all.
Their real home is at Haines and Klukwan on the
Chilkat River.
The CAnkuqedi are sometimes known as the DAq-
Estina, or TaqEstina (Swanton, 1908, p. 413, Taq-
estina'). According to one of Swanton's informants,
they were a branch of the Naste'dl of Kuiu Island,
who, in migrating north to Chilkat, became lost in
TAqsl't, the channel inside Wrangell Island. (This name
is probably dAq 'inland,' and sit 'channel.') We were
told simply that "at the time of the Flood," some of
the CAnkuqedi went "way outside," while others went
"way back inside." The name referring to the "inside"
group is, however, felt to be derogatory, perhaps
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 225
because it calls to mind their Gxmana connections, for
which they were looked down upon by the GanAxtedi
of Chilkat. Some relationship to the Kagwantan (see
p. 228) is implied by the fact that their song to the
Thunderbird Screen (1952, 2-1-F, p. 1171) is said to be
also a Kagwantan song.
The CAnkuqedi moved to Yakutat when the Dry
Bay area was abandoned. Although they had a Thunder-
bird House in Yakutat itself, this fell down about 1950.
The sib is almost extinct.
TEQWEDI
The Teqwedi (Teqwwedi?) are a sib from south-
eastern Alaska, now represented at Yakutat by two
main lineages: Bear House and Drum House. Swanton
(1908, p. 409) derives the Te'qoedt from a small island,
Teq?, near the northern end of Prince of Wales Island,
in what is now Haida (Kaigani) territory. "From all
the accounts obtained it would seem that the Te'qoedl
constituted a large part of the population of Prince of
Wales island and moved to Tongas and Sanya at the
time when the Haida immigration took place [ca. 1750?],
whether that happened peaceably or otherwise. Part of
them are now among the Hutsnuwu people [or Angoon]
and part at Yakutat." One of our Yakutat informants
said that the Tongass Teqwedi quarreled among
themselves, because a young man in one house desired
the young wife of the old chief in the next house. The
chief's people killed their young sibmate, and so had to
move. They went to Kiliisnoo (near Angoon) and
eventually some came to Yakutat (cf. de Laguna,
1960, pp. 143 f). Another Yakutat informant said that
the Teqwedi originated on an island (Tan, 'sea lion')
somewhere "below Ketchikan," but split up over a
woman. Different groups were named for the places
where they settled. One group settled at Uu% on
Kruzof Island near Sitka, and some of these, the Bear
House lineage, came to Yakutat. Their previous home
near Sitka was also called TandAx^an, 'the point behind
the sea lions,' or L'u^dAkA, 'on the edge of Kruzof
Island.' However, another informant said that the
Teqwedi came from Tanyedax, "below Ketchikan"
(i.e., Prince of Wales Island), traveling north in canoes,
and were originally known as TandAqqwan, 'sea-lion
alongside people.' Those that went outside came to
Yakutat, while those that went inside became the
DAql'awedi. Most of the latter stayed in Angoon, and
are felt to be related to the Yakutat Teqwedi because
they share with them the Killerwhale crest and many
personal names. Garfield's Angoon informants (1947,
pp. 433-449) and ours at Angoon (de Laguna, 1960,
pp. 137-144) confirm the move of the Teqwedi from
the south to Kruzof Island and from there to Yakutat,
but derive the DAql'awedi from the Stikine YEnyedi.
The Bear House group at Yakutat is also called
Xel ('foam') Teqwedi, and one informant said they
came from Saxman near Ketchikan. (Swanton, 1908,
p. 399, lists the Xel qoan as an Eagle sib in the Stikine
area.)
All sources indicate that we have to distinguish
between two lineages or subsibs, the Bear House
Teqwedi (Xuts hittan) who came along the coast from
Prince of Wales Island and, as TandAqqwan, are of
pure Tlingit extraction, and the Drum House lineage
(Gau hittan) who are associated with an inland route,
and with Athabaskan connections. Emmons in par-
ticular (see below, p. 226) makes clear the difference
between these two groups, reserving the term "Ta
qway di" for the Bear House line.
The Teqwedi (lineage not specified, presumably both)
seem to have come first to the Dry Bay area. Some
apparently lived on Akwe River or their women married
Raven men there, for Xatgawet, the famous trader,
house chief, shaman, and organizer of backward groups,
is said to have been born at Gusex of a Tl'uknaxAdi
father (see the Story of tkettitc, pp. 243-245). He is
said to have traveled extensively, marrying at least
10 wives, mostly the Kwacl;-ca daughters of prominent
local men, so that he could become rich from the furs
given him by his brothers-in-law (a typical Tlingit
technique for "trading" with the Athabaskans). As we
have seen, he "organized" the relatives of his wives,
naming them after Chilkat sibs: GanAxtedi and
Koskedi (Quskedi) of the Copper River delta, and^ the
Kagwantan of GalyAx. Although we cannot be sure to
which lineage he belonged, nor exactly when he lived,
his behavior fits that of a southeastern Alaskan Tlingit,
and I would take him for a Bear House man. From the
many stories about him (pp. 245-247, 710-712), including
the conflicting traditions that associate him with the
pre-Russian village on Knight Island as well as with
the post-Russian period at Diyaguna'Et on Lost River,
we may take Xatgawet as exemplifying the northwest-
ward spread of Tlingit trading customs, and probably of
Tlingit ceremonial usages, including Tsimshian-derived
shamanistic features. He is, in fact, a Teqwedi parallel
in the Yakutat and Kaliakh areas of the Kagwantan
traveler, QakexwtE, who came from Hoonah to the
Dry Bay Athabaskans (pp. 270-272).
I judge that the Bear House Teqwedi were originally
introduced into the Yakutat area through marriage.
The territory which they acquired was that formerly
held by the L'u^edi, and included Lost and Situk
Rivers, although the manner of their acquisition is not
clear. Perhaps they fought for it, or perhaps they
"only homesteaded" the area, as one Drum House
informant expressed it, after the L'uiedi had been
defeated by the Tl'trknaxAdi (brothers-in-law of the
226 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Teqwedi), although the sequence of events was never
specified. There are evidently still some bitter memories
which have inhibited full discussion of this history.
At Diyaguna'Et the Teqwedi had a fortified village,
not abandoned until the middle of the last century;
they also had a village at Situk, where they were known
as SitAq-qwan. Later, they were the leading houses in
the village on Khantaak Island, and were also impor-
tant in the founding of the Old Village, Yakutat. From
Malaspina's evidence of the Bear figure and of the
Killerwhale Fin emblem in the graveyard on Ankau
Point, and from his mention of similar monuments on
the south shore of Knight Island(?), we might speculate
that the Bear House Teqwedi were already established
on Yakutat Bay before Russian occupation. Although
we cannot, of course, know to what Eagle-Wolf sib
these tombs belonged, we find that the Teqwedi were
associated with Knight Island, even into the last cen-
tury, for Chief Daqusetc of Diyaguna'Et and Khantaak
village is reported to have built a Bear House on this
island.
[According to Emmons (MS.): The] "Ta quay di
migrated north from the Dixon Entrance shore of
Prince of Wales Island through the seaward island
channels and settled on the rivers and inland water-
ways below Yakutat. This movement is believed to
have been consequent upon their expulsion from this
country by the Haida invasion from Masset about
the middle of the 18th century. They seem to have
married largely with the Qwash qwa Kwan and
formed the second largest family at Yakutat."
The other lineage at Yakutat is that of the Drum
House group. According to the official version told by
their present leading man, they came from Sitka, and
were the group of Teqwedi that went "inside," when
they separated from the others at a point near Sitka.
This probably means that they came overland by way
of the Chilkat Pass and Alsek River. Our CAnkuqedi
informant specified, in fact, that the (Drum House?)
Teqwedi followed the overland trail from Chilkat
which the CAnkuqedi had pioneered, and did not come
by boat. The Drum House people were living somewhere
in or near the southeastern part of the Dry Bay area
when a party of their hunters discovered the Ahrnklin
River. This was purchased by their chief from the
YEnyedi. They established 'Big Animal Town' on the
Ahrnklin River and presumably had other settlements
in the area. This was before the Bear House group had
come to Lost and Situk Rivers. According to another
informant, the Drum House Teqwedi became residents
of the Yakutat area because a Raven man from Yakutat
married one of their noble women; her children were
the first Teqwedi children at Yakutat.
It was while living on the Ahrnklin River that the
Drum House Teqwedi hunter encountered the Golden
Eagle which became the crest of his lineage. The
Ahrnklin people were nearly exterminated (by an in-
ternal feud, or by smallpox, according to different
accounts), but a baby girl was saved by her uncle and
from her all the present Drum House line is descended.
It was presumably at this time, in the middle of the
last century(?), that the Ahrnklin settlements were
abandoned. The Drum House Teqwedi moved to the
village on Khantaak Island, and later to Yakutat. Be-
cause of the reduced numbers of Teqwedi, the death in
1937 of the last chief of the Bear House line, and the
preeminence of the leading Drum House man, the two
lineages are now all but merged, and their members
refer to themselves as "all the same Teqwedi."
[Emmons (MS.) writes: The] "Gau hit tan were
of Athapascan stock and came down the Alsech to
Dry Bay hi early days and later settled on the An
klin where they had a considerable village. They
were visited by smallpox early in the last century
and those remaining deserted their houses. In after
years this site was again occupied by Ta quay di
with one family of then- people. Their women are
said not to have worn the labret through the lower
Up."
TL'UKNAXADI
The Tl'uknaxAdi (also heard as Tl'uknaxAdi),
'people of the coho salmon tribe,' (Boas, 1917, p. 130,
fuku' 'cohoe-salmon'; Harrington, MS., 1'uukw 'cohoe';
Swanton, 1908, p. 400, L!uk!nAXAdl, 'king-salmon
people') are Ravens from southeastern Alaska. Those
at Yakutat say that their "first house" or principal
house is Whale House at Sitka, where there is still a
branch of their sib. On their way north by canoe, they
stopped at Lituya Bay, but did not settle there. At
Dry Bay, however, they married some of the Atha-
baskan women and established a residence. One in-
formant said that several Raven groups, Tl'uknaxAdi,
KaMcmedi, and DAqdentan, all came north together in
boats, receiving their separate names from the places
where they stopped. Thus, it is said that the Tl'uk-
naxAdi were named for a river near Sitka, Tl'ugunAX
or TtAkunux (tl'uknAx?), the first place where they
landed. Of course, this conflicts with the derivation of
their name from the coho salmon, tt'uk, which they
more commonly cite. The Kalt6inedi (Swanton, 1908,
p. 399, QlAltcAne'dt, 'people of the creek QlA'ltcAn,' a
sib at Kake) were also named for a river. The latter
stay at Hoonah, Sitka, and Juneau, according to our
informant, although Swanton lists them only at Kake.
At any event, they do not figure in Yakutat history.
According to another version, the Tl'uknaxAdi from
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 227
southeastern Alaska became allied with the TlukwaxAdi
of Dry Bay through the marriage of the Teqwedi
daughter of a Tt'uknaxAdi man with a rich TlukwaxAdi.
The father of the girl, Qatlsex or Qalgexw, is probably
to be identified with the chief of Frog House at Gusex.
In their northward spread, the Tl'uknaxAdi were
probably associated with the Eagle Kagwantan, or one
of its subdivisions, for it was the profitable trade with
the Athabaskans of Dry Bay which seems to have
prompted these two Hoonah sibs to expand northward
from Cross Sound. This is what is implied by the story
of QakexwtE. Swanton recorded two versions (1909,
Tales 32 and 104) and we heard another from a
Tl'uknaxAdi man who had been born in Sitka. Despite
the considerable differences between these stories, we
gather that QakexwtE was a Hoonah man of the
Kagwantan sib, or of a related group, married to a
Tl'uknaxAdi woman. Before he journeyed north, he
killed his own sleep in the form of a bird. This he gave
to his wife's people, who thereby acquired the Sleep
Bird as a crest. After this, the sleepless man wandered
northward, until he discovered the Dry Bay Athabas-
kans. The main point of the story is how he taught
them efficient coast Tlingit methods of obtaining and
preparing food, and brought them south to trade with
his people. Swanton's Tale 32, recorded at Wrangell,
goes on to explain how the Tl'uknaxAdi who were
married to Kagwantan women founded Kosle'x at the
mouth of the Alsek. This is Gusex on the Akwe River,
to which our Yakutat version of the story simply brings
QakexwtE. At any event, this town was inhabited by
the ThikwaxAdi and Tl'uknaxAdi. It was here that the
Kosledi and XafkA'ayi are supposed to have split off
from the latter, and also where a branch of the Koskedi
roofed a house of moose(?) hide, becoming the Moose
House People (Xas! hit tan, Swanton, 1908, pp. 407,
409, 413; 1909, pp. 160-161). This version, Tale 32,
concludes with the war between the GanAxtedi of
Chilkat and the Tl'uknaxAdi of Gusex and of Grouse
Fort (KAinuwu, Swanton's KAqlnuw'u) on Icy Strait.
This war was cited by my informants as one of the
circumstances leading to the abandonment of Gusex
(see pp. 273-274). Tale 104, told by a Box House
Kagwantan man at Sitka is more concerned with the
fortunes of the Kagwantan of Grouse Fort (here
rendered as KAq lAnuwu).
At Gusex on the Akwe, the Tl'uknaxAdi built a num-
ber of named houses, and here they found a frozen frog
on which they based their claim to the Frog as a crest.
From this town, accompanied by their relatives the
Koskedi, and also by parties of GanAxtedi from Chilkat,
the Tl'ukanaxAdi used to come to Yakutat to trade,
perhaps staying as long as a year. On one such occasion
they quarreled with the Kwacljqwan, and took several of
the latter back as captives to Gusex. One of these was
the highborn woman from Knight Island who was
helped to escape by the nephew of the Tl'uknaxAdi
chief of Gusex. Although the Tl'uknaxAdi looked down
on the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi, some of them took wives
from this group, even though their relatives warned
them that they would lose caste when they fathered
Teqwedi children. However, it was through these asso-
ciations that they learned of the Russian loot taken by
the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. The raid on the latter's Eagle
Fort on Situk River was inspired, according to an in-
formant, by a desire to obtain some of this Russian
wealth; according to another, it was because the Situk
chief had failed to deliver the slave which he owed his
Tl'uknaxAdi father. In any case, the Tl'uknaxAdi who
were defeated at Eagle Fort, soon got their revenge by
massacring then- enemies at WuganiyE, a sealing camp
in Disenchantment Bay. The Tl'uknaxAdi thus feel
they have as good a claim as any to Yakutat territory.
Gusex was finally abandoned when a flotilla of canoes
going south to trade or to make war on the Chilkat
GanAxAdi were lost in Lituya Bay. It would appear
that this event occurred after the Russians had come
to Alaska (probably in 1853-54), yet it is said by some
that it was flotsam from the overturned canoes that
brought the Whites to this part of Alaska. Some of the
inhabitants of Gusex remained in the area, settling in
Dry Bay where they lived as long as the cannery was
in operation, while others moved north toward
Yakutat. The latter built a house on Johnson Slough,
another at Diyaguna'Et, and a third at Situk village.
Still later (early in the present century) they had
houses at the Old Village, but do not seem ever to have
lived on Khantaak Island. The chief of the Tl'uknaxAdi
at Dry Bay evidently held the highest prestige. The
Tl'uknaxAdi in Yakutat today represent both the Dry
Bay and Situk famines, and there have also been rela-
tives from Sitka who have lived in Yakutat.
[According to Emmons (MS.): The] "Thluke nuh
ut di came from the Hoonah of Cross Sound to Dry
Bay where they met the Interior people of the Alsech
River and traded for copper, and moose and caribou
skins. Later continuing northward they reached
Yakutat. They lived more about Dry Bay in early
days and later settled at Yakutat and today con-
stitute the second family in numbers and the first
in social importance."
When Gusex was abandoned, many of the Tl'uknaxAdi
moved back toward southeastern Alaska. Those who
settled in Lituya Bay became the iatfkA'ayi; those who
remained in Lituya Bay for only a short time and then
went on to Hoonah became the DAqdentan. My in-
formants also mentioned Tl'uknaxAdi at Hoonah who
228 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
had apparently never come north. Thus, many years
ago a Hoonah woman of that sib was captured by
people from the south (Klawak ?). Although she pur-
chased her freedom with the copper belonging to her
son, the Awk people of Juneau claim to have ransomed
her. To remove this stigma from their sib, some of the
Yakutat Ti'uknaxAdi a few years ago made a large
payment to the Awk group involved. Some of the
Tl'uknaxAdi from Gusex went to Sitka, and there
built a Frog House, which resulted in trouble with the
KiksAdi, the dominent Raven sib at Sitka, who claim
the Frog as their exclusive crest. This incident occurred
about 1902, and involved a number of Tl'uknaxAdi
from Yakutat. There is in consequence still great bitter-
ness felt toward the KiksAdi.
KAGWANTAN
The Eagle Kagwantan (Swanton, 1908, p. 399,
Ka'gwAntan, 'burned-house people') also established
residence in the Dry Bay area, having apparently
moved there as wives and brothers-in-law of the
TlukwaxAdi (cf. Swanton, 1909, Tale 32, p. 161). In
Tale 104, the Kagwantan of Grouse Fort (KAqlAnuwQ')
in Icy Strait made war on the TlukwaxAdi of Dry Bay
because the latter had killed a Kagwantan woman.
They captured the mother of a Dry Bay chief, evidently
a Drum House Teqwedi man to judge from his name
(Qlayega'tqen), Xeyegatqin. She was released when
she gave them her son's Wolf Post, which they took
back to Grouse Fort. This episode implies that the
Drum House Teqwedi already had a lineage house at
or near Dry Bay. At Grouse Fort, the Kagwantan
built Wolf House, apparently utilizing the crest which
they had captured, and at the end of the great potlatch
to dedicate the new house slaughtered many slaves
whom they threw dead and dying into a nearby gulch,
Slaves' Valley (Swanton, 1909, pp. 342-345). This
episode was also recounted by one of my Kagwantan
informants from Dry Bay (p. 470). When Wolf House
later caught fire because of the recklessness of some
young men, the Kagwantan acquired their present
name, 'people of the burned-down house.' A fight
among them was averted by the Tl'uknaxAdi chief at
Grouse Fort. Later, some of the Kagwantan moved to
Sitka, where they still live (Swanton, 1909, p. 346).
The Box House lineage, Qukwhittan (or Kukhittan),
(Swanton, 1908, p. 400, Kukhittan;Boas, 1917, p. 128,
q'uku(, 'chest, box'), seems to be the Kagwantan group
that was represented in the Dry Bay area. A member
of that sib from Dry Bay felt that her people were most
closely related to the Box House Kagwantan of Sitka.
According to her, the Kagwantan separated from other
Eagle sibs "after the Flood." The Yakutat people listed
for me the Kagwantan at Sitka and Chilkat, but forgot
to mention those at Hoonah.
While living in the Dry Bay area, possibly at Gusex
although no house name was mentioned, the Kagwantan
from this place joined their relatives at Sitka in making
war on the C^Atqwan, the "Daql'awedi" or Nanya'ayi
Wolf sib of Wrangell. This trouble was caused by the
faithlessness of the KiksAdi wife of a Sitka Kagwantan
man, who took a C^Atqwan man as her lover. The war
culminated in the massacre of the Wrangell peace
hostages at Sitka in 1852. Peace between the two groups
was not finally achieved until the present century. Other
versions of the same affair were recorded at Angoonin
1950 (de Laguna, 1960, pp. 154-158).
The Box House Kagwantan from Dry Bay are now
represented by a single family at Yakutat, and ap-
parently have never had a lineage house there, although
there was a Box House at Dry Bay. From time to time,
Kagwantan men and women from Sitka and Chilkat
have married Yakutat spouses and some have lived at
Yakutat.
TCUKANEDI
The TcukAnedi, 'grass people,' (Swanton, 1908, pp.
408, 413, TcukAne'd!) are an Eagle sib, and are "con-
sidered low caste, but appear from the stories to have
formed a rather ancient group." Swanton believes
them to be related to the Kagwantan, although they
were named for Grass Creek, (tctikAn hin) on which
they were camped at the time of QakexwtE's return
with the Dry Bay Athabaskans. They are cited as the
proverbial example of those who neglected the golden
opportunity, for they were afraid to trade with the
Athabaskans and drove them away. That is why they
are now poor (Swanton, 1909, Tales 32 and 104).
Paradoxically, in our version of the same story, Qakexw-
tE is himself said to have been a TcukAnedi man, and
his people are recognized as the teachers and progenitors
of the Dry Bay Tl'uknaxAdi?obviously a confused
account. Most curious of all, one informant, when
questioned about this sib, explained that the TcukAnedi
are really the "Square Box clan or Qukwhittan." If
these groups were the same or were closely related, this
would explain why QakexwtE, who was evidently
"Kagwantan" in a broad loose sense, could have been
called TcukAnedi, even though he was not one of the
group who drove away the Athabaskans.
The home of the TcukAnedi seems to have been
north of Cross Sound. My informants said there used
to be TcukAnedi at Lituya Bay and also a few at
Dry Bay. They denied that there were any at Hoonah,
although Swanton reports them among that tribe.
&At'KA'AYI
The I^afkA'ayi or ^afkA'ayi, 'on the island people,'
(Swanton, 1908, p. 413, QlAtkaayl) are said by our
informants to have been a branch of the Tl'uknaxAdi
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 229
who remained at Lituya Bay, while the rest west on to
Dry Bay. Their name is derived from an island where
they camped. (Could this have been Cenotaph Island
in Lituya Bay?) A similar version of their origin is also
given in Tale 32 (Swanton, 1909, pp. 160 f.), although
Swanton (1908, p. 413) identifies the island as
GAltse'ntwa, or Bear Island, in Dry Bay, while none
of our informants place the X^afkA'ayi, as a sib, as far
west as the mouth of the Alsek. In Tale 104 (Swanton,
1909, pp. 340 f.) the Kagwantan, returning from raiding
the Dry Bay TlukwaxAdi, encountered two canoes of
XattA'ayi near a stream (Xuq!) where the Kagwantan
shaman destroyed the canoe and canoe men of the
Xa&A'ayi shaman. The latter was named Gutcda
('Wolf-Weasel') which is also the name of a famous
Dry Bay TlukwaxAdi shaman of the last century, who
died about 50 years ago. No doubt he had predecessors
of the same name.
One of my informants said that the ^afkA'ayi
owned Xas hit (Moose or Cow House). It will be
remembered that Swanton considered this lineage to
be a branch of the Koskedi. This would suggest that
the XafkA'ayi may have lived nearer to the Alsek
River than I had been given to suppose.
According to Yakutat informants, the i
moved from Lituya Bay to Sitka, where they now live.
They are said to have decided to "become Tl'uknaxAdi"
after the dispute between the latter and the KiksAdi
over the Frog crest. The XafkA'ayi have never lived
at Yakutat, although a few of the present residents are
descended from Lituya Bay George, a man of that sib,
who was buried at Situk in 1926.
The DAqdentan (also heard sometimes as T'aqdentan)
are a Raven sib at Hoonah. Swanton (1908, p. 399)
renders their name as T!Aq!dentan, 'retaining-timber-
house people,' and reports that the TAq! hit tan,
'people of slug house,' were a branch of the above.
Boas (1917, p. 124) gives ?AX as 'retaining plank' for a
house; my informants translated tax or ta? as 'bench'
around the inside of a house, or as a 'worm or snail
out of the shell,' while 'slug' was yen. (Evidently ta?
carries the implication of something annular or spiral,
like the snail or the encircling bench.) My informants
also insisted that the TAX hittan were different from the
DAqdentan. The latter were really a branch of the
Tl'uknaxAdi of Gusex. When that town was abandoned,
about half of the sib moved to Lituya Bay, where they
split into the XatliA'ayi and the DAqdentan. The
latter are those who went on to Hoonah. On this
journey they received their present name because they
camped at a point, DAqden. However, they still claim
Lituya Bay as their territory, and "still" (i.e., until
recently) hunt sea otter near Lituya Bay and Cape
Fairweather. Their rights to Lituya Bay are generally
acknowledged.
Another informant told me that they had received
their name from a point, Daqden, near Sitka, where
they camped during the northward dispersal of Raven
groups "after the Flood." Tale 104 (Swanton, 1909,
p. 388) implies that they lived with the Kagwantan at
Sand Hill Town (or at a town called XAkAnuwu')(
north of Cross Sound. When this was destroyed by an
advancing glacier, summoned by the incautious words
of a menstruant, the Kagwantan moved to Grouse
Fort in Icy Straits, and the DAqdentan settled "at a
place just opposite." Since Grouse Fort was on a point
(de Laguna, 1960, fig. 16), it is not clear whether
the DAqdentan settlement was on the mainland shore of
the cove across from the point, or whether it was on
the shore of Chichagof Island, south of Icy Strait.
This sib was never established at Yakutat, although
there is now a DAqdentan woman, born at Kake,
married to a Yakutat man. The chief concern of the
Tl'uknaxAdi of Yakutat with the DAqdentan is that
the latter, in talking to Swanton in 1904, should have
claimed so many crests to which our informants feel
they have equal, if not prior, rights.
KIKSADI
The KiksAdi, an important Raven sib at Sitka and
Wrangell, are known to the Yakutat people chiefly as
enemies. This was because a KiksAdi woman was the
cause of the war fought by the Kagwantan of Sitka
(and of Dry Bay) against the C&Atqwan of Wrangell,
and because the KiksAdi at Sitka violently opposed
the attempts of the Tl'uknaxAdi to display the Frog
crest. There are no KiksAdi at Yakutat.
For further information about this and about other
sibs of southeastern Alaska, consult Swanton (1909,
pp. 398-400, 407-414).
230 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
HISTORICAL NARRATIVES
Introduction
Although I was fortunate to hear a great many
stories and historical accounts from well qualified nar-
rators, a number of whom have since died, I was not
able to transcribe these in the native language, although
some tales were recorded on tape. My written versions
are therefore all in English, either that of the narrator
or of the interpreter, and so are of limited value for
a study of Tlingit narrative style. In some cases the
storyteller's command of "literary" Tlingit was evi-
dently as limited as his ability to express himself in
English. In other cases, the narrator or interpreter
spoke English effectively and vividly, although the
language might be colloquial or ungrammatical.
To the tales and traditions recorded at Yakutat in
1949, 1952, and 1954, I have added summaries or the
full texts of those collected earlier. These include a
few unpublished versions obtained by John P. Harring-
ton at Yakutat in the winter and spring of 1939-40.
Since his informants were also among mine, it may be
of some value to compare what these persons nar-
rated on different occasions, as indications of the
constancy with which such traditions may be preserved.
I do not know whether Harrington recorded any of
these accounts in Tlingit or in Eyak; at any rate all
that I have are short versions in English.
In preparing these tales for publication, I have
purposely edited them as little as possible. The most
serious mistakes in grammar have been corrected, as
have obvious confusions between singular and plural
or between the sex of third person pronouns, but on
the whole it has seemed better to let the stories stand
as recorded. Attempts to put them into a more polished
form in the hope of recapturing the impression of the
"original Tlingit" might well introduce distortions of
meaning as well as a false flavor. Furthermore, these
English versions are, after all, what was actually told
to us (most accurately transcribed in 1954, least closely
written down in 1949). They are also the form in
which most young people at Yakutat will hear these
stories today. The English expressions used by the
narrator or interpreter can help us to understand how
these storytellers attempt to bridge the gap between
the past, when the traditional tales had a more im-
portant role in life, and modern times, when their
function has not only shrunk but of necessity has
undergone a change. It is through these stories, in
fact, that the Yakutat people today look back upon
their past, and in so doing discover themselves anew.
The most coherent account of the history of Yakutat
was that given in 1949 by Harry Bremner, the leading
man of the Kwackqwan. This was read to him and cor-
rected by him in 1952. This history deals primarily with
the migration of the Kwaclsqwan from the Copper Kiver
and with their acquisition of lands in Yakutat Bay.
Mention is made of the movement of Galyix-Kagwantan
from the west and of the Teqwedi from southeastern
Alaska into the Yakutat area. It also deals with the
coming of the Russians and with their expulsion. This
history has become the official version, since a copy
which was given to the narrator was submitted to a
Federal court in 1953 as part of the evidence supporting
the Kwackqwan claims to lands in Redwood Bay,
Yakutat Bay, where the Westfall Logging Company
had been cutting timber. The account as given below is
supplemented by explanations made at the time it was
corrected, and also later in 1952 and again in 1954.
This history is presented in its entirety, in order to
preserve the continuity of the account, although sub-
headings are introduced to aid in comparisons with
other versions of the same events. As will be seen, the
versions given by different informants, even though of
the same sib, do not correspond in all details.
Harry Bremner also outlined the sib territories from
Italio River to Cordova, which he was competent to do,
since he had lived in Controller Bay with his father, a
Garyix-Kagwantan man; he had also been adopted by
Jim Kardeetoo, the leader of the Bear House Teqwedi
whose lands are east of Yakutat. In addition, Harry
Bremner told me about the discovery of copper and
about an averted fight between the Copper River
Indians at Chitina and those from McCarthy, events
which took place before the migration of his ancestors
from the Copper River. He also told about the war
between the TTtrknaxAdi and the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi,
accepting a responsibility to do so because there was
no one left alive who could. He recounted incidents
about Xatgawet, how smallpox came to the Yakutat
area, and about the war between the Sitka Kagwantan
and the C^Atqwan.
Another official version was the history of the Drum
House Teqwedi, obtained from Olaf Abraham, the
leading man of that lineage. An account, based upon
statements made by him and translated by his wife,
Susie, was also submitted to him for approval. Olaf
Abraham, with the late Sheldon James, Sr., acting as
interpreter, also told how the Drum House people
obtained the Golden Eagle as a crest. No complete
history, official or otherwise, could be obtained for the
Bear House line of the Teqwedi.
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 231
The last leader of the CAnkuqedi, Frank Italio, told
the story of his sib, including two of their sib myths.
He also gave one version of the war between the
Tl'uknaxAdi and the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi, and a brief
account of how the first White men came to Lituya Bay.
Since there was no man among the few Galyix-Kagwan-
tan who could narrate their traditions or sing their
songs, Frank Italio was requested to do so by a member
of that sib.
Other versions of the Kwackqwan migration from
the Copper River were obtained from several other
members of the sib. There are also additional brief
episodes in the history of the Galyix-Kagwantan, in
the career of Xatgawet, in wars between the Tlaxayik-
Teqwedi and Dry Bay people, told by Galyix-Kagwan-
tan, Kwackqwan, and Tl'uknaxAdi informants. The
story of the drownings of the Tl'ukanxAdi from Gusex,
and of the quarrel with the Sitka KiksAdi over the Frog
totem were pieced together from statements made
chiefly by Tl'uknaxAdi women. A Kwackqwan woman
told about the averted fight with the Tsimshian sea
otter hunters at Icy Bay.
Some of the statements made by informants were too
disjointed or too unclear to form a connected narrative.
But wherever possible, these have been summarized
and included in the previous sections dealing with the
individual sibs. In other cases it has been necessary to
reorganize a disconnected account into a straight-
forward narrative. However, while episodes have been
rearranged into correct chronological sequence, as far
as could be determined, the stories remain as nearly as
possible in the narrator's own words.
The History of Yakutat
[Told by Harry K. Bremner, June, 1949; corrected by
him, July 11, 1952. This is supplemented by explana-
tions made by him at various other times in 1952 and
1954.]
THE KWACK'QWAN MIGRATION
Formerly there was a glacier clear across Yakutat
Bay from Point Manby to Krutoi ["Head"] Island.
Glaciers also blocked the head of Russell Fiord. This
was then Situk Lake, and drained into Situk River.
Icy Bay was full of ice then. There was a glacial point
there, but no bay at all.
My people, the Kwackqwan, were Copper River
people at Chitina, T6itna'. Lots of things happened
before we left. The real name for our tribe [sib] then was
Ginexqwan. Gmex is the name for the Big Bremner
River across from Chitina. There is also a Little
Bremner River below Chitina. They were named for
my step-grandfather, John Bremner.69
Before we came to Yakutat we used to have war with
the McCarthy Indians. They were a part of us, but
we at Chitina were small; they were great big people,
all giants. They didn't like us, and we didn't like them.
The trouble was over hunting grounds, I think.
We stayed at Chitina. The Raven chief, LtAkdax,
died. He had lots of property. Everything belonged to
the whole tribe. Long before he died, he killed a giant
moose. He used the horn for a big dish, every time he
gave a potlatch. When they divided the property among
the tribe, there was trouble over that dish. The broth-
ers?all the men in the tribe called themselves "broth-
ers"?had trouble over that dish, but there was no
killing. They lived in a long town, with rows of houses.
One group didn't get the dish; the other group did. The
group that didn't get the dish got sore. So they left,
walking on the glacier.
The people who started out from Chitina got lost.
It is foggy between Icy Bay and Chitina. One part of
the bunch started going one way and the others went
the other way. They hollered back and forth to each
other: "wuhu! wiihii! wuhu! wuhu!" That's the way
they called to each other, but they kept getting further
and further apart. Then one bunch came out on the
mouth of the Copper River. They had no name then,
until a big shot, Xatgawet, from southeastern Alaska,
came up and called them the GanAxtedi. They stayed
first at a place called SAxwdaq. That word means
'cockles' in the Copper River language. Some of them
stayed at Eyak Lake near Cordova. Pretty soon they
moved to Katalla, and then moved again to Chilkat
on Bering River. Long afterwards we Kwackqwan met
them again, when we traveled up in canoes to Eyak and
Katalla and found our brothers again. The Copper
River people came to meet us and that's where we
get to meet again.
(Way later on, when we met them again, they had
a chief of the same name as the chief who died. The
last one of that name died over 100 years ago. We met
them at the mouth of the Copper River afterward, every
summer. We went in canoes to Alaganik, 'AnAxAnAq,
or sometimes to Eyak. The Chitina people didn't own
Alaganik, but they came to meet us. They would bring
down furs, and coppers, chewing gum from interior
spruce, and sell it to us. [August 28, 1952.])
69
 He joined Lieutenant Allen's expedition to the Copper
River in 1885, and had previously been the first White man to
live among the Atna. His diary was published by Seton-Karr
(1887, pp. 200-201).
The informant had some doubt as to which Bremner River
was called Gmex. It might have been the Little Bremner, since
the name LdayEn was suggested for the Big Bremner (Septem-
ber 2, 1952).
232 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Our people kept walking over the glacier. There was
only ice, no bushes, nothing. They started southeast.
They had nothing to eat. There was starvation on the
glacier. It was a long way for us to walk.
Then the people thought they saw a wolverine.
They used it for a compass and walked towards it.
When they came to it they saw it was a little moun-
tain, an island with trees on it, just a little hill. They
had a campfire but nothing to eat. That night a wolver-
ine came to their fire. The hungry people killed him
and ate him. They cut him up into little pieces to feed
all the people. Then they walked on again.
Pretty soon they saw a rabbit sitting on the snow,
far away. They walked towards the rabbit. After two
days walking they saw it was the top of a mountain,
but they kept on walking anyway. Finally they came
to Mount Saint Elias. It was a compass for the people
so they wouldn't get lost.
Then they found that bay, Icy Bay, Watse [yase].
The glacier was all over the bay, way out. They made
a camp just west of the place where the bay is now?
not houses?-just a camp of yellow cedar bark. The
camp is Watse dAx [yase dA#?], 'in the bay,' and the
camping place was Tfy'&ni, 'place [town] of the yellow
cedar bark [try].' That was what the people used to
use for the roof of houses. When they traveled, they
used to pack it along, just like a tent.
(There was a song composed by a woman who stayed
behind in Icy Bay, when the KwacB:qwan argued as
to why they had left Chitina, and half of them went
back again. The mountain was so steep that they had
to walk in zigzags up the snow. The woman who was
left behind was so sad that she was weeping and com-
posed the song. They don't know if those who left
ever reached Chitina. [May 2, 1954.])
The chief said: "We will be the lost tribe." He meant
that they had no husbands and wives with them.
They were only the men and their "sisters," the women
of their own tribe. They never married their sisters.
This meant that there wouldn't be any children and
the tribe would die off.
Then they had something like these soldiers' bar-
racks?a woman's hut and a man's hut. The chief called a
meeting. They decided that all the brothers would go
to their sisters' hut at night time when it is dark and
sleep with their sisters. But the women were never
going to ask who he is that came, just put a red mark
on the man's forehead, at the center near the hair, for
a mark. So they will know the next day, but they won't
say anything.
The Icy Bay chief was planning this. He said: "You
sisters are not going to refuse any brother that comes
to you, or we'll all die off."
But they didn't have to do it.
[Commenting, May 2, 1954, on the version told by
X, another member of the sib.]: You know the chief
said: "We're all going to die out. X said the chief said
to his tribe, "We're going to meet our sisters," and
they told the sisters to put marks on the men. But they
found the other tribe [i.e., Galyix-Kagwantan, before
this was necessary]. But X says it happened. And one
girl really slept with her own brother. And next day
she find out. She is so ashamed she went in the water
and he went in the water. They turn into sea bird.
[The last belongs to myth, he said, not to history.]
They were just lucky and they found the Kagwantan
[Galyix-Kagwantan]. The next day seal hunters
brought back the report that they found blood on the
ice where someone was skinning seals. They reported
to the chief and the chief asked his braves who was
going to look for those people.
"Me, I'm going to go!" "Me, I'm going to go!" the
young men said.
So they went to look for those people. They found
the Galyix-Kagwantan. They had come from GalyAx
[Kaliakh River] before us. They found the land before
us. They had the land from Strawberry Point to
Gutsax", a big valley west of Icy Bay. That's why we
had to come east by an inland route and why we went
east, because they already had the land to the west-
ward. Icy Bay is ours. The Galyix-Kagwantan had
big war canoes when we met them, but we had nothing.
They spoke Tlingit, we spoke Chitina language. They
were called Galyix-Kagwantan, but after they moved
to Yakutat they were called Tlaxayik-Teqwedi.
(Later they all spoke Eyak. They crossed Yakutat
Bay in canoes, after the Kwackqwan had crossed, and
settled at Situk. [July 11 and August 28, 1952.])
They had trouble, too, and came from the west. They
were just like us, and had only their sisters with them.
They were Eagles and we were Ravens, so they could
marry. Both tribes were happy.
PUECHASE OF THE KwACKfQWAN LANDS
They kept moving east. They came to Yakutat Bay.
A young fellow walked across on the ice to the moun-
tains, near Mount Tebenkoff between Yakutat Bay and
Russell Fiord. He saw the beautiful beach along the
ocean. So the people came down to it. They [Kwackqwan]
saw some peeled celery, so they looked for the other
people. They found those people. These were the
Hmyedi, Ravens. There are none living here now. They
are all in southeastern Alaska. Then, they were all over
Yakutat Bay. They lived in the spring at Kwack, that
humpy stream, and also on Knight Island.
(The Hmyedi in southeastern Alaska probably know
the story of how they sold their land. They owned all
of Yakutat Bay and the east side from the site of
Nessudat, near the airfield, back to the mountains.
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 233
[July 11, 1952.] The Hinyedi also owned land as far
east as the Ahrnklin River. They were called StaxAdi,
after the eastern branch of that river, Staxa', the last
bit of land they held, which they sold to the Teqwedi.
[August 3, 1952].)
Long ago the people didn't live in one place all the
time, but moved where food was easy to get at different
seasons. They used to kill the humpback salmon with
spears. They used whalebone for the spearheads. They
found dead whales on the beach and used to eat the
whale meat, too. They were lucky to find one in the
winter. It meant lots of food for everybody.
Our tribe got Knight Island. Our tribe were picking
strawberries there. And the Hinyedi caught the daugh-
ter of the Galyix-Kagwantan chief and cut the berry
basket off her back. So her father, Qex, bought Knight
Island for her and her tribe. She was Kwaci:qwan; one
of her names was Ketl.
(Another name was probably Tlaxagusex, "Never
Wears Out." [June 20, 1952.] [This may well be yAx-
tlet-qu-ci-xix, 'never decays.'])
The Hinyedi were pretty strict with that humpy
stream. Some of our boys went to that stream to get
some salmon. The Hinyedi caught them and got hold of
them and broke up their spears. And the boys went to
report back to their chief, because they wouldn't fight
unless the chief said so.
The chief said: "There's going to be no trouble.
We're going to buy that place." So he offered a lot of
property to the Hinyedi chief, and that chief accepted it.
So that is how we got the name Kwackqwan.
The property was sea otters. That was valuable. We
came from the Copper River, so we had coppers, tinna.
A copper as high as from the chin to the tips of the
fingers on the outstretched arm was the most valuable.
It was worth eight slaves. So they gave this property.
The Hmyedi had to go to southeastern Alaska when
they sold all their land. They went right close to
Ketchikan, and there are a few in Juneau. Yakutat
was pretty rich then. They hunted the sea otter right
among the islands, all over.
GALYIX-KAGWANTAN AND THE FIRST SHIP
The Galyix-Kagwantan had trouble among them-
selves, no killing. One group moved to Point Manby.
The chief of the group made a lucky flower which
helped them in hunting. The lucky flower was called
kayani ['leaves,' synonym for plant "medicine"].
There are other kinds of kayani. We learned about it
from the Haida. This flower helped them to find a
ship on the beach. It was a Russian ship.
They found a woman there, the first White person
they ever saw. They couldn't understand her. She
tried to explain?pointed to herself and held up two
fingers?that two White men with her had walked up
that way. So the Indians looked and found their tracks.
They tracked them because they knew they were in
danger. They had fallen into the glacier and were dead.
So one of the men, Qatsxa, took the woman as his
wife. They had a lot of things in that ship. They found
iron and guns. They made a big bonfire and put the
guns in it, and pounded it with stones to make spears
out of it. She tried to show them how to use guns, but
they didn't understand. The people became rich with
all the things from the ship. They found some black
powder and poured some water on it and tried to eat
it. The woman tried to stop them. It was gunpowder.
The people knew how to work iron because they knew
all about copper from the Copper River. They used to
be able to make copper hard as steel, for knives. Now,
nobody knows how to do it.
The woman's husband treated her fine. She was like
an Indian woman. All that we eat, she ate. She did what
we do. She lived so long she got old and died.
THE COMING OF THE TEQWEDI
The Teqwedi used to be down below Ketchikan on
an island called Tan. They got different names from
the places where they stayed. They were a pretty big
tribe. They had trouble among themselves, woman
trouble. A group went in a canoe and moved north.
They landed at Edgecomb Island, Lu?, near Sitka,
and settled there. Some of them came up here. They
belong to Bear House, Xuts hit.
So many years later, the Yakutat people got the
chief's daughter for their young man. It was some Raven
tribe. She was a Teqwedi woman (Teqwca) who married
up here from down there. Their children were the first
Teqwedi in Yakutat. She raised them. They belong to
Drum House, Gau hit.
[The sequence of arrival of these two lineages is not
clear]: (The Bear House group claimed to be the first
arrivals. The Drum House people came next; they
married in. [July 11,1952.])
[With reference to fetching the high-class Teqwedi
woman:] (A long time ago the Indians went way down to
Ketchikan to get high-class wives. You see, it's like
King George, who looks around for a wife who's his
class. The Indians never want to marry lower than they
are. If they are high-class they might go as far as
southeastern Alaska to look for a high-class wife. I
think that high-class Teqwedi wife lived in Yakutat.
[July 11, 1952.]
TANU? AND THE RUSSIANS
Then the Russians came.
They were fishing. At first they got along fine with
the people in Yakutat. They used some Indians as
265-517?72?vol. VII. pt. 1- -17
234 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
officers for their soldiers. One of them was Tanui
[tan-'ux?, 'sea-lion tooth'?). He learned Russian. He
was a pretty smart, pretty big, well-educated man.
[Tanu& was Qafyix-Kagwantan, or rather, Tlaxayik-
Teqwedi.]
Pretty soon so many Russians came that things were
getting different. The Indians were beginning to dislike
the Russians. They took the children away from them,
onto the ship. Tanu? said they go to school. One of the
ships' captains married a Yakutat woman. Her name
was Kusqan-tla [or Kusqan-tla]. She reported back to
Yakutat: "Is not school?is slave!"
The children had to dig in the garden in summer time
to catch squirrels. The Indians could not do anything
about it. The Russians took the Indian wives away
from their husbands into the double fort they had for
protection. Some time later, when they got tired of
them, they would send them back to their husbands.
The Russians had guns and cannons, so the Indians
could do nothing.
The Indians get smoked salmon for the winter. That's
what they had to depend on for food in winter. Their
smokehouses were at 'AkA on First Summit Lake
[Aka Lake], and at Gutc-CAkf-'an ['Hill Top Town'] on
Second Summit Lake [Summit Lake]. The Russians
put a gate across T'awal Creek. Every time the
Indian people want to go to their camp they have to
portage their canoe, because the only time the Russians
opened the gate was for the Indian chief to go through.
[A fuller account of Indian grievances is given on
pp. 259-260.]
Tanu& was a brave man and wouldn't stand it any
more. "Starvation is coming. We are all going to die.
It's just as well if we die right now."
He was going to make war on the Russians, he said.
His people didn't believe that, because Russia is too
big a nation; they have everything. The Indians had
nothing.
"If you don't want to help me, I'll handle it myself,"
he said. "When the Russian soldiers are coming back
from fishing, that's the time I'm going to put the war
on them." He was going to fight them in their boats.
He was a friend of the Russian king [leader of the
colony], who gave him respect. He was a kind of straw
boss. He was given a sword for his protection.
When they were going to make war there were only
a few Indians with him. The others were cowards.
Only a janitor, who helped the cook, was left in the
fort, and a few others. All the rest were out fishing.
The janitor was mean all the time, so a young fellow
volunteered to kill him. He was DuxdAnekw [also heard
as DuxdAnEq, Tuxwtane#, and TiixdinEq]. He was
crazy.
(He was not bewitched. He was crazy-brave, fool-
hardy. He was KwacE:qwan. [July 11, 1952.])
Tanu? said he was going to kill Stanislaus, the
Russian king. He said he would be the first Russian to
be killed. "When you hear me make a noise up there,
the fight is already started. I kill him."
The boy went out picking salmonberries beforehand.
He had them in a bucket in his hand. He hid with it
in the bushes until he heard Tanu? make a noise. "I
have some berries I picked for you, Snaka."?That is
"partner" in Russian?The janitor thanked him. He
reached for the berries. "I'm going to split some wood
for you." So he got the ax and hit him on the head and
killed him.
So each Indian killed his own man before the fisher-
men got back.
When the fishermen got back, they didn't all come
back at once at the same time. Boat by boat, they
always used to come back. Every time the boat landed,
Tanu? and his gang went to help as usual. They jump
in the boat and killed them with then1 knives. That's
the way they killed them all.
One Russian ran away. The Indians looked for him
but didn't find him. A ship came and he ran down on
the beach outside Point Carew, and was waving at the
ship. The ship stopped and a boat came in and took
him off, and he reported that all the Russians were
killed. So they went back to Kadjak [Kodiak].
Ever since then there have been no Russians at
Yakutat.
This is the way the Indians tell the story, the good
and the bad. Every night the chief would tell stories.
The people had no books, but had to be pretty smart
to keep it in their heads. The Russian story was differ-
ent. A Russian cook who was working here in 1943
told it, but the Russians probably fixed up the story
to make them sound good.
Then the Indians moved to Situk River and made a
new village. At that time the glacier still blocked
Russell Fiord and the head of it was Situk Lake that
drained down Situk River. The village had just four
houses and a fort around them. They called it Eagle
Fort, T6ak nu. They expected Russian revenge;
that's why they built that fort.
Tanui and his Kwackqwan brother-in-law went to
the bay to get sea food. They saw a Russian ship
anchored there. Tanui went in the ship. He spoke
Russian pretty well; he was smart. They made him a
prisoner. Tanu? went on board the ship because he was
a brave man, not afraid of anything. He was a good
man. He wanted to explain. So he gave himself up for
trial.
LucwAq [translated as 'no-eyes,' and as 'one-eye']
was Tanu^'s partner. He was just a brave man. He
was left at Yakutat. He was a leader in war. He was
a Kagwantan [i.e., Qalyix-Kagwantan]
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 235
They gave Tanu? a short trial on the ship. It was
probably the captain who tried him.
He said the first Russian killed was the Russian
king. They asked him if the king had a weapon for
protection, when they were fighting, man to man.
He said the king always had it at his neck. He wore a
knife hanging under his left arm on a string around
his neck. When he first met the king, he asked him for
snuff. The king had a snuff can in his pocket. The king
wore it in his left breast pocket. He gave Tanu? some
snuff. As soon as he put the snuff can back in his
pocket, Tanui jumped on him with his knife. The
first punch with the knife hit him right on the snuff
can and didn't hurt the Russian. Then the king
screamed. The Indians believe that it is a coward who
screams. Even though he was not hurt in the flesh, he
screamed. The king grabbed the knife and nearly took
it away from Tanu&. They fought a long time and
Tanu^ killed him.
That's why the Russians didn't like it: the Russian
king screamed.
After the trial, the Russians said: "Tanu? is going to
scream."
They did everything to him on the way back to
Kodiak to make him scream. They put handcuffs on
him; they cut him in the flesh with knife points, not
to kill him but to make him scream, and put red hot
irons in his flesh, in his breast. They told him they'd
let him go if he would scream like the Russian king,
but he wouldn't.
After they got tired, they tied him upside down to
the mast. They tied him by the ankles, hanged him
upside down to the mast. A storm came. He did not
eat, he did not sleep. For two days and two nights he
hung to the mast in the storm. They put him down
after two days. He was so sleepy he sat down and
slept.
Then the cook, Snaka, came around with the tweezers
he used to pull out his whiskers, and poked his face
with them, when Tanu? was asleep. And Tanu? said
"HA"!"?something like that.
And the cook yell out loud: "Tanu& scream! Tanu?
scream!" He ran all over the ship yelling that.
And then they let him go?gave him good bed, good
food, everything. The Russians were happy.
They took him to Kodiak and the Russians gave him
a trial. After he told his story, he was free. Instead of
putting him in jail, they made him an officer, a lieu-
tenant. They gave him some soldiers when he was a
lieutenant. Pretty soon be began to dislike the Russians
again, and so he killed all his soldiers. He went back
to town and explained to the king. The king gave
him another gang?no questions, nothing. The same
thing happened again.
Pretty soon the Russian king gave him a trial. Why
does he do such things? He told that Russian king and
that court that he doesn't know. "I'm not myself.
After you hanged me up on that ship mast for two
days and two nights, my brains are spoiled. I don't
know why I killed my soldiers."
Then they sent him back to Yakutat, with two
Aleuts in a kayak. They were going to bring him home.
The Russian king told those Aleuts to be sure to bring
him back to Yakutat to be safe. Every time they
stopped for the night, those Aleuts didn't sleeep. They
were afraid of Tanu?. He was a bad man, he would
always kill. Pretty soon they couldn't stand it. They
shot him when he was sleeping, and killed him.
They brought the body back to Kodiak to the king.
He had a trial of the Aleuts. They told him they were
afraid. The Russians killed them under the king's
orders, I don't know how, but they were dead prisoners.
The Russian doctor operated on Tanu? to see why
he was so brave. He cut him up and looked at all his
parts. The only thing he found was that he had a
small heart.
Then followed a war with the southeastern Alaskan
people at Situk River. And then the sickness came.
[These events were told as separate stories and will
therefore be recounted in separate sections.]
OTHER COMMENTS ON THE HISTORY OF YAKUTAT
[Although some of my informants had actually read
histories of Alaska, there was only one, Maggie Harry,
a Kwacljqwan woman, whose comments on Yakutat
history covered a timespan approaching that of the
previous narrator. She discussed the history of Yakutat
with Harrington in 1939 or 1940, and with us in 1949
and in 1952. These observations are given below, in
chronological order.]
There was a big water flood all over the world. They
thought it was all over the world. There were three
places in the world that were not covered by water:
Devil's Thumb near Wrangell, Mount Saint Elias, and
Mount Fairweather. They [the Indians] knew that the
old people lived up there because they found their skin
robes subsequently, high in the mountain rocks.
When the migrators were coming to Yakutat across
the ocean, offshore, they saw Mount Saint Elias ahead,
looking like a seagull on the water [MH to Harrington,
who comments "her words," 1939-40].
These Indians started as four brothers on the upper
Copper River. An ivory dish with beautiful stones, the
first brother wanted it, the second brother wanted it, the
third brother wanted it, they all wanted it. An old woman
prophet had said that whoever got the dish, had to
keep it. So the three [who didn't] had to migrate.
One of them came down the Copper River and settled
near the mouth, another came along the ocean in a big
236 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
skin boat, bringing his family with him of course as
[they] all did.
But her family's brother ancestor [i.e., the family of
the brother who was the ancestor of the informant]
came across the ice, glaciers, till they saw land, till
they saw good land, which was here at Yakutat. The
ones that came along the ocean got here first, the glacier
migrants arrived later. There was a little argument but
they settled down peaceful.
The migrators over the glaciers maybe consumed a
hundred years in migrating to Yakutat. When they
reached here, the Indians who had come along the
coast by boat were already at Yakutat. When the
ocean travelers arrived here, there was no one living
here . . .
. . . There were 8,000 or 10,000 Indians here when
the Russians came. The Russians thinned them out
by taking then1 kids away.
. . . There used to be 8,000 Indians here at Yakutat
1,000 years ago. These were the only Indians who
defeated the Russians. The Russians elsewhere always
came back. Here not.
The Russians took 50 kids away from here, under
the pretext of taking them away to school. For 10
years they did not come back. That was a long time.
That, and shutting the gate at Ankau Inlet made the
people here decide to do away with the Russians.
This was the only place we succeeded.
The Russians had first fought the Aleuts. Later
they mixed with them, whoring their wives.
. . . My grandfather [momobro] used to lead his
people over to the castle. My grandfather was the
Prince of Yakutat and was named Caada (a name given
him by the Russians). Caada was the son of ^Atkaa-
w?et. [They] called the castle nuuwuu ['fort']. It was
like a big castle, just like a big castle. My father
built a smokehouse there later, after the Russian
prince had been killed.
The Indians burned the castle and all the Russians
down. The Indians took all the ammunition, but took
wo food from there. The food and dishes they burned
when they burned the castle. [MH to Harrington,
1939-40].
We came from Copper River, like Moses going out
of Egypt.
Four brothers fought over an ivory dish, called
tsAnduk. Hundreds of different stones were made on it.
So we split in four. Gudilta' was the king at Copper
River.70 The others left the town to die. GAnexqwan
[Gmexqwan] was the tribe left at Copper River.
We were the family that first went on top of Mount
Saint Elias. That's our flag [crest]. One tribe was lost
70
 This is a well-known name at Chitina, being now Anglicized
as. Goodlataw
when it was foggy, so came to Kah'ak River and became
the Galyix-Kagwantan.
Our tribe thought they saw a seagull far off when
they first saw Mount Saint Elias. Every day it is
getting higher. Generations grew and died in the
wilderness.
They found the Teqwedi in Icy Bay. Aleuts, Gotfex,
were here at Yakutat. They sure were mean!
All of the four tribes finally met again at Copper
River and made a village at the mouth. The Gmexqwan
still remembered us.
Three hundred years ago there were no trees at
Yakutat?just strawberries. Our clan bought the land
from the Kuskedi.
. . . There were no Russian kids from here. There
was only one half breed that didn't have any children.
She was a beautiful girl, Prince Shawnista's [Stanislaw's]
daughter. He was the Russian king that was killed.
She went to Sitka.
Shada [Cada, Kwackqwan of Moon House, "the first
one from Copper River to build a tribal house,"
August 24, 1952] was the only one who could lead his
people through the gate at Ankau.
The Russians took 300 kids from here. Tanu?
'Itinisku was the one who killed Shawnista. The
Russians lived at Salt Lake. They had a farm with cows.
The only Russian saved was the lighthouse keeper at
Point Carew.
White people were here before the Russians came.
A ship was wrecked near Summit Lake. One woman
was saved. She talks different from the Russians. The
two men with her drowned in Summit. Lake when the
ice broke. Ten or twelve years later the Russians came.
This is the true story of Yakutat. [MH, 1949.]
[The historical remarks made in 1952 pertain only to
the Kwac&qwan migration from the Copper River, and
are therefore included in that section (pp. 239-240).]
Other Versions of the Kwackqwan
Migration Story
[Nine informants, including four Kwackca (i.e.,
Kwackqwan women), two men of that sib, a Galyix-
Kagwantan woman, a Tcicqedi man and a Teqwedi
man furnished other more or less complete versions of
the migration story of the Kwackqwan, or comments on
it. These serve to corroborate the information first re-
corded by Harrington in 1939 or 1940 that Eyak was
the original language at Yakutat. As the late Jack Ellis
had volunteered to him (MS): "The 'Yakutat lan-
guage,' that is, the original language, which George
Johnson is teaching me?-that is, what I am calling the
Cordova language?is called yaat khwaan yuux
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 237
wathangi, literally the 'here language.' " From the
remarks given below we can also see the importance of
this migration in furnishing potlatch songs still used by
the Kwackqwan.]
HOW THE KWACK'QWAN CAME TO TAKTJTAT
[This was told by Sarah Williams, Kwackqwan,
July 11, 1952. The incidents were in almost completely
inverted order, but have here been arranged in what
we believe to be the intended sequence.]
Up the Copper River was a Raven chief, Guditlta', or
QudiltA'. After he died, each one of his relations wanted
to get his property, a moose horn dish, tsAnAftik six
(or tsunduq six), with things on it that shine like a
pearl. Oh, it's fancy!
[It was a fancy platter, all over abalone shells, ac-
cording to Minnie Johnson, Tl'uknaxAdi, June 20,
1952.]
And some sit on this side, and some sit on that side.
And this side wants that dish, and that side wants that
dish, too. They got mad at each other. The other side
got the dish, and that's why the Kwackqwan moved
away from Copper River. There were sisters and
brothers and uncles, and some moved from there.
After that [sequence unclear], they came on the
mountain. That's why they have Mount Saint Elias
[as a crest]. They danced down from that mountain.
They were happy when they were coming on this side.
Lots of things happen there, and there are songs [about
these events].
They stay in Icy Bay a long time, 2 or 3 years, or
longer. It's just icy there, from Icy Bay to here at that
time. And they lost a boy, LA'la' or LA'a, about 10
years old. He fell under the glacier. He didn't die then.
He just cried under there. And that's why his mother
came to sing that song. LAVS mother caught a seagull
and took care of it like her own son. And when they
had such a hard time at Icy Bay, the seagull got
eulachons, some kind of little fish from the ocean. The
seagull took them to its mother and that woman feed
her brothers. The boy was still crying under the ice
and couldn't get away.
Another woman took care of a sea otter. And the sea
otter went and put sea boots [chitons] right on its
chest and take them to its mother. She was a different
woman, but it was in Icy Bay, too.
They stay in Icy Bay a long time. Two or three boys
run from Icy Bay across the ice. And the chief said
somebody lives on that side. That's why they kill seal
[i.e., he could tell from the signs of sealing that there
were others in the vicinity]. Just the two boys were
way ahead and tell the people. And they move the
second day, and the people move again. [It was not
clear whether the small boy was lost on this trip.]
The Goiex ["Aleuts"] stayed here before us. It used
to be Got'ex first. But when we came from Copper River
we bought it. The man who bought Knight Island was
TcukAnk-'ic, 'Little Grass Father.' They called it
GAnAWAS. That's Copper River language. In Tlingit it
is called Qa-cayi-^at', 'Somebody's Head Island.'
TcukAnk-'ic had a sister named GAmayAq (or
Gemayeq). She picked some berries there in a basket
and one of the [Gofex] ladies saw this and got mad and
cut the basket of berries from the girl's back.
That girl cried, and her brother asked why. She told
him they had cut the basket. The girl got impatient.
"I don't know why they never pay [for] this GADAWAS!"
This lady got mad. "I pick berries there."
The same day they bought GJUIAWAS from the Aleuts.
When they bought the island they called it GAnAWAS.
They had a big town on the island, just Kwaci:qwan
houses. Then they bought the little river on this side
of it, too.
We Kwackqwan never get anything free because
they [Gofex] had something there. We eat fish. The
Gofex don't like the Kwackqwan to take the fish.
They were strangers to the Kwackqwan at that time.
That boy, DuxdAnEq, son of Wanise' [Galyix-Kag-
wantan], the nephew of TcukAnk-'ic, was in the canoe.
That young man, he's just a kid, and when he saw the
fish at the Kwac]k stream, he got it. A [Got'ex] man saw
it and got mad. He broke the boy's fish spear. The
boy got mad and told his uncle that there's lots of fish
there. That's why the uncle said he was going to pay
the man for his nephews.
So TcukAnk-'ic got the Kwack stream. He paid for
it with a canoe. It had 7 cross bars, with 14 coppers
tied on them, 7 on each side. Each copper was worth
10 slaves.
After that, when they got enough boats-?big canoes,
not small?and coppers, the Gotiex chief told the
Kwackqwan that they were going to show [sell?] them
one more island. That was Egg [Haenke] Island.
Our nation never stole this place. We bought it.
That's why we stay here. We never take it way from
each other [i.e., from anyone]. Because they lived up
the Copper River the Kwackqwan had tmna [coppers]
then. They used copper for everything?for knives,
whenever they had a war.
After the Got'ex sold Knight Island [and the hump-
back salmon stream], they went away. I don't know
if they all went away. Some of them stayed here and
married.
[The same informant made a further comment,
May 10, 1954, on Kwackqwan names derived from the
Copper River: for women, Kac, Qelcaki, Gal,
Di'axladzu, and Duqel; for men WatsdAl, WAtsuq,
and L A V . The last was the name of the boy lost on
the glacier.]
238 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
See, that L A V , when he passed away, he fell in the
glacier and he start crying there. And that people can't
get him out, because [they had] no strings [ropes]
that time. And they use sealskin strings, I guess, or
some kind of strings. And it's too short?they can't
get him.
And when he passed away, his mother made up that
song, because they hear him crying under the glacier.
Nobody knows it [the song] this time now.
And she takes the seagull?small seagull?and it's
just like a kid, her son.
And that's why it's hard to learn it. They sing about
her kid and at the same time they sing about that
seagull, her son. She's not going to have a child again,
and she take it for her son. His name is L A V . Because
the kid fell down under the glacier, he's still alive there.
In Copper River language it's a name. The old people
say it's O.K., he gonna be pass away. And that's a
name in the Copper River language. L A V means
'man'?qa in Tlingit.
COMMENTS ON THE SEAGULL ADOPTED AS A SON
[Another Kwackca, Susie Abraham, also spoke about
the seagull that was adopted. (July 24, 1952.)]
The KwacB:qwan made a song for coming through the
fog. And one is the song for the son of the lady that had
the seagull baby. It's so sad . . . The seagull and the
ocean?the people never saw them before. Her son
fell in the glacier and she felt so sad. When they saw
that gull it looked so pretty. Later, when starvation
set it, it brought things to its mother. And then they
composed a song when it finally went out forever.
They sing it at a potlatch now when they feel sad.
[Another Kwac]sqwan informant was reluctant to
include this episode. When Harry K. Bremner was
questioned about the tradition of the woman who
adopted the seagull, he said [(May 2, 1954):]
That's part of the story, but that's not my story.
They just raised a seagull, that's all. They get it from
the nest, I think.
Nobody knows how many years [she kept it]. That
seagull fly away from her and always came back to
her again. Keep it for a pet. And when a strong winter
comes?I don't know if it's starvation or hardship?
her brothers blame it on her.
"You raised that seagull, that's the cause of it?that
strong wind that come, and starvation."
So she weeping and crying, she talking to that sea-
gull. The seagull understand her. What they tell the
seagull, the seagull do it.
And she talking to the seagull, she told the seagull:
"You going to go away from me. You not going to
come back to me any more. You just go away forever.
And don't you ever come around to this village any
more."
The seagull tries to talk back to her. It don't talk,
just make a noise. So it don't fly, just walk to the water.
When it get to the water, it swims, going out?just
swim, never fly. The seagull never come back.
That's the time she composed a song, when she see
the seagull going in the water. That used to be our
tribe's song: ketkdi-yAdi 'i'iti ciyi?'seagull-child-(?)
song-of.' (The words were in the Copper River language.
It was an old song.)
Some of them said that the seagull grew to be a giant
seagull. No. Some of them didn't listen to the story;
that's why they always get mixed up [i.e., mix myth
(tlagu) with history (ckAlnik), he explained].
HOW THE K.WACKQWAN CAME TO YAKUT AT
[The old KwacKqwan lady, Katy Dixon Isaac, made
the following comments about the migration of her
people. Her grandaughter, Violet Sensmeier, acted as
interpreter. (June 30, 1952.)]
Yatqwan is Eyak. This language was spoken at
Yakutat long ago, but when Mrs. Isaac came here no
one spoke it. Yakutat is not a Tlingit name. People
from Katalla named it. There used to be a glacier here
and when it started to melt away, a lagoon was formed.
Yakutat is the name for the lagoon.
StaxAdi is the same tribe as Kwaci:qwan. 'Iq hini
[Copper River] is the place they came from. They gave
them the name Kwackqwan after they came here.
A Copper River group got into a fight over something
that belonged to the chief, GudiltV, who died. Part of
them came here by Mount Saint Elias, Ca tlen ['big
mountain']. She doesn't know what they called those
who stayed behind. Those who came were the StaxAdi.
Mount Saint Elias belongs to the tribe that came to
it. . . .
There is no tribe named L'u?edi here now. They used
to be here. They were Eagles. (She does not know what
became of them.)
Her father's tribe was [originally ?] Kagwantan.
There were too many for one house, so they divided.
One became the Tcicqedi. Her father was Tcicqedi. . . .
[An interview with Mrs. Isaac was recorded on tape,
1954, 4-1, with her grandson, Sheldon James, Jr.,
interpreting (March 24, 1954). Later, comments were
obtained from Harry K. Bremner, who listened to the
recording (May 2, 1954). The following is taken from
the tape and from additional explanations made by
Mrs. Isaac]
At Chitina they had a platter made out of wood,
ornamented around the edge with dentalia (taxxe).
Abalone (taxxe xu teyi) was put around the edge of a
moose horn dish.
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 239
(They had killed a giant moose and made a dish out
of it. The moose horn dish was called tsAntulL That's
the Copper River language. The one who owned the
moose horn dish was a chief, an Indian doctor. They
don't know his name. But LtAkdax was the name of
his grandchild.) [HKB, May 2, 1954.]
The platter [or both dishes ?] was the reason why
they separated from their group and started to walk
this way. She (KDI) doesn't know how many days
they were walking, but one reason why the tribe
separated was on account of the shells put around this
platter.
While they were walking they came out just the other
side of the mountain and onto the glacier. The glacier
was formed so there were steps all the way down to the
water, and there was gravel on top of the ice. And every
step or platform that was there, they made songs and
danced on each layer or platform until they came down
to the beach, to the water.
While they were on the glacier, they killed a dog and
put it in one of the crevasses. And that's why the glacier
receded so far and left all the bay there. That's why
they call it "Yakutat." . . . That's what it means?
yakwdat means "lagoon" in their language up there.
When they came down there after they killed their
dog up there, they said. "There's already a kind of
lagoon formed in there." That's in their language??
"There's a lagoon formed."
'Agun-?'lagoon'; yatqwan ?enAX duwasaq yakwdat??
'[in] local-people's language is called Yakutat.'
. . . The bay starts to form when the ice starts to
recede. . . . The people were asking each other down
that way after they threw that dog into the crevasse
in the glacier. They asked each other how it was coming
along. And they answered in this language that there
was already a bay forming there.
"There's a lagoon forming," they said in George
Johnson's language [Eyak]?-ye 'agun ygkunastin?'a
lagoon is forming there.'
. . . At that time this was all covered over. [A solid
glacier, it was explained, covered all of Yakutat Bay
and the land to Icy Bay and beyond.] After they threw
that dog into the crevasse it start to recede. That's how
this Yakutat Bay was formed. That Icy Bay?it
wasn't much of a bay there. This [Yakutat] is the bay
that start to form after they put the dog in there.
[The Kwackqwan were evidently accompanied by
an Eyak group.]
Some other tribe [was] mixed in with the people
walking this way, and came here with them. People
from QAIJIX that moved over?-moved away from
their tribe that went up to Djilqat [Chilkat on Bering
River]. They separated from their main tribe, Galyix-
Kagwantan. They gave another name for themselves
after they separated from their main tribe. Part of
George Johnson's tribe, that's them that come down
this way?Tcicqwedi.
[Two of the songs sung on the migration were
recorded. A marching song, 1954, 4-1-B, has a lively
tempo, like that of a dance song. The other, 1954,4-1?
A, is a mourning song in the Copper River language;
see p. 1155.]
This song is one composed by Gudilta'. He was sup-
posed to be lingit-tlen, 'big man.' And he had a rifle
accident when his younger brother got shot by his old-
est brother accidentally. And while he was crying he
started to sing this song. He composed this song while
he was crying over his brother's body.
When they were walking, they always sang this kind
of sorrowful songs. They were always feeling bad.
They sang most of these songs on the heavy side??
yA-dAlci, 'heavy songs,' just the way they felt when they
were moving away from their home tribe.
[Katy Isaac was puzzled because the song referred
to a muzzle-loader, 'una,?-"the kind you load your-
self?-one shot. You make the lead and make the 'shell'
for it." Yet the migration took place before the Rus-
sians, and she didn't know how they got the gun.]
[Harry K. Bremner knew the story, but denied that
a gun had been used. He added this comment, May 2,
1954:]
They shoot with the arrow. There's no rifle there that
time. There's no White man yet. . . . But this is the
way of the story: The people went out picking berries.
And they were picking berries, and that younger
brother of his got a brown bear robe around him. They
were picking some bushberries, not strawberries. And
he [Gudilta'] thought it was a bear, and he shot at it.
And he got it?dead shot. It was his own brother.
That's when he composed that song. It used to be a
tribe song. Every time the Ginexqwan gave a potlatch,
they used that song for a tribe's song. [It is in the
Copper River language which H KTt does not under-
stand.]
[Further comments by Mrs. Isaac concern the pur-
chase of Knight Island and Xatgawet, so are postponed
until a later section.]
FURTHER COMMENTS ON KWAC&QWAN MIGRATION SONGS
[The informant, Maggie Harry, a Kwack:qwan woman,
described and sang three songs, sung by her ancestors
on the march from Copper River. (August 24, 1952.)
The songs were finally recorded, 1954, 7-2-A, B, C
(May 27, 1954). The following statement combines ex-
planations made on both occasions.]
We bought Knight Island, our people. We come from
Copper River. And the people start to hate us there . . .
The Copper River people, their language is different
240 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
from the Yatqwan [Eyak]. I don't know the Copper
River language, but my uncles used to know it. . . . I
knew just a few words of the Yatqwan language. My
grandmother used to speak it. [There were 10 genera-
tions from the ancestors at Copper River. The full list,
which we were unable to record, contained such names
as Gudilta', Layak(?), Xatgawet, Cada, Yandulsm,
and Qankida.]
Old Sampson, Yandufefn was his name, didn't die
until he was 105 years old. [Grave monument in the
Old Village reads: Blind Sampson, October 1948, Age
110.] Cada is grandfather of all the Yakutat KwacE:qwan
houses. He's the first from Copper River to build a
tribal house. He built Dis hit [Moon House] in Khan-
taak and then[?] in Nessudat. Xatgawet is the father
of Cada. Cada is the father of Qankida. Gudilta' was
the first of the line.
[The ancestors of the Kwackqwan composed eight
songs, which they sung on their migration across the
ice, and which are still used in potlatches. They appear
to have been all in the Copper River language.]
A marching song [1954, 7-2-A p. 1226] was the first
song they made. They had a feather in each hand as
they were marching along. . . . When our tribe sings
this song, the men and women are in a line and they
walk back and forwards, moving both hands with
feathers [eagle tails or seagull wings], left and right
[August 24, 1952]. . . . This marching song they al-
ways use when they're coming to the dance. When
they start to come in they stop right by the door.
About a hundred people stand in a row, feathers in
hand. They have dancing songs after this. After we
are finishing, then we use it for the parties [after the
potlatch] when they dance. [May 27, 1954.]
The resting song [1954, 7-2-B p. 1227] was the song
they sang when they were coming from the Copper
River, when they were resting on the prairie. When
we sing this song, we do like this: Move our knees
from side to side, but we don't move our feet. We dip
twice on each side and move our hands in time (back
and forth across the chest). Your knees go with your
hands. It's just like the wind goes.
Then they had an accident, just when they come out.
The mourning song [1954, 7-2-C p. 1155] is a sad one.
See, this boy shot his brother. . . . The song has long
words to it. This man was telling how he was looking
for his brother . . . He was looking for his brother
right on the ice. He says, "My little brother,"?(gesture
of hands shading the eyes, as if looking). "Where are
you?"?(hand stretched out). "Please come back to
me!"?(both hands on the heart, "just like he's loving
him."). It's a loud song. They can hear him a mile
from the camp. [August 24, 1952.]
That's about half way, coming from Copper River,
the boy that shot his brother. It was with an arrow, or
something like that. That's the saddest song a person
can sing. You know, when they saw him coming, they
heard a long ways when he's coming, and he just made
a motion with this hand, it's just the way he feels. Just
like he was caning him. "A,"?just like he was calling
him to come, his brother. "My loved one, come back
to me again." He still can't believe he's coming home
without his brother. "My little brother, come back to
me! My brother, why did I kill my brother? Why did
I do that? Please come back to me"! This is Copper
River language.
And when we're really in trouble, that's the time we
sing this song?real deep sorrow. [May 27, 1954.] It
costs lots of money when they sing it at a party. . . .
All the tribe stands, men and women together. The
whole tribe just moves back and forth. The men and
women sing together. The men sing a bass and a tenor
and the women sing high and low, too. The four different
voices are singing all at the same time. [August 24,1952.]
FIVE COMMENTS ON THE KWACKQWAN MIGRATION
[The following was recorded by Harrington in 1939
or 1940 from George Johnson, Tcicqedi.]
The natives discovered Yakutat before the Russians
came here.
The story goes that the Cordova-people . . . were
at Cordova, they claimed the Copper River, they had
a little trouble between them, that's why they sepa-
rated, and they came this way across the land, and
they claim they came out at Icy Bay. They had to go
way back into the mountains and then came out on
Icy Bay. They were the first ones who found Icy Bay.
They came walking overland from Icy Bay and found
Yakutat. They were the first who found Yakutat.
They were yeel [Yel, 'Raven'] people to which Airs.
Annie Johnson belongs, and this is the most populous
[sib] here at Yakutat. And they are the ones who live
here in Yakutat now.
There came mixed-up people here just like a cannery
crew, and the original Cordova-language [Eyak]
yielded to the Yakutat language [Tlingit].
[The following explanation was given by Helen
Bremner, Garyix-Kagwantan, June 20, 1952.]
It was Qada'ux, the Galyix-Kagwantan father, who
bought the Kwacls stream for his Kwackqwan son,
CtXtl'e'u (or CAITJ') . The boy was spearing fish from a
flat rock under which the salmon run. The owners
didn't like it and broke his fish spear and cut his string
of fish and threw them away. Then the father got mad
and bought the stream for his son. The people from
whom he bought it were the L'uiedi or the Hinyedi.
[Francis Riddell was given the following account by
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 241
John Bremner, Kwac&qwan, August 17, 1953.]
When the people first came to this area, the glacier
extended from Point Latouche across to the Manby
side. The Manby side was apparently then all ice.
Knight Island was bare of trees, just as it is now around
Point Latouche and Disenchantment Bay, and those
areas from which the glaciers have recently retreated.
The flat sandy area [near the site of Old Town on
Knight Island] was covered with strawberry plants. At
this time there was no forest on Krutoi Island.
Two canoes went from Knight Island to go salmon
spearing at Humpback Creek. The people who owned
Humpback Creek did not like to have other people use
it for fishing. So they took the spears away from the two
canoes of young men and broke them. The young men
returned home and told the tribe of their treatment.
The older men said that such indignities could not con-
tinue, so it was decided to buy the creek.
The people who lived on Knight Island originally
came from up the coast. They had to cross the glaciers
to get there.
[These remarks were made by a Teqwedi man,
Olaf Abraham, 1949.]
The whole of Knight Island was just a strawberry
patch. There were no trees. There was a quarrel between
two chief's daughters over the rights to pick berries.
One girl, DuqEtl, went to her mother's brother who
bought the island for her. The village on Knight
Island was the oldest one around Yakutat.
[That the ancestors of the Kwackqwan may have
received an unfriendly reception from the original
inhabitants of the Icy Bay area is suggested by the
following account. It was told by Sampson Harry, a
Kwacls:qwan man who was explaining the origin of the
wooden canoe designed for sealing among the ice
floes (gndijt). (February 25, 1954.)]
The way I hear it, we never used to know about that
thing [the gudiyE]. . . . They tell us we come from
Icy Bay, and the people over there, they live there all
the time. They don't want us to see that gudiyE.
They just got a lake over there. They call it Ligasi 'a
[Taboo Lake], because they hide that gudiyE in there.
They don't want us to see how they use it. And pretty
soon they [our ancestors] found out. We see the blood
just in the ice. They were hunting seals. It's pretty
hard to go around in the ice. But they got that gudiyE
with a thing in front. [He went on to describe the canoe,
see p. 339-340].
. . . I don't know the name of that tribe at Icy
Bay. They made war with us when we came from
Copper Kiver. I asked Old Sampson [1866-1948]
and Jimmy Jackson [1861-1948], my uncles, but they
don't know. They sneak up in war in the nighttime.
[Unfortunately no other person could offer any
2*5-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 18
information about the seal hunters at Icy Bay, unless
they were the Qaryix-Kagwantan.]
"STORY OF THE KA'CK!QOAN" EECOEDED BY SWANTON
Swanton's long version of the story of the Kwacls:qwan
migration (1909, Tale 105) was recorded in Tlingit. It
was dictated by a member of that sib, Q IS'dustin, who
was living in Sitka in 1904. He was probably the man
known to our informants as Sitka Jake, Q'atAsfin, or
Qatustin, who had married the daughter of Sitka Jack,
K'atsex. Thelatter's brother was Q'exix, the Tl'uknaxAdi
chief of Whale House in Sitka. (Cf. Swanton, 1908, p.
406, Qlexi'x, of Ya'f hit.) Certain points in this version
should be mentioned because they either conflict with
or supplement the accounts given by our informants.
The Copper River chief who died was LtAxdA'x, and
although the dispute between his heirs was over his
dish, TslAnAt'u'k!, he also had a copper (Swanton, 1909,
p. 347). The latter was fetched from the valley called
Ltaxen after the people had been living at Icy Bay (?)
for over 10 years and had discovered Yakutat (ibid.,
pp. 354 f.). It was with this copper, worth 10 slaves,
that they purchased land at Yakutat (ibid., p. 356).
About 40 persons formed the group that emigrated
from Copper River (ibid., p. 347), and it took them 40
days and nights to reach Icy Bay (ibid., p. 345). This
place, however, is described only as the mouth of a
great river. The specification of 40 days may reflect the
influence of Bible stories (see the version by MH on p.
236, especially since Sitka Jake was a religious Chris-
tian in some ways, according to a story about him told
by a woman whom he treated as "granddaughter'
(MJ). However, as my colleague Catharine McClellan
points out, since 40 is a ritual number among the Atna,
it may be a purely aboriginal feature in this story.
Mention is made of the ceremonial garments donned
on the journey when the people thought they would
die, and also of songs sung or composed (ibid., pp.
347, 349, 352 f.).
The fog, in which part of the group was lost, was
caused because some people had clubbed ground-
squirrels (ibid., p. 348). It is taboo to kill certain species
with a club, according to informants. The fate of the
lost party is not mentioned, however, nor is there any
indication of a later reunion at the mouth of the Copper
River.
The crossing of the mountains on a glacier is described;
the mountain is taken as a crest, and Mountain House
(named for the mountain) is built when they reach the
sea, but the mountain is not specifically identified as
Mount Saint Elias (ibid., pp. 349 f.).
Here the Cs'dAdux (plural) remained for 10 years,
evidently intermarrying, since the settlement grew
into a town (ibid., p. 350). There is no allusion at all
242 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
to the problem of sib incest in this version. Ca'dAdux is
not a name which any of our informants used. It suggests
the name of the chief Cada, said to be a Russian word
or name (Shada), and also the name of the Kwacl;qwan
chief, Dux, associated with Knight Island.
It was also at the coast that a woman, KIwade'ltA,
reared a seagull that grew almost as large as a house.
She finally followed it out to sea (ibid., p. 350), but
there is no suggestion that it was a substitute for a
lost son, or that the seagull or a sea otter fed their
adopted mothers.
The only mention of a boy lost on the ice occurs much
later, after the Kwaclqwan are living at Yakutat
(ibid., pp. 361, 363).
At Icy Bay(?) a man built a skin boat and sent his
six nephews to look for other people, whom they found
at Yakutat (ibid., pp. 350 f.). After their return, a
party of Kagwantan from Copper River also came in a
skin canoe and were fed by the Mountain House
people (ibid., p. 353), although there is no statement
that they married. The use of skin canoes conflicts
with our versions that the Copper River emigrants were
without boats and crossed Yakutat Bay on the ice,
and also that the Galyix-Kagwantan had wooden
dugouts. It also seems to conflict with the tradition
that the people who lived at Icy Bay (Galyix-Kagwan-
tan ?) and who were there when the emigrants arrived
from the Copper River were using the special wooden
canoe (gudiyls) for sealing among the ice floes. The
report of skin boats is in accord, however, with the
positive statement that the Yakutat natives, before
they had wooden canoes, made large skin canoes and
also one- and two-man kayaks.
The original inhabitants of the town at Yakutat,
YakMa't, were the Athabaskan Koskle'di and L!uq!-
oe'dl. The former wished to drive away the Copper
River immigrants. When one of them, Duqdane'k",
was discovered spearing humpback salmon at the
Kack! stream, they cut his string of fish and broke his
spear (ibid., p. 355). The newcomers bought the place
with their copper, and lived there for twenty years.
Meanwhile, the Koskle'dl and L!uq!oe'dl left for good
(ibid., p. 356). There is no mention of the purchase of
Knight Island.
The story concludes with incidents which are extran-
eous to the foregoing, and which are not mentioned by
informants.
One of the six brothers became lazy and was aban-
doned on a hunting trip by his brothers. The spirit of
the mountain helped him to become a great hunter and
sent him home in a canoe which was really a brown bear.
Meanwhile the Teqwedi had arrived at Yakutat from
Prince of Wales Island (ibid., pp. 356-360). On another
hunting trip, one of the brothers was lost crossing a
glacier, but the others were saved by the one whom the
mountain spirit had blessed (ibid., pp. 360-363). In
this episode mention is made of a large hollow cotton-
wood tree beside a glacier at the head of the Kack!
stream. If a noise were heard inside it, this indicated a
storm, and people would not attempt to cross the glacier.
Informants also mentioned this tree, but associated it
with crossing Yakutat Bay on the ice (see below). There
is now certainly no glacier near the Kwaclk stream.
The last part of the story deals apparently with the
Teqwedi. 'Heavy-wings,' KitcitdA'lq!, a brother-in-law
of the Ka'cklqoan, is the principal character. (KitcidA-tx
is a name belonging to the Drum House Teqwedi.) He
had to give his daughter in marriage to the North Wind
in order to secure a calm passage to Awk (Juneau).
He met L!e"nAxxi'dAq, the wealth-giving female Being,
but because he said the wrong words, was killed by his
own copper. His sister's son, XAtgawe't, took his ashes
back to Yakutat, met the same Being, but became
even wealthier than his uncle (ibid., pp. 362-368).
There is no further account of the activities of this
enterprising character. The story of the encounters of
Heavy Wings and of Xatgawet with Property-Woman
was told to us as a completely separate narrative.
Further Tales About Knight Island and Xatgawet
Xatgawe't, whom we have already met in Sitka
Jake's story of the Kwaclsqwan (Swanton, 1909, Tale
109), was a Teqwedi man of southeast Alaskan derivation,
but born at Gusex on the Akwe River, of a Tl'uknaxAdi
father. He is usually associated with the early history
of Yakutat, with fighting the Aleuts, and also with
naming and "organizing" the Eyak-speakmg sibs. He
was a powerful shaman, as well as a wealthy trader.
While all informants agree on his many marital ven-
tures, which have made him a somewhat comical figure,
there is real disagreement as to when he lived. Accord-
ing to many, he was responsible for the purchase of
Knight Island and for the founding of the village there;
according to our most knowledgeable historian, he
lived much later, on Lost River, and had nothing to
do with the early Kwackqwan settlement. Jenny
Kardeetoo (1872-1951), in telling the story of Dux's
sister (see pp. 245-246), indicated that Xatgawet was
living on Knight Island just after the Russians left.
(There may have been several men with the same
name.)
Xatgawet had three names. His "real" name was
WuckAkeyAdagwetc (or WuckAqeyAdagwetc), refer-
ring to contending Killerwhales that 'crowd up on top
of each other.' Another of his names was Hfnisel', again
referring to the Killerwhale that 'tears the water.'
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 243
(Should this last be Hin yA-sel'? cf. Boas 1917, p.
193.) His third name, by which he is commonly known,
is a nickname. His daughter-in-law let out gas, and he
said right out in the community house "Xat gawe??
'maybe it's me?' "?-just to keep her from embarass-
ment. The suffix, -t (cf. Boas, 1917, p. 94), was added
to the remark or question to make it a name. The joke
and the coining of the nickname, explained an in-
formant, was characteristic of the public joking relation-
ship between a man and his daughter-in-law. All three
names were among those borne by the recently deceased
head of the Teqwedi Bear House lineage, Jim
Kardeetoo (1862-1937), the same line to which the
original Xatgawet is supposed to have belonged.
If we summarize all the information given about
him, we find that his father was a Tl'uknaxAdi man
named Lkettitc, and his mother a Teqwedi girl named
Kayistan, daughter of a Tl'uknaxAdi chief at Gusex,
named Qatcguk or Katfxuq. The latter was said to
have been the uncle of Lkettitc (which may be only
another way of saying that they both belonged to the
same sib). Sitka Jake reported that Xatgawet was the
nephew of Heavy Wings, KitcidAli, but two of our
informants reversed this relationship. KitcidAlx was
the nephew, they said, who built Drum House at
Ahmklin and married a KwacRqwan woman. At any
event, Xatgawet seems to have married many women.
The following names, all Kwacl:qwan, were given by
our several informants as those of his wives: 'Andul,
Siat, Kaltsenku or Katlatsen&u, Duhan, Wanga-tla,
Katlafeq, and Tie'an (the last the daughter of a
Galyix-Kagwantan chief). It is interesting that the last
Xatgawet, Jim Kardeetoo, should have married a
woman whose name was also Tle'an. Two sons of
Xatgawet were listed: Gunaxoci and CtAtl'eu. The latter
is the name of a chief of the Kwackqwan Raven's Bones
House. There seems, however, to have been no direct
connection between Xatgawet and Cada of Moon
House, although the latter was father of Jim Kardeetoo.
A number of accounts have been pieced together to
learn something of the original Xatgawet, if indeed, it
is safe to assume that the same name refers always to
the same individual. It is possible that there was a
noted Teqwedi leader in pre-Russian times some of
whose exploits are ascribed to the matrimonially suc-
cessful trader and shaman of later days. We shall,
however, begin our "biography" with the story of his
father, Lkettitc. The latter may be cited as an example
of the virtuous Tlingit youth who in folklore is rewarded
with good fortune.
THE STORY OF LKETTITC
[The following brief version was told by Emma Ellis,
a woman from Dry Bay. (July 22, 1952.)]
tkettitc, when a young man, used to go without
eating. In winter he just put a belt around him and
went without clothes. He just wore shoes in winter
time. He chopped wood all the time, so the fire never
died down. He was always chopping wood for his
uncles and grandfathers. Finally he became lucky and
a great man. He got what he wanted, the rich Teqwedi
daughter of a great man. He married over here from
Gusex and lived at Knight Island, or maybe on Khan-
taak Island. [The last sentence surely refers to his son,
Xatgawet.]
[The following version was told by Jack Reed,
Tl'uknaxAdi, 1880-1953. The account has been edited.
(July 24, 1952.)]
At Akwe there used to be lots of people, Tl'uknaxAdi.
One time there was a young Tl'uknaxAdi man, Lkettitc,
who stayed alone. He was a good boy, young, husky
too, and kind, like all Tl'uknaxAdi. His uncle, Katsxuq,
had a Teqwedi daughter, Kayistan. He also had two
slaves, a man and wife, and they had a baby.
There were lots of people at Yakutat also at that
time, and the people from Yakutat and Akwe used to
visit each other for 2 or 3 months at a time. Winter
was coming and lots of people were going to Yakutat.
The uncle of Lkettitc had a big canoe, but he didn't
want the boy to go, because he was too crazy [fool-
hardy]. That's why he stayed behind.
So the young man made a big pile of firewood for the
wintertime. He chopped it, split it, and piled it. Some-
times he used snares for fox, and sometimes wooden
traps.
The slave's husband died. The baby was all right,
but after the winter came, the baby cried. The young
man got up. It was cold; the north wind was blowing,
and he got some water for the baby. He helped him.
"I'll teach you how to get the luck," the slave
baby's mother said. She knew that from her husband.
So she gave the lucky (formula?, amulet?), just like
a present to the young man. After that he caught lots
of fox. That's the way she helped him.
So the young man gave lots of skins to her father
to get married to Kayistan. [There is also some sugges-
tion that he anticipated his uncle's permission by
having relations with his daughter while the uncle was
asleep.]
The slave woman is still alive (now? at the time of
the marriage?). Now this woman was a good slave.
She was never sent away, but Kayistan didn't want
to call the woman and her baby "slaves" after that.
They are like Tl'uknaxAdi now. [July 24, 1952.]
. . . Kayistan was the mother of Xatgawet. He was
a shaman who could communicate with Sitka. [JR;
July 27, 1952.]
244 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
[The following story was first told by John Ellis in
English, with Tlingit phrases dictated and translated.
Then it was recorded in Tlingit, March 25, 1954, Reel
1954, 2-1-B.]
Did you ever hear a story about Lkettitc? I know
some of it.
That's the man who was told to get off the boat in
Italio River. That was his uncle who told him to get off.
He was fooling around with the boat there. His uncle
told him: "What's that man doing? Chase him off!
Tell him to get off!"
He walked on the gunwale and just tipped it so far
that the water got in there. He just run along the
gunwale and jumped ashore.
He started walking towards tusex [This may be the
southeast Alaskan pronunciation of Gusex] at Akwe.
When he started walking, bis uncle said:
'"u! wetE yakagu! kaqa XAk duwudum Qatcguk-si
qeca."
'[Go on!] Go ahead?keep going! One who is heavier
than the rest of them [i.e., is high class], Qatcguk's
daughter you will marry.'
'"u!"?when you say that to a person you don't
think he'll do it. She's a high-class woman, and in Tlingit
they speak [of this] as a weight. She's got more weight
than other people. 'She's heavier than the rest of them'?
kaqa XAk duwuduni. 'That woman you will marry'?
qlca. That's what they said.
When he gets there?E^usex?that's their village
over there, he goes to a house, and he tells them:
"cawAt xan kAn-gAlanikt 'aya [woman to-me tell-a-
story now!]?I want you to tell me a story about a
woman." He didn't really mean that. What he meant
was, he wants somebody to teach him real life.
And they always start telling him a story about a
woman. And he gets up and walks out. And he goes to
the next house and says the same thing, and the same
thing happens. He gets up and walks out.
Finally at the last house there was a slave who got
free. He was living there. He told him the same thing:
"cawAt xan kAn-gAlanikt 'aya"
And that man [the slave] he got right up and said:
"Hu! hu! hu!" Start running around in the house,
just wildlike, and even took a knife. [The man] just sat
there and watch him. And pretty soon he sat down and
told him:
"a-! tat Ikel djayi tu?w ?wAn tsa nita, det6A 'A 'At da
wutl 'awE." ?"Ah. Never sleep when it's stormy at
night, just keep busy."
If you want to get rich you can't sleep on a windy
night. It's the main thing in life in order to succeed, is
what he meant.
detcA ' just.' 'At da wutl 'really busy,' or 'war.'
He means somebody to teach him a real life. And
that slave got up and try to scare him, and he just sit
there. Finally the slave told him: [phrase repeated].
It's just the way they talk.
So he stayed with him. He made that slave his
uncle?du kak 'awuliyix. And he goes after wood for
him, and he does everything, works for him?'ada
yukAwugutk. And he stayed there a long time.
One day, first, when he comes to the tree with an
ax, he hits it, and the snow all fall on him from the
branches. And he says:
"yEnatf! duwtrwet 'ax kAde 'A kAnadzu!"?"Let
riches fall on me!"
yEnati?"that's the way it's gonna be" [Let it be!].
He speaks as if the tree were throwing snow on him.
"Riches it's throwing on me." 'Riches'?duwuwet,
'axkAde 'on me;' 'AkAnadzu 'it is throwing.'
So one night the north wind was really blowing?
'ayAt 'a cawAtAn kusex?they call it. Just like you lay
a boat on the water. That's what it look like to them.
Snow was piled up there. And that's the time the slave
cried out for water. And he got up, he start digging
his way through the doorway, through the snow.
And he run down and he got some water and he gave
it to him. After he drink it, he [the slave] told him:
" 'an yanAX CAyu da 'us. WUXE' 'aya 'i'i kwAla'u!"
['Village through washing-hair. Amulet I'll let you have.']
That's 'washing hair along the village.' That's the
way he said it. Olden time, they do that for luck.
They wash their hair before Yel du 'axt [Raven calls].
Even before that?people get up before Raven makes
that noise. They wash their hair before anybody gets
up. He tells him to wash his hair at one end of the village
and then go to the other end of the village and do it again.
On the beach in the river there?wash hair, and at the
same time make a wish for luck.
[The slave gave him an amulet.]
So he does that all the time. And pretty soon he
start getting luck, and buys some slaves and got a lot
of valuable things, and went up and he got married
with this woman. He was Tl'uknaxAdi.
When that happened they were going down south.
The next time when they were coming back, they were
laughing about it, and they [i.e., his former companions]
said:
"K:e qaxtASAtin we tmna-yAtxitc 'At gux-SA-'u."?
"Let's see that man who's going to buy things with
baby coppers."
When they came there, they find out he was married,
and from then on I don't know. I forget what happened.
[A further comment was made on this story, by
Emma Ellis, March 27, 1954.]
Lkettitc was Tl'uknaxAdi. The woman he married
was Teqwca or something. Qatcxukw du sik [Q's little
daughter].
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 245
[The informant agreed to the suggestion that the
father might have been Koskeqi or QusRedi. He was
notThikwaxAdi nor Tl'uknaxAdi.] Qusledi don't live
at Kusex, but up at Knight Island. That's the place
they stayed. They belong over there. They were the
last people to live there [Knight Island]. Xatgawet
stay over there?that's ikettitc's son . . . They say
Lkettitc gets married. He got some kind of dope, you
know, from that slave?danakw they call it. That's
why he get rich out of that. I forgot that slave's
name. . . .
ADVENTUBES OF XATGAWET
[The following brief statements were contributed by
a number of informants.]
The Kwaclsqwan first lived on Knight Island, then
the Teqwedi. They lived at mkw- 'an, Old Town.
Dux's sister was picking berries there, and they [the
owners] cut the basket off her back, so Dux bought the
island. He was KwacH:qwan and lived on the island.
Xatgawet was the head of the Teqwedi tribe. He was
Dux's brother-in-law and married both his sisters.
Dux turned everything over to him. . . . [Minnie
Johnson and Charley White; June 9, 1952.]
Xatgawet was a Tongass Teqwedi. His tribe came
from Tongass but he was born at Akwe. His father was
Lkettitc.
IXatgawet built the town on Knight Island. He gave
tribal names to the Yakutat people in imitation of
those of southeastern Alaska. He copied the names from
the tribes at Klukwan near Haines [Chilkat]. The
Yatqwan weren't organized like the people of south-
eastern Alaska; neither were the interior Indians, the
Gunana. Xatgawet married in here and organized the
people and gave them names. He was married to two
women. He called the brothers of one wife the
GanAxtedi; the brothers of the other wife were the
Kwaclkqwan. He liked the name TlAkw-'an so much he
gave it to the village on Knight Island. (When asked
about Dux, the informant said that he had not heard
of him?my pronunciation may well have been at
fault?-but that different people have different stories
about the town.) [Jack Ellis, 1949.]
Xatgawet used to be a big man. He had many slaves.
He put up a great deal of food for the winter; dried
fish and berries. He had food all the time, but when
the other people were starving they would come to him
and say: "I'm going to be your slave. Give me your
dried fish. I'm starving, give me something to eat."
And they ask him to give them something to eat, and
then they are his slaves?'At xeci yAguxwgu, 'to become
a dried-fish slave,' they call it. Sometimes they get
free when their family gets money and they pay it
back. Sometimes when they have a potlatch, they are
killed. Too bad, too bad! [Emma Ellis; August 5, 1952,
somewhat edited.]
Xatgawet belonged to Lost Kiver Xuts hit [Bear
House]. He lived all over, the crazy fellow. He was a
big man, tried to have his own way with everybody and
tried to be a big shot. He had a war canoe. He was not
so rich until he married Qalyix-Kagwantan's daughter.
They [the Galyix-Kagwantan] were rich, very rich
still to this day. [Susie Abraham; July 24, 1952.]
Xatgawet was a Teqwedi chief with slaves. He
married Katlatse'nku and her younger sister, Duhan,
both Kwackqwan women, and 'Andiil [same sib]. He
had five wives in all. He was the first to live on Knight
Island. He owned most of the islands. His grand-
children, his relatives, lived on the other islands.
'Andiil was so old that when she went outside of the
house in winter she had a heart attack. They found a
frog beside her in the snow. So they got this name,
Xixtc -si [Frog's Daughter], for someone else in the
tribe. Mary Thomas [Kwacls:qwan] has that name now.
Xatgawet bought that humpy stream for his children.
[The informant had never heard of Dux, see below.
She did not know the name of Xatgawet's house.]
[Katy D. Isaac; June 30, 1952.]
Xatgawet was a big man from here, and he was
married into the people [here]. . . . He's the one that
was buying up these islands here, like Knight Island,
and these other islands, for his wife and kids. On
account of most of the food was from those places,
like Humpback Creek, he bought those for his wife and
kids. He married three women from that tribe [Kwack-
qwan], and bought Humpback Creek for them.
His wives were named: 'Andul, Katlafieq (or Kala-
ts6nkw), and Si'at. He was Teqwedi?-one of the big
shot men that owned slaves in those days. [Katy D.
Isaac; March 24, 1954; in part recorded on tape 1954,
4-1, with additional comments.]
THE STORY OF DUX'S SISTER
This is one of the historical accounts, the chronology
of which is uncertain, but which relates to the long
series of conflicts between the Dry Bay Ravens and the
Yakutat Indians, and which culminated in the destruc-
tion of the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi by the Tl'uknaxAdi,
after the Russians had been driven from Yakutat. It
seems appropriate to include this episode here, since
Xatgawet was supposed to have been the brother-in-law
of Dux.
There were also other wars in the pre-Russian period
we were given to understand, but our friends would
not or could not give the details.
[The following version was told by Jenny Kardeetoo
in 1949, interpreted by Minnie Johnson. The account
has been slightly edited for the sake of clarity.]
246 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
The Kwacl:qwan bought Knight Island from the
Kuskedi [KosKedi], who sold all their ground and went
to southeastern Alaska. Dux bought the island from
them. All his tribe contributed to buy the island. It
was about a quarrel over berry picking. They got mad
at Dux's sister because she got ahead of them in picking
strawberries. They cut her basket with a knife. [This
the interpreter did not believe, "because they got no
knife in those days."]
Dux built the first tribal house there, Nu hit, 'Fort
House.' A man married to his sister built Xuts hit,
'Bear House.' This was right after the Russians left.
It was only a camping place on the way to sealing
camp before that. Now there are only big trees and
elderberries where Nu hit used to stand at TlAkw-'an....
Xatgawet was the first man at Knight Island. He
was Teqwedi. He had two wives. One was a Kwac&qwan
girl. A younger sister had to marry the husband of her
older sister. He slept between them?big jealous!
They get into a war. Nobody could land at Knight
Island. The enemy captured his sister-in law, WuwacH:
of Dis hit [Moon House]. She was taken to Dry Bay.
She was already married and had a boy when she was
captured.
At Dry Bay she had an intimate friend, Da-tlen,
'Big Weasel,' a Tl'uknaxAdi man. Other clans at Dry
Bay were Cinkuqedi and Teqwedi. They were holding
her for ransom. He didn't want her to be a slave.
So he took her in his canoe to the shore of Dry Bay,
and she walked ah1 the way to Chicago Harbor [Eleanor
Cove], opposite Knight Island. She made a fire with a
drill and made a signal for her brother-in-law to come
and get her. Her hair was matted with moss and devil-
clubs. They got slaves to clean her hah1, and then freed
the slaves, they were so glad to get her back.
[When reminded of the story which she had inter-
preted in 1949, Minnie Johnson gave a version which
she considered more accurate. July 13, 1952.]
It was Dux's sister who was the girl who went back
near Chicago Harbor. She got acquainted with the
Tl'uknaxAdi down there. They done something. The
Tl'uknaxAdi captured Dux's sister for some reason.
They kept two or three of them. It must be their tribe
do something to the Tl'uknaxAdi, otherwise they would
never have captured her. They just want to keep her
till they make peace [until her people paid for her, is
implied].
They took that woman down to Gusex. And there
was a young fellow there. He was her boy friend. They
got acquainted. He was the nephew of the head guy
of Gusex.
He felt sorry for her and he went as far as he can
with her and the little boy in a canoe. He crossed the
rivers. Aly grandmother told me about it.
They got in a canoe as far as the head of Situk.
And then she walked across through the woods. That
man was with her all the way.
And he start to make fire for her with a drill. It's
got a round handle. And that flint, too, they used to
hit it together and make sparks. And they have dry
stuff they keep it in all the time?dry grass. They use
pitch off the trees for kindling, like creosote piling.
They make a shaving of it. They use the dry grass
and then the pitch.
Then the boy didn't want to be held up and found
out. The people believe that she escape [all by herself].
He went right back. I don't know how he make out
with his uncle. But that fellow is out all the time, and
he brings back grub from hunting.
Xatgawet sent slaves over to see who is making the
fire. It was Xatga wet's wife's sister. I don't know her
name. They were so happy when they got Dux's sister
back. And her hair was all matted up with everything.
And he ordered slaves to comb her hair and wash her
and clean her up. And they let the slave go free.
It's a true story.
[Xatgawet also appears in stories of wars with the
"Aleuts," see pp. 254, 257].
XATGAWET AS POST-RUSSIAN
[The following comments were made by Harry K.
Bremner who placed Xatgawet in post-Eussian times.]
Xatgawet was a Teqwedi from southeastern Alaska, a
rich man, and pretty high 'anyAdi [aristocrat]. He went
all over marrying and had lots of wives. (Too many to
remember.) He married [Galyrx-Kagwantan's] daugh-
ter, Tl&'ka. Her brother is supposed to give his sister's
husband a shirt when they marry. In that way he got
a big pile of sea otter skins, higher than that girl. He
got rich that way. He went to Cordova and married
there. He said: "It looks to me like my brothers-in-law
were like GanAxtedi," so he gave them this name.
Before that they had no name. He also named the
KosRedi (Qusledi) at Cordova. He gave those names
to Tcilqat [Chilkat on Bering River], Katliakh, Yakutat.
When he married all over he gave these names to his
new brothers-in-law. [He named both sibs and towns.]
Diyaguna'Et was his capital. But he used to stay at a
little place in a house by himself, on the south bank of
Lost River, between Diayaguna'Et and Nes&udat. It
was in a clearing shaped like a strawberry leaf, the
stem towards the water. It was called "Strawberry
Leaves" in Eyak. He stayed there, I don't know why.
The first Raven's Bones House of the Kwac&qwan
was probably somewhere on Knight Island, nobody
knows where. [July 11, 1952.]
[The following comments were made after hearing
the recording by Katy D. Isaac]
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 247
Xatgawet doesn't belong in the old story. That's not
the old story. [The story about him] it's not real old
story. [In his day] all that tribe [Teqwedi] is already
settled out at Lost River . . . at Diyaguna'Et. It's
already a village that time that important man came
up from southeast of Alaska?Xatgawet?-not long ago.
The way they talk about buying islands at Yakutat,
it's hundreds of years before. She [KDI] is right they
find the ice clear across from Icy Bay. . . . The one
who bought the land had two names; T'uxkw [Dux??]
and the other name is Q6yq. He was Galyix-Kagwantan.
The tune he bought Knight Island, it's no trees, nothing
on that island, just strawberries. They picked the
strawberries.
It's his daughter. When they were picking straw-
berries?-her name is GrAmayAq. She had two names.
Her other name is Qetl. She was picking berries. That
time they using baskets to pick berries. And she's
got it packing berries on her back?-packing. And the
owners of the island, Hmyedi, found her there. Those
Hmyedi cut up that basket that she is picking berries in.
And she reported to her father what the trouble is
that she had. That's the time her father bought it for
her, that means for the whole tribe. That tribe's name
is Kwacls:qwan, what they call it now. [Before that the
sib was named for their original home on Bremner
River, Gmex, "right across from Chitina."] That's our
tribe's name?Ginexqwan. Until they buy that Hump-
back Stream, then they have another name again?
Kwackqwan?That means "Humpback." I think you
got the whole story of that when I tell you that.
[When asked specifically about Xatgawet]:
That Xatgawet?big Indian doctor?the strongest,
the biggest?-and he's rich.
I just wanted to tell you it's a mistake that Xatgawet
buy all the islands here. Everything is already settled
down. It's many years after when they first discovered
this piece of land from Copper River?Kagwantan
[did]. I don't know where they came from, that Kag-
wantan. They came in a canoe and we [Kwackqwan]
walked on the land. You got it in your story, that one.
They landed here before the Kwackqwan.
She [KDI] was right about the glacier was clear
across some place up here?Chicago Harbor [Eleanor
Cove]?across from there [Point Manby side].
[He commented that he had forgotten the names, but
believes the history he learned from his father, and
which the latter had learned from his uncle, Teqwedi.]
The own tribe knows about themselves. Xatgawet was
Xuts hit. He came from southeast Alaska?went clear
to Copper River. He married at Bremner River.
He married there and at GalyAx ["Katlya"]. He
married a Galyix-Kagwantan's daughter. He had so
many wives; that's why he became a rich man. . . .
Xatgawet?he's not old. He's not so very far from
my grandfather, I think. This Xatgawet?he had so
many wives. I know one of his wives is Wanga-tla
[WAnga-tla], another is Tfe'an. . . . He lived here
after the Russians. [The informant had never heard of
him on Knight Island.] His place was over at Lost
River?just a camp?they call it Xatgawet-'ani, that
means 'Xatgawet's place.' Right below Nessudat and
the Teqwedi village, Diaguna'Et. That little place,
they call it CukwAKal? that's Eyak. . . . They used
to talk that language before. That means . . . "straw-
berry leaves" . . . three pieces. That's the way I
think it looks. [He traced a three-lobed leaf with his
finger. [May 2, 1954.]
[As a shaman, Xatgawet had many spirits, including
the Sun's Children, GAgan-yAtxi, and others that came
later to the Teqwedi shaman, TEli-'ic. When he first
became a strong doctor, at Diyaguna'Et, he was
"visited" by the spirit of a Tsimshian doctor. Later,
Xatgawet and his wife, Tle '^an, "visited" the Tsimshian
shaman, that is, their spirits went while their lifeless
bodies remained behind. It was on this occasion that
Xatgawet obtained a Tsimshian spirit and its songs, as
well as the right to the Killerwhale Hat, Kit saxw, an
emblem of the Yakutat Teqwedi. These stories will
be found under Shamanism, pp. 710-712.]
THE SITE ON KNIGHT ISLAND
The discovery of a grave on Knight Island in June,
1949, and our excavations there (de Laguna et al.,
1964), aroused great interest, and stimulated a number
of the brief stories mentioned above. In addition we
were told:
The Kwackqwan bought Knight Island. TlAkw-'an
was a big city long before the Russians. Just east of
this there was an old village called Yel 'ada qutiyE (or
Yel'AdAx ? gAfiyi, or qAtciye), "Raven Falls Down."
There were so many big houses there in a row, and
when it's calm weather, the smoke goes straight up.
So the raven that tries to fly over never gets to the
end. It falls down. [Olaf and Susie Abraham; July 24,
1952.]
"Raven Falls Down" was the real name for the village
we were excavating. Xatgawet called it TiAkw-'an to
pretend it was a high-class people's place. [Sheldon
James, Sr.; August 3, 1952.]
No one knew when the people moved from Knight
Island, or why, but the consensus of opinion was that
this was before the Russians came to Yakutat.
The grave, on the other hand, was generally asso-
ciated with a shaman contemporary with the Russians.
Thus, Olaf Abraham, ascribed the burial to a Tlaxayik-
Teqwedi shaman, the uncle of Tanu&. The Russians
were going to throw the body out because they dis-
248 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
covered a Russian nail in the coffin. That started the
trouble. [The coffin had been put together with hand-
wrought iron nails.] Minnie Johnson, believed that the
grave was that of the female shaman, Dax6dzu,
sister to the Yakutat chief, Yaxodaqet. She lived on
Knight Island and predicted the coming of the Russians.
Further information about this woman is given under
Shamanism (pp. 712-713).
The Story of the CAnkuqedi
The CAnkuqedi came to the Dry Bay country from
southeastern Alaska, via Chilkat. It was before this
movement northward that one of their women married
the Sun (see pp. 873-874). After they were living in the
Alsek River area, they acquired the Thunder (bird) as a
crest. Frank Italio (1870-1956), the last old man of
his sib, told how his people came to Dry Bay, and also
how the Thunderbird House came to be built.
HOW THE CANKUQEDI CAME TO DBY BAY
[The following narrative, interpreted by Minnie
Johnson, has been somewhat edited, to include ex-
planations made later in the interview. Three songs in
Athabaskan?the fourth was forgotten?and one in
Tlingit, connected with the drownings in the "Aiyan
River" were recorded, 1952, 4-1-A a, b, c, and 4-1-D,
see p. 1174. August 29, 1952.]
Carida was where all the CAnkuqedi were living
together down in the Southeast of Alaska. And they
separated from the others. At that time people could
settle any place they wanted to, and some moved in to
Chilkat and went from there on.
From Chilkat up, they run across Qunana, interior
Indians. They come across them in hunting. They
married into the Qunana and became a part of them.
The QanAxtedi claim they were the first to get ac-
quainted with the Qunana, were the first to meet the
Gunana that way. But the CAnkuqedi claim the Qan-
Axtedi followed them there, that the QanAxtedi just
followed them because they were married into them.
The CAnkuqedi were the first to get acquainted with
the Qunana, just like brother and sister together.
They [the GanAxtedi] look down on them [for that?],
but they're the first Tlingit that meet the Qunana.
The QanAxtedi just follow them.
Nuqwa, Nuqwayik, is the first place they come to.
[This was a Tlingit-speaking settlement on the head-
waters of the Tatshenshini, a branch of the upper
Alsek, not far from the source of the Chilkat River.]
Then they came to Tl'ukcu [Klukshu]. It was just a
little way to Hutcayi [Hutshi Lake]. It means 'last
lake.' I t was nothing but a big lake. It was a big place.
That's where the women side of them married into the
Qunana. Then they went to Tagic [to the east, on the
Yukon drainage, but perhaps not as far south as Tagish
Lake itself]. The Tagic people are always hired by
someone to lead them on. The CAnkuqedi hired the
Tagicqwan as guides.
From there on, as they walked on the land, to Aiyan,
they call it. The Aiyan were just like one of them, so
the CAnkuqedi move right in, keep going. A long time
they walk. It takes a whole year to travel back and
forth from Aiyan's place. They call it Aiyan-'ani.
[This is probably Selkirk on the Yukon.] It's a long
ways to walk.
The river is running out so swift and they can't get
across. So they make a raft to cross the Aiyan hini.
They tried to get across, but it's so swift all of the
CAnkuqedi get killed but one. He's the only one of the
CAnkuqedi bunch. There was a post there, and a line.
You're supposed to catch the post so the raft won't
be swept away. This man, QAtuduwA&E, grabbed the
line but missed the post, so the whole shooting match
went under a tunnel-like. That river is running right
into a cave. None of them is saved. It is called Yel kasi,
"the place that Raven cracked" [literally 'Raven's
crevasse/ cf. Harrington, sft' khaassii, 'glacier's
crevasse'].
The fellow that was saved, he ran back to Chilkat,
to notify the people that all his people are gone. So
they all get up and went to that place. But when they
got there, they found them all eat up by animals. So
they went to work and gathered up the bones and just
burned the bones.
You see, the river went through there, and just when
they passed through there, so swift, there's a kind of
eddy on the other side. That's where they find those
dead people carried there. At the mouth of that thing
everything is boiling like, just boiling. So the bodies
washed ashore, but the animals eat them up.
Anything's bound to happen, it happens. That rope
was made of moosehide, the strongest there is. That
fellow done enough to get it around the post, but it
broke, because it's time for them people to die.
[This may well have been at the Five Finger Rapids
on the Yukon.]
Qanetl', 'Big Fat Man,' was the Aiyan chief. He
had invited them. He kind of adopted them, get
together as true friend, like brother and sister. He's
chief of that Aiyan River. He's CAnkuqedi himself,
because he adopted them. That's why he turned four
of his potlatch songs over to the CAnkuqedi, so they
can use them in place of the people who got drowned.
It's just like he's guilty of the fact that the people
died because he invited them. So he let them have
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 249
four of his precious potlatch songs, so the CAnkuqedi
can use them.
So the CAnkuqedi got together and went to meet
that man. That's the time they got those precious
songs.
[Frank Italio sang for the tape recorder three of the
four songs in Athabaskan, all he could remember. He
thanked us for listening, and then was overcome with
grief. When recovered, he sang a song in Tlingit, com-
posed by a CAnkuqedi woman whose relatives had
been drowned in the Aiyan Kiver.]
After they got drowned, they composed this song.
This song is composed by a woman. It is made like that:
Well, I give up, I give up.
My uncles and my relatives,
I give up.
There's a lot of other people have suffered
Just the same as I am, you know,
And they get along just the same.
But, you know, I don't give up, I don't give up.
And the next words to the song are made like that :
Why shouldn't my uncles come to be alive,
And come to the door?
Come in through the door and let me see you?
Then I be sure that you're not all of you gone at
once.
Why should I expect you?
I know that you're all drowned.
But anyhow, sometimes I expect you to come in
the door.
But now, I give up, I give up.
[Later, not recorded]: There's a verse I skipped:
I should give up,
But I know all my uncles is drowned.
When first they started,
I never had an idea they were all going to go at
once.
Yet they never came back.
I should know they all get drowned.
I should give up in the first place
All my uncles went under the water when the raft
broke.
But I should know that.
These are the words I skipped.
[Frank Italio and the translator both wept when this
song was played back.]
The TlukwaxAdi were the first to settle in 'Alsex, and
then the CAnkuqedi tribe women married into them.
The woman was Cteyuti (or CtE'utE'); YelMda was the
man. That's an old name. That TlukwaxAdi man went
to Chilkat to get this CAnkuqedi girl to marry him.
That's how the CAnkuqedi find out about the Alsek
country. Then that man and wife had children growing
up. They knew they came from Chilkat, so they go back
to Chilkat, these grownup children of Cteyuti and
YelMda.
They found a glacier, an easy way to go back and forth.
The name of the place where they found the road they
have to walk on is called Kiyaxw or Giyal:w- It's not
too big a glacier, just a small glacier.
And from there they found a different place, called
GutfAs or GutAS. This is the easiest way to walk back
and forth, a path that goes easy, no bushes. And they
get away from that glacier business. That was a long
long way, and risky. But this was just like you walk
on a board floor, no bushes to contend with. That's
how the Yakutat people came to travel back and forth,
easy. And even the Tanyedai Teqwedi found out about
it. They go back and forth this way and don't use salt
water. The Tanyeda? people walk across to Chilkat
and then way back to the head of Alsek. That's how
the Teqwedi came to Yakutat. But the ThikwaxAdi
were the finders of Dry Bay and Alsek.
The Gunana taught them [the Tlingit] how to travel.
They're great travelers. Nothing to do but walk around.
THE BOY WHO WAS TAKEN BY THE THTJNDERBIRDS (l949)
[The following was told by Frank Italio, in 1949, with
Helen Bremner interpreting, to explain the Thunderbird
Screen in his house in Yakutat. It will be seen how little
this version varies from the account recorded in 1952.]
The tribe was moving in a canoe down from way up
the Alsek River. The kid wanted to go ashore. When he
went ashore for a rest he went up on top of a mountain,
not very high, and lay down and fell asleep. When
they moved on, they forgot him and left him there.
They forgot him until they got to the glacier where they
were going to camp. When they were unloading the
canoe they saw he was left behind. It was only 1 day's
travel down, but it was 4 days back to where they left
the kid. They don't go back to look for him because
they know he was already dead.
The Thunderbirds found and saved the child.
The child lived among the Thunders, and when he's
grown up he came among his own tribe, and began to
get feathers like the Thunderbird. The Thunderbird let
him come down to his tribe, took him back. The
Thunderbird didn't do any harm to that kid because
he knows he belongs to his tribe. That's why he trained
him to be a strong man and let him go back to his
people.
From that kid, the people know where the Thunder-
bird lives. When it comes out, that's when you see the
bright lightning. The kid didn't forget his own language.
He talked to his people when he got back.
The interpreter used the terms "Thunder" and
"Thunderbird" interchangeably, since the Tlingit
word, xetl, means both. In the following account note
250 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
also that the Tlingit si-nex means both 'to save,' and
'to capture someone.' It is used of a supernatural being.
THE BOY WHO WAS TAKEN BY THE THUNDEEBIKDS (l952)
[Frank Italio recorded the story in Tlingit and sang
two songs connected with it, 1952, 2-1-C and 2-1-F.
These were translated by Minnie Johnson. The fol-
lowing account is edited to include a preliminary trans-
lation of the story which was given on the same occasion,
but was not recorded. July 30, 1952.]
Frank Italio was telling the reason why all the
CAnkuqedi belong to the Thunderbird . . . the reason
why they claim the Thunderbird is ahead [the head] of
them, of the CAnkuqedi.
The people were all at the head of the Alsek and
there was a little boy with them. They were at a
camping place called Glacier Point, Sii xayi, and they
all went ashore for some kind of a lunch. You know the
Alsek is very swift. They need lines to take the canoes
up.
This little boy was about 4 years old and he fell
asleep on a flat rock. They didn't miss him until they
were at the foot of the Alsek. From there it's 4 days
travel back. All the CAnkuqedi were moving down and
they miss that boy. Nobody feel like going back against
the swift current of the river running out. My good-
ness, it's 4 days hard travel back, so they decide it
couldn't be done. They decide by the time they get
there the boy will be dead. They might just as well
give up. Nobody could go alone to get that boy.
"He'll be dead." So they decide to let it go.
. . . After that boy disappeared, they had a big
potlatch when they know they can't get him back . . .
After he's lost for good, sombody compose a song for
the boy. That's why the boy's name is mentioned
[in the song]. It is G6snl'w . . . So after they give up
hope to see that little boy, some of the CAnkuqedi
compose this song [1952, 2-1-C, see p. 1171]. The words
to it are nothing but Eyak language [sic; the Tlingit,
yAtqwan ?enAx, 'aboriginal speech,' in this case un-
doubtedly refers to the local Athabaskan]. The old
people understand that language at that time. It seems
to hurt their hearts so bad they compose a song. They
just mention his name. But they found out afterwards
the Thunderbird take care of him.
[The mourning song, with its quavering repetitions,
was sung through twice; see pp. 1214-1215.]
. . . He can't understand a word, but from gen-
eration to generation they are practicing, so the next
one to take his place. . . . I'm going to leave the Eyak
[sic] language out. . . .
That boy who was left up there start to cry, and the
Thunderbird came around him, as a human being, and
he save that boy. He took that boy and he raised him
in a cave in the mountain.
[Frank is demonstrating to them how he belongs to
Thunderbird. . . .]
The boy get lonesome, so the Thunderbird get it in
his feeling he has no right to capture him, so he deliver
him to his family. He's a full grown man when he come
back. From his leg down, all around his knees to his
ankles, it's turned into Thunderbird quills, and from
his wrists to his elbows [along the insides of his limbs].
He is the one who is the head of the family.
. . . When the boy begins to be a man old enough
so he knows what the Thunderbird looks like, he start
to give advice to the people [about] how the Thunder-
bird took him in, and he gave instructions to the
people. . . . That boy, when he come alive, when he
come back, when he's full grown, he built that Xetl
hrt [Thunderbird House] and paint that xin [screen,
partition.] He built it according to the Thunderbird.
. . . He made what you call a painted board like a
picture of the Thunderbird. . . . He ordered how the
Thunderbird house look in the mountain (pi. 91).
So they made a xin. He sings a song whenever they
potlatch that tribe. . . . That's why they claim that
song and sing that at a big potlatch, because they
spent so much money on it. . . .
That's from generation to generation, they claim the
Thunderbird is the head of them. But all the DAqEstina
family died off but Frank Italio, the only head of the
tribe who knows anything about it. . . . It hurts like
anything, but he carried the tune out. . . . All of his
family died off, and he's the only CAnkuqedi left. . . .
This is a song for the painted screen [1952, 2-1-F,
p. 1171]?Kagwantan xinasuwu [not translated]. The
Kagwantan use that song, too, when they potlatch
anyone. It's a new tribal song. They [CAnkuqedi] have
been down among the Kagwantan but they come up
to Dry Bay. . . .
[After the song was sung, the interpreter explained]:
The first words sings like it's an order from the boy
captured by the Thunderbird about the wall painting.
So this is composed by the Thunderbird captured
boy. . . . [After a discussion with the informant, what
appears to be a conflicting statement was given.] That's
the song when they separate from the other tribe down
below [apparently referring to the CAnkuqedi migration].
. . . The song that Frank Italio sings is an order
from that little boy grown to a big man. He ordered
this. And the understanding is, that the reason they
use this song in the potlatch of a close relative who
died, or something happened. . . . they use this song
just to remind them of that little boy who got left on
the rock. When he came back, he wants his people to
belong to the Thunderbird.
It's composed like this [first stanza]:
Everytime when I hear the Thunderbird,
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 251
This man whenever he gets hurt, [I always become
hurt]
The Thunderbird sounds like my brother that I
lost,
It sounds like my uncle that I lost,
When I hear the thunder noise.
The next words he sings sounds like this [second stanza]:
They have got no pity for me.
They have got no pity for me.
But I get surprised when I hear the thunder.
It sounds like the relatives I lost,
Because they got no pity for me,
They left me alone.
But the Thunderbird is the head of us. I'm alone
and the only one left. But the ladies ask me to sing
what belongs to my tribe.
COMMENT ON THE THUNDEEBIED STORY
One of three verses of the same or a similar song
was recorded by Mrs. Chester Johnson, June 10, 1954,
1954, 5-2-E, p. 1172. The song was" Xetlxu daciyi, a
song for the Thunder Blanket . . . composed before
my mother was born. He's lonesome for that thunder
noise."
[The words were dictated and translated:]
It always makes me lonesome,
When I hear the thunder.
I always think of [imagine] my brother,
When I hear the thunder.
[The second stanza is about "my uncle?'ax kak."]
[The informant added:] Gdxnaq?xetl [thunder] catch
him. Xetttc wucat [by-thunder he-was-seized]. That's
why we build Thunder House.
The Story of the Teqwedi
As we have seen, Swanton's informant dated the
arrival of the Teqwedi from Prince of Wales Island
among the Kwackqwan shortly after the settlement of
the latter on Yakutat Bay. The stories about 3Catga-
wet?or about a Teqwedi man to whom this name and
personality is ascribed?would support this chronology.
We have, unfortunately, no adequate account of the
immigration of the Bear House lineage, to which
Xatgawet belonged. This is because the last big men of
the lineage, Jim Kardeetoo, who was also named
Xatgawet, and William Milton, Nequt or NEgut, died
in 1937 and 1950 (or 1951), so that there was no one
who felt ready to tell the official history of this house.
For this reason, we have only brief statements about
the Bear House group, in contrast to the fuller history
of the Drum House Teqwedi, told by their leader,
Olaf Abraham.
COMMENTS ON TEQWEDI HISTORY
[The following remarks were made by Jack Ellis,
1949.]
The Tongass Teqwedi split up in a fight over a girl.
She was married to an old chief in one house?a chief
always had one young wife?and a young fellow in the
next house wanted her. The people of the chief's house
killed him, and they had to move to Killisnoo. They
kept on moving to Diyaguna'Et.
At this place, the Teqwedi, who were rich traders,
had three houses in a fort. The L'u?edi, 'Muddy Water
People,' named for the Situk River, took the fort from
them in a battle. Later when they [L'u^edi?] went to
Khantaak(?) to get a woman, the Kwackqwan killed
them all off.
[The following was volunteered after stressing the
difference between the true Teqwedi of southeastern
Alaska and the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. (Harry K. Bremner;
May 2, 1954).]
Long long before the Russians, a Yakutat chief sent
to Southeast of Alaska for a chief's daughter to marry to
his son. He paid a lot for her. All Gau hittan [Drum
House people] are descended from her. . . . They
settled on Ahrnklin River.
But the Xuts hittan [Bear House people] came up
themselves in war canoes [later?]. They had a war with
the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi at Lost River, at Diyaguna'Et.
All were killed except the chief. His face was badly cut.
His name was Daqusetc. . . . Yes, there were lots of
that name. . . . The chief of that name was head of
Xuts hit on Khantaak [Chief Minaman]. It was also
called Tus hit [Shark House]. Xuts hit was the mother?
just as Yel saqe hit [Raven's Bones House] was the
mother of lots of houses.
[Unfortunately, the name of the chief does not tell
us whether he was Bear House Teqwedi or Tlaxayik-
Teqwedi, since famous names of the latter are now borne
by the Bear House Teqwedi. I would suppose that
Daqusetc was, however, a Bear House chief, and that
it was his group that were defeated. The final crushing
of the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi did not occur until after the
Russians had been driven out, see pp. 262-270.]
[A Drum House man made the following statement.
(Sheldon James, Sr.; February 23, 1954).]
The Teqwedi came from down south. But my family
came from Dry Bay by the interior. The others stayed
in Dry Bay and Italio River, but us, we came on to
'Antlen. Frank Italio's tribe [CAnkuqedi] and my tribe
came from the same place, same family. [But the
252 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
CAnkuqedi remained in Dry Bay, while the Teqwedi
came toward Yakutat.] They used to tell us that
Teqwedi had just one tribe to get married with?
Tl'uknaxAdi. That was olden days. It changed a lot
since my grandfather's days. Before that time, a person
can't do as he please against his tribe's rules. Now they
call it a free country.
[The same man had said, August 3, 1952:]
We used to live in Dry Bay. But some boys walked to
Ahrnklin. People were living there. So they bought the
Ahrnklin. The others stayed in Dry Bay and became
the CAnkuqedi.
Other Teqwedi came from Ketchikan.
The original owners of Ahrnklin spoke Tlingit.
THE TEQWEDI AND TLUKNAXADI AT DRY BAY
[The following brief story, told by Emma Ellis, a
Kagwantan woman from Dry Bay, may serve to illus-
trate how the souhteastern Alaskan sibs, Teqwedi and
Tl'uknaxAdi, became established in the Dry Bay area.
(February 21,1954.)]
A Tl'uknaxAdi man, Qatlsex (or Qalseykw), stopped
this side of Lituya Bay, at Yakwdeyii!a. He was coming
up from Southeast of Alaska?wanted to get some-
thing [presumably in trade]. He had a young daughter.
I guess she's Teqwedi, I don't know her name. His
daughter got first monthly and can't go on the water.
So he stayed there with his daughter. And all the other
TlukwaxAdi were going over there, and see those
people. . . . You know, a man always takes a good
woman. A TlukwaxAdi 'anqawu [aristocrat] see that girl.
Her mother ask her, "Give me that thing."
They put a blanket around the girl. That man feel
it in his heart, is stuck on that girl. He talks to her
mother and father. Qatlsex says, "That's OK." He
can marry that girl.
Then they give so many things to her mother and
father [as bride price]. . . .
The nephews, they take that girl. They packing to
'Alsex . . . way up to head of 'Alsex. That's how they
got that Tl'trknaxAdi?put it together in Dry Bay,
because that girl is married to that TlukwaxAdi. They
don't bother that country over there, [i.e., the Tl'uk-
naxAdi made no claims on Dry Bay]. They say that's
TlukwaxAdi country, good country. All TlukwaxAdi
owned Dry Bay.
THE STOKY OF THE DBUM HOUSE TEQWEDI
[This version is compiled from statements and expla-
nations made by Olaf Abraham, and translated by his
wife, Susie Abraham, July 24, 1952. A copy was given
to him and approved by him.]
Long ago the Teqwedi came here from Ketchikan.
They were feeling bad when they left, and those who
stayed behind felt bad, too. They had trouble. But now
they forget it.
They stopped at Killisnoo and Klukwan. At Sitka
Island they separated, and some went outside and some
went inside. Those that went inside, when they separa-
ted at the point, were Olaf Abraham's ancestors.
They stopped at some place between Lituya Bay and
Dry Bay. [Olaf Abraham had forgotten the name.]
They made a town there, and settled there.
The young people began to go for a walk and made a
long trip. They found some people at Arhnklin. The
name of the river is 'Antlen, short for 'At 'ani-t!6n,
'big town of animals.' The young people fell in love with
the mountains and the river. They went back and told
their chief how pretty that river is. The chief's name
was Gutli;niyu; he was chief of Gau hit [Drum House].
So the chief went to meet the other chief, the chief of
the YEnyedi who owned the land, and they began to
talk about it. So Gutlfeniyu bought the Ahrnklin land
for a big copper, tinna. The copper was as long as from
the tips of his fingers to his chin, when his head was bent
back, and was worth 10 slaves.
Then all the Gau hittan came up there and the
YEnyedi moved to southeastern Alaska, to Taku,
where some of them still live today.
The Teqwedi built a big town on the Ahrnklin which
they called 'Antlen, the same name as the river. It had
four big houses: Drum House and Thunderbird House,
and two others. Lots of people used to live there, but
they are all gone now. There were also other towns
there.
The river is cutting into the bank where the town of
'Antlen used to be and you can see charcoal 4 feet deep
in the ground where the houses stood.
The land bought by the Gau hittan included Dan-
gerous River, called Kuthtcki bin, the east branch of
the Ahrnklin called Staxeya, the main branch of the
Ahrnklin, and the northwest branch called GAnEtsitsk.
The name is in the language of the people who first
owned this land, so we don't know what it means. The
land also included Seal River to the west, called Tsa
'i?e. There is also a small stream northwest of the Seal
River that also opens into the mouth of the Ahrnklin,
but it has no name.
Olaf Abraham's uncle, Daknaqin [Ned Dok-na-kane,
died sometime after 1921], used to own the land before
him, but now Olaf Abraham owns it. He has four cabins
there, and goes there to hunt every year. Because the
land was bought for a copper worth 10 slaves, everyone
has respect for him, and no one in Yakutat will go
there to hunt without asking him permission. All the
rivers from Dangerous River to the Situk belong to the
Gau hittan, but Olaf Abraham doesn't take care of
Dangerous River any more.
Other Teqwedi, Xuts hittan, Bear House People, own
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 253
Situk and Lost River. They settled there later, and
this land is not as valuable because they didn't buy
it; they just homesteaded it.
The Tlaxayik-Teqwedi were a different group. They
lived at Situk and Lost Kiver and in Yakutat Bay long
ago. LucwAq was their chief. They were almost all
killed in a war, and the rest of them moved north.
George Johnson came from that place and is called
LucwAq.
The YEnyedi also lived in Yakutat Bay, once. They
sold Knight Island and Eleanor Island and other islands
to the Kwackqwan. The Kwac]sqwan came from Copper
River and spoke Copper River language. That is
different from George Johnson's language. Now the
Kwac?qwan and the Gau hittan Teqwedi marry each
other and both tribes speak Tlingit and live in Yakutat.
[Minnie Johnson, August 17, 1952, identified the
builder of Thunderbird House on the Ahrnklin as
KitcidA&, Heavy Wings, for whom Daknaqin was also
named.]
COMMENT ON THE SALE OF AHENKLrN LANDS
[Maggie Harry, a Kwac&qwan woman, explained
what happened to the YEnyedi (August 24, 1952).]
The YEnyedi sold Ahrnklin and walked to the
interior, to Taku, via the Yukon. They went from the
head of Yakutat Bay over a glacier, Sit! liusa, 'narrow
glacier,' in Nunatak Fiord. [She was uncertain of the
location.] From there they went to Tcanukwa [probably
near Scotty Creek on the headwaters of the Alsek,
below Dalton Post]. Then to Taku Lake, and to
Klukwan. That's where they came from. It was 3
months walking. It took 1% months to Taku Lake or
Atlin Lake, 'AtHn. They went all around Atlin Lake to
Klukwan.
[There are two versions of how the Ahrnklin Drum
House people were nearly exterminated. One of these
ascribes the trouble to smallpox, the other to a feud
within the lineage or sib, but since the time when this
occurred is evidently fairly recent, these stories are
postponed to a later section. It was, however, while
the Drum House people were living on the Ahrnklin
that they obtained the Golden Eagle as a crest. Here
also, the wolves guarded the body of a Drum House
man who had drowned (p. 828).]
THE STOET OF THE GOLDEN EAGLE
[The following official version of how the Drum
House Teqwedi obtained their crest is compiled from
the story as told by Olaf Abraham and translated by
his son, February 28, 1954, and as he told it on April 8,
1954 as an introduction to the Golden Eagle's song
(p. 1166). This version and the translation by his nephew,
the late Sheldon James, Sr., were recorded 1954,1-1-F.
Another translation of the last was also made by John
Ellis on April 15, 1954.]
Now you are going to hear from us about our origin
and destiny [ha CAgun]. We are Teqwedi. You will hear
the song about the place where we have our land. This
happened way up at the head of Ahrnklin River. One
of our ancestors [QeyegAtqfn] who were living at
Ahrnklin was out hunting in the mountains at the
head of Ahrnklin, and he came upon that Golden Eagle.
As he was coming towards it, he heard it singing. That
was why he walked towards the place where the song
was coming.
As soon as the bird saw the man, it began to sing in
Tlingit, and he could understand it. The man saw that
Golden Eagle was holding two baby groundhogs. It
had broken its wing trying to catch those little ground-
hogs. The bird did not want to be killed, so in place of
its life, it gave that song to the man. He listened until
he learned it by heart. That is how the old people came
to know it. They never liked to kill anything in a
wounded condition. And that is why the bird gave the
man that song in place of its life.
Then the man came to the bird, set the wing, and put
it in a dry cave in the rock.
That bird was intended to be the origin and destiny
of the Ahrnklin Teqwedi. Ahrnklin is where that
Golden Eagle Screen was created [formerly in Drum
House, Old Tillage]. (PL 213.)
How many hundreds of years the people were living
before us? But the history of what happened to them
has been handed down from generation to generation
from that time to the present. That is why we know it.
This is the song I want to sing, so everybody can
hear it. If anyone belonging to the Drum House People
hears this song, anywhere in the world, he will know who
he is, and from whom he is descended. That is all. I am
going to sing:
[The words of the song are:]
I come from the other side of the mountain.
From where the sun rises, it is beginning to be
light.
The dawn of morning is coming from the other
side of the mountain.
[The name, QeyegAtqfn, also heard as QeyetgAtqin,
and even ^eyegatqin, was born by Skin Canoe George
or George Ki-ye-quat-kene, 1855-1900. He was the
brother of Daknaqin, and assistant to the shaman,
Tek-'ic. He was the son of Yaxodaqet and QakEn-
Axkuge1. He was Olaf Abraham's uncle and the father
of the first Mrs. Olaf Abraham. The name was inherited
by Olaf's older brother, Joseph, and since the death of
the latter is borne by Olaf Abraham himself.]
254 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
The Story of the Galyix-Kagwantan
The account of the Galyix-Kagwantan included in
Harry Bremner's history of Yakutat is probably as
authentic and official a version as we can obtain. Only
a few additional details are available.
ORIGIN OP THE GALYIX-KAGWANTAN
Mrs. Katy D. Isaac (March 29, 1954) believed that
the Qaiyix-Kagwantan were "a branch of the Qukw
hittan?Box House People. . . . [They came to Galyix]
just through intermarriage from down there."
[The following brief account was given by Helen
Bremner, a member of the sib. (July 14, 1952.)]
In Galyix (or GalyAx), after the big Flood, we are
all out on the ocean.
First, they see a beautiful mountain. And a big man
is sitting in the boat, acting as captain.
"See that beautiful mountain over there. Looks like
it's all painted. Maybe there's a river and we can find
the mouth."
They come to the mountain and they see the
mouth and went in. They see the best place, and the
Kagwantan get out and take the best place. There is
just enough dry land for them. Those that came later
are left out. "Go in the swampy place," they said.
They were the Tcicqedi.
And when there were too many for Galyix, we move
farther up to Bering River and Strawberry Harbor.
And then the Tcicqedi moved farther up, to their
fathers, that is, to the mouth of the Copper River.
Their fathers were the GanAxtedi. The GanAxtedi
gave them too much land, and they got too much fur.
So the GanAxtedi took it away again.
[It was while the Galyix-Kagwantan were living
on Bering River that they obtained the Beaver as a
crest, see below. It is not clear from where the
Galyix-Kagwantan brothers went into the sky; how-
ever, see pp. 875-879].
WAR WITH THE ALEUTS
[One episode about Xatgawet concerns the Galyix-
Kagwantan. (Helen Bremner; June 20 and 26, 1952.)]
Xatgawet had 10 wives. He married them all, looking
for the richest one, and finally married Kagwantan's
daughter.
. . . We [Galyix-Kagwantan] used to have a war
with the Aleuts. We are on land at Galyix (GalyAx)
and they are in the boats. Xatgawet, the Teqwedi chief,
was married to Tleyan (TlS'an), the Kwackqwan
daughter of the Kagwantan chief. She was the sister
of Dux, who bought Knight Island.
When the fight started, Xatgawet said: "I'm going
to be in with my father-in law."
He was walking back and forth in front of everyone,
and was shot by an arrow in his forehead. He recovered
and the Kagwantan gave him the best land. [That is,
he was given the right to hunt on the best land. The
Teqwedi never acquired permanent rights in this
area.]
THE GAiYIX-KAGWANTAN BEAVER
[The following account was given by Helen Bremner,
a Galyix-Kagwantan woman, June 26, 1952. She
knew that the Raven Decitan of Angoon also claimed
the Beaver, and had read Swanton's "The Beaver of
Killisnoo" (1909, Tale 68; de Laguna, 1960, pp. 136 i.).
The Galyix-Kagwantan myth resembles more closely
however, Swanton's 'The Big Beaver' (1909, Tale 62).]
The Decitan got the Beaver by accident, I guess.
We have Segedi [Beaver], too. We learned a song
from Segedi. The Decitan learned it, too, but it's
a different one. Ours is: "I wonder who can stop my
uncles. They built a town for nothing."
[The beaver house was in a lake.] It's all washed
away. The lake washed away and the Segedi-qwan
[Beaver People] all died off. A Kagwantan young man
was out hunting. They get the best things?furs?
and fur of beaver is the best. He saw the lake was all
washed away?no beaver house, nothing. He was
looking around. He heard someone sing, half crying.
He looked to see where that was. He looked up in the
tree, the alder. There was a little Beaver singing.
He didn't want to kill it. He learned that song, went
back home, and reported what he had seen.
That's how we got that song and that house Segedi
hit [Beaver House].
[At the request of this informant, Frank Italio told
the story and sang the song composed by the little
Beaver, September 13, 1952. This was recorded, as was
the translation by Minnie Johnson, 1952, 7-1-B and
7-1-D, p. 1169.]
Now I'm going to explain the story, the reason why
they claim the Beaver as their tribal affair and why
they claim all the Galyix-Kagwantan belong to the
Beaver tribe. Once they lived at a place called 'AnAkwe"
in Tlingit or in Eyak language. And the Beaver built
a den [dam ?] there. But for some reason or other, the
den was destroyed, and the whole bunch of Beavers
were all drowned.
It seems there was just one little Beaver left.
Finally they found that little Beaver sitting where the
den was destroyed, all by his lonesome. And he com-
posed this song:
There's nobody prohibit one another from building
the den there. They know very well the river will
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 255
destroy it. Nobody put them wise to it; nobody begged
out. And they built the den there, and they know
they've got to be destroyed by the river. That's why
they made that song:
Who will stop building the den?
Who will stop building the den?
But they do it.
They build the den just the same.
That's why all my uncles went, and just left me
behind alone.
That's why the Galyrx-Kagwantan claim that song,
because the little Beaver composed it. And they use
this song when they give a potlatch, when they're
going to give the money away or else invite the people
to the big potlatch. . . .
And finally they built a tribal house in that place
they call 'AnAkwe in their language, and they named it
Beaver House.
But afterwards the people put them wise to it?
that they should make something to remember the
Beaver by, instead of building the house. The house
will soon be destroyed. [Is this a reference to the flood
on Bering River that destroyed Beaver House and
Wolf House, cf. p. 104, or does it refer to the beaver's
lodge?]
The next words to the song the little Beaver composed
are like this:
Because there was nobody [to warn them ?],
they're just as much to blame as the people that
destroyed that den.
And so, he gives up hope.
He sees the rest, his uncles and his whole family?
all went.
There's nobody to blame but themselves, because
they put the den there where the river goes out
pretty swift.
They are just as much to blame as the river and
the people [who?] are in 'AnAkwe\
That's the reason they claim this song, as their tribal
song. . . . So this song belongs to Segedi; they belong
to Segedi tribe.
[There was no further information about any people
who might have destroyed the beaver dam. The
Galyi?-Kagwantan Beaver song is known to have the
same tune as that sung by the Decitan, although the
words are different. Frank Italio also said something
about the Decitan Beaver story. The Decitan broke
the dam with their spears and a woman of their sib
heard the Beaver sing. It was a male, and when grown
it took revenge by killing the Decitan chief and his
relatives. (MJ, September 14, 1952).]
This story prompted the comment by Helen Bremner
(recorded): "That little Beaver is a very active little
animal."
[A Kwack'qwan informant also told the story,
although explaining, "It's not our nation. I can't
talk about it." (May 5, 1954.) This version is somewhat
edited.]
When that village was washed away, just one Beaver,
the mother Beaver was saved. It went up into the
bushes and sat down, and the water was coming down
and washed it [the beaver lodge] away. . . .
That man went hunting. And he heard that song.
That's why that man took it down to the canoe, that
Beaver. He saved it; he don't want to kill it because
he learned that song from that animal. And he kept it
in his house, just like people. He took care of it.
That man is Kagwantan. That's why Kagwantan
keep that song.
. . . And that Beaver, they never killed it. That
man saw it. There was just one kind of nation there.
That man said: "That Beaver is going to be my nation,
going to be my sister." He's alone, just like it. He
went away from his relations for good. And that
Beaver saved itself, when [the rest] washed away.
And that's why the Kagwantan had that Segedi
hit there; and that Beaver stay in it sometimes.
[Another Kwacls:qwan informant, Annie Johnson,
was talking about the Galyix-Kagwantan Beaver, and
sang a snatch of the song, but refused to record it,
because it didn't belong to her sib. "Too bad?I
scared" (August 13,1952). Minnie Johnson then sum-
marized the story:]
How they come to claim the Beaver?It was way
up the Chilkat River [Bering River, Controller Bay].
They go over a glacier to get there. And then somebody
matures, a young girl. And they ain't supposed to
walk on the glacier. A Beaver got a dam there, and he
has a big family and a dam. The glacier melt and wash
the whole thing away. And just one Beaver was left
and he composed this song. That's why he owns the song
and why it belongs to Galyix-Kagwantan. The way
ahead of the Chilkat [headwaters of the Bering River]
belongs to the Kagwantan.
[It should be noted that this version, which blames
the flood that destroyed the beaver colony on the
breach of a menstrual taboo, was told a month before
Frank Italio recorded the story, as translated above
by the same informant.]
[Another Kwackqwan woman, March 8, 1954, who
had heard the recording, commented:]
Frank Italio said 'It was told me by two people, this
story.' He didn't mention who told him. . . . 'Some-
body told me' . . . I think that's why he's telling it
different from the way other people tell it. It's by the
flood it's all washed away. And that little Beaver left
alone. The little Beaver was sitting alone on top of
256 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
the cottonwood, just moving?you know how flood is.
People used to live in big rivers. That's how those
Beavers were living, in the river. . . . I t 's my father's
tribe and I hear them tell it. . . . I t was the flood, but
. . . Frank tells that somebody broke the Beaver's dam.
THE GALYiy-KAGWANTAN AND THE FIRST SHIP
[The following story was also told by Helen Bremner
(June 20, 1952).]
Along east of Yakataga, two [Galyrx-Kagwantan]
boys were beachcombing, running around the beach.
They saw a schooner. They saw a White lady sitting
inside. She was holding a gun. She pointed it at them.
They didn't understand what it was. She thought the
two Indians had done something to the two men from
the ship. [Apparently this was explained by signs.]
They saw the tracks of the two men and followed
them back to the glacier, to where the men had fallen
in the black pit under the ice. They came back and took
her by the hand and led her to the place, so she could
see what had happened.
Then they took a lot of things from the ship, but they
didn't understand them. They thought rice was worms
and threw it overboard, although she explained it was
good to eat. The black powder they thought was dried
blueberries and tried to eat it, but she explained with
gestures that it would explode, and made them throw
it away. She gave them guns and tried to show them
how to shoot. But they took them and burned the
wooden part off and broke them up for iron. They made
the steel into spears. An iron spearpoint used to cost a
slave. So they became wealthy.
One of the boys was Qatsxa (Katsxa). He was the
bravest and the fastest runner. The White woman
married him and finally died of old age.
Qatsxa used to run across the ice from Point Manby
to Yakutat. He was the fastest one.
There was a big tree at Point Manby, hollow. He
would get inside and hear the storm coming long before.
Then he wouldn't try to cross on the ice. If he didn't
hear anything, he can run across. (Other people could
also use the tree as a storm warning.)
[Mention is made of the same hollow tree in Swan ton's
story of the Kwaciqwan, 1909, Tale 105, p. 360. How-
ever, it is placed beside the glacier at the head of
Humpback Creek, and gives a warning not to cross the
glacier. Since the glacier is reached by canoe and is the
home of the seals, it would appear to be ice across
Disenchantment Bay, if not across Yakutat Bay.]
[A Kwacltqwan woman, Sarah Williams, also men-
tioned the finding of the wrecked ship. A man of her
sib, born 1897, had been telling the story (May 10,1954).]
He's talking about it. He's the first?Qatsxa married
with the Kussian girl. They find her in the boat on the
beach, in the ship. They got four White men?Rus-
sians?and they die under that glacier, and put that
White lady in the boat. That White lady never under-
stand them [the Indians who found her], and they never
understand that White lady. The people were looking
for the four men.
He's the one married with that White woman. He's
Kagwantan.
The Copper Eiver people told them [i.e., there were
apparently Kwackqwan with the Galyix-Kagwantan],
"We better help that woman." And they go in the ship
and they ask her what happened. And they say it's on
the beach, that ship. And they were looking for some-
thing, those men, and they lost it [or, the four Russians
were lost]. They never come back. They fell under the
glacier. And that man saw it, that Qatsxa saw it.
"I'm going to be married with that woman" [he said].
She is the one.
They came, came from the Copper River close to
Mount Saint Elias, that's where they found it. And they
came with us [Kwackqwan], they married with that
Kagwantan. That Kagwantan took care of that woman.
That's the way he [PF] say it. He just talking about
it, and I hear him sing two songs.
Wars with the Aleuts
While there are traditions of wars with the "Aleuts,"
as we have seen, it is almost impossible to determine
when the particular incidents occurred. Probably there
was long-standing hostility, antedating the arrival of
Russian-led sea-otter hunters which inflamed hatred of
the Goftex. Some of the events, such as the raids on
Chugach territory, probably included that of 1792 in
which Baranov himself was accidentally involved (see
pp. 158-159), perhaps the "Massacre at St. Elias Rock"
in 1799 (see p. 169), and almost certainly the raid
made in the fall of 1805, just after the destruction of the
Yakutat post, which led to the massacre of the Yakutat
on Hawkins Island (see p. 175). Because of the
uncertainty of dating, it seems most convenient to
present these short historical comments here.
COMMENTS RECORDED BY HAKBINGTON
[Apropos of the Aleuts]: These buggers are too mean.
They had to chase them out from Katalla and way from
Cordova to the island. They are the same size as I,
small fellows, and they sneak up on you and kill you
when you are asleep. They are sure going to get you
when you are sound asleep. [George Johnson; 1939 or
1940.]
[Apropos of place names in the Yakutat area]: The
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 257
Aleuts used to come in here and had Aleut names on
all the islands here but they used to catch people for
slaves, and so the native people chased off the Aleuts
from Yakutat. [Maggie Harry; 1939 or 1940.]
ALEUTS AS THE FIRST RESIDENTS
[One Tl'uknaxAdi informant shared the belief, already
recorded (pp. 213,237), that the "Aleuts" were the first
residents of Yakutat. The Kwackqwan seem to have
met Aleuts at or near Icy Bay, and from them obtained
a skin boat with which they tried to cross Yakutat
Bay. (Compare with Sitka Jake's version, Swanton,
1909, pp. 350 f.) One gathers, however, that in the end
the immigrants walked across the ice.]
. . . Aleuts used to live on Knight Island,
They didn't have a village there, no permanent camp.
They just moved around. When the Copper River
Indians walked here over the ice there was Aleut
mixed in with them. They made skin canoes. . . . The
KwacH:qwan speared the Aleuts like fish and got rid of
them. [Minnie Johnson; June 9, 1952.]
This place, when the natives came over from Copper
River, from Mount Saint Elias, when they walk
over . . . and they were stuck there [on the shore].
They don't have no shack or nothing to stay in. And
get so lonesome they don't even know what to do.
The glaciers sticking out so far. They can't even walk
over.
So the Aleuts loaned them the skin canoe. And they
start to build one, but they got no materials to make
it with. The Aleuts struckf?] this place, and the Aleuts
got that canoe to come here with. They went as far as
Manby, and they struck, and knocked a hole in that
canoe. That's as far as they went. They had to go
back to Icy Bay.
I used to hear my grandmother tell. When they got
that steam bath house they used to tell one another.
[When they went back to Icy Bay] they got a canoe
built then, they made another boat. They were
Ginexqwan that time. . . .
They said the Aleuts struck this place first. And they
went and settled around. I think that's who Xatgawet
bought that CUnAWAS from. He bought it from the
Aleuts. . . .
They try to drive them [Aleuts] out of here. That's
what I overheard in the steam bath room there. The
Aleuts tried to fight and they don't win it. They
scattered in the water, and they speared them with
the spear, like fish. [Minnie Johnson did not know
whether this last was before or after the Russians,
May 31, 1954.]
In describing the stone dam on T'awal Creek,
Schwatka (October 26, 1886, p. 2) reports that his
guide, Yeet-shwoo-doo-kook
"told me that it was when the Aleuts held this
country as their own, long before the white men
came among them. . . . I questioned him about
the legends in his tribe regarding the first arrival of
these people, and felt perfectly satisfied that the
history of the whites in this country was fairly
known by him. They knew of the visit of the ships
that lost the men in small boats in Lituya Bay near
their own country, the fishing of the Russians and
Aleuts for sea otter across the great bay where they
lived, near Point Manby, and a dozen other incidents
which show that their idea of the first arrival of the
white man was approximately correct and that it is
not unfair to suppose that the Aleuts once occupied
the land now occupied by the Yakutat Thlinkets."
[The stone dam which the Aleuts were said to have
made is described on p. 75.]
ALEUT RAIDS ON YAKUTAT
[Harry K. Bremner was explaining the place names
in the Yakutat area. July 11, 1952.]
A long time ago I think they used three or four
languages in Yakutat. Some places, these islands, I
think it's mostly Aleut [names]. And it's mostly
Eyak. . . . I really don't know why there are Aleut
place names here. . . . The Aleuts used to come here,
but they are a bad people. They want to kill. . . . The
Aleuts came here sea-otter hunting way before the
Russians. The Aleuts had a war with all the tribes.
Anything they could see [they would kill, or steal?].
They don't know the tribes. They talk a different
language. . . .
The Aleuts just killed?no limit. They didn't declare
war, they just come down to fight when they don't
expect it. They used to catch the Yakutat people when
they come to Cordova to trade.
[Another Kwac?qwan man, Sampson Harry, explained
the stone fortifications on the small island east of
Knight Island. (August 23, 1952.)]
It is called Nuliw, 'Little Fort.' The Teqwedi made
it. All the Teqwedi were together when the war is going
on. The Aleuts came after them with their canoes, but
they daren't take a chance, because they don't see any
way to get in. The Teqwedi know they're going to
come after them. Xatgawet is chief at that time. [It
is not clear what Teqwedi group or groups may have
been involved.]
[The same informant told of the escape of a Yakutat
Indian from the Aleuts. ^February 25, 1954.)]
The Aleuts came down and made war, too. [He
had been telling about trouble with the mysterious
makers of the sealing canoes at Icy Bay (see p. 241).]
They found the Aleuts' boats when they came to
258 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Dolgoi Island. Gut'ex 'ayi [Aleuts' Lake] was where
they found the canoe, when the Aleuts came. They
had sneaked in there. They took all the dugu yAkw
[skin boats] in that lake out there.
One [Yakutat] man goes hunting seals out there and
he takes his tcAyac [forked-prow hunting canoe] with
him. [He evidently landed and went ashore.] Close to
the lake, as soon as he stands up there, he sees that
dugu yAkw in the lake out there. And those GufeA see
him at the same time.
And he turn around and ducks down, makes believe
he's [a] seal. He sneaked to his boat. He look out and
he move his boat, and he duck down again like he's a
seal. That's why Gut'e :^ thinks he was seal. He thinks
he's going to come to shore again. [The Indian] make
believe he don't see. That's how he got away?smart
man!
When he grab his boat, jump on it, he paddle all the
way out fast, and he duck down again. Gut!e? watch
him. Sometimes he take his spear, then he put it down
again.
That's how he sneak away. When he come around
the point, he come to where the natives stay over
there, at 'As kutu 'an [Village in the Forest], on the
inside of Dolgoi Island. . . .
Then he let them all know. So they get away from
them Aleuts. . . .
YAKUTAT EAIDS ON THE CHUGACH
[The last informant also told about carrying the
war to Prince William Sound. (February 25, 1954.)]
. . . Long time ago they start war with Teqwedi.
The Russians were over there with them already.
These Aleuts, one Russian was helping them. That's
why lots of those Teqwedi get killed that time.
The Kwackqwan fight with the Aleuts, too. At
Degelxa [Mummy Island, opposite the village of
Tauxtvik, Hawkins Island], that's the place they killed
the Kwac&qwan people.
[The Kwackqwan were going up there to fight.] They
were going after some things to the westward [i.e., on
a raid]. They just go in for a dance?10 of them, I
think. They [the Aleuts] get nine of them. One get
away, so the people know. The Aleuts pretend to
dance. Somehow, he got away to Yakutat, so they
know it. So they went back to Eyak River, start the
war.
In 1928 I went to Cordova and one boy talked to
me about it. He looked kind of like a halfbreed, but he
never forget the troubled days. I talked to him. I know
the story, too.
No Russians helped the Aleuts that time. I don't
know which war with the Aleuts was first, Teqwedi or
Kwac?qwan.
[Helen Bremner had remarked, June 26, 1952:]
The Kwackqwan got killed in a war on Mummy
Island in Prince William Sound. I wonder if the mum-
mies are still there.
[The mummies had been removed from the burial
caves prior to my first visit to the island in 1930. This
find made a great impression also upon the Atna at
Copper Center, for they also mentioned this as a scene
of a battle.]
The First Ship at Lituya Bay
The very brief account of the first ship that came to
Lituya Bay, told by Frank Italio in 1949, may be com-
pared with the much fuller story recorded by Emmons.
The ship, or rather ships, were certainly those of
LaPerouse, even though the Yakutat people believe
that the ship was Russian. Furthermore, they say
the Russians came because they were attracted by
the things which had fallen into the water when canoes
from Gu&ex were wrecked. Since this disaster is usually
cited as the reason for the abandonment of the town on
the Akwe, an event which did not take place until
perhaps the mid-19th century, at any event some time
after the Russians had been expelled, we are led into
chronological difficulties which cannot be resolved.
THE FIRST SHIP AT LITUYA BAY
[Told by Frank Italio, Helen Bremner interpreting,
1949.]
The CAnkuqedi were over at Lituya Bay. The reason
the Russians came was because baggage fell overboard
and the swift current carried it out. The Russians found
it in the ocean, so they knew they were near shore.
When they came to Lituya Bay, the Tl'uknaxAdi and
the CAnkuqedi looked at the Russians through kelp?
no, skunk cabbage leaves?-like a spyglass, because
they thought the Russians were land otters. Skunk
cabbage would protect them. The Indians thought the
Russians were land otters disguised as people.
The Russians just came to the mouth of Lituya Bay
in a big schooner?they don't come inside. They
anchored out there. No one came ashore; no one went
out to them. They were scared of one another.
[When questioned through the interpreter, Frank
Italio professed not to have heard about the wreck of
LaPe'rouse's two boats, nor of the prior wreck of skin
boats in Lituya Bay as described by the French ex-
plorer, nor of the type of cemetery with the skull
separated from the cremated corpse, reported by
LaPerouse. The boats wrecked at Lituya Bay were
wooden canoes, he said, coming from Gusex.]
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 259
[The following notes were recorded by Harrington
in the spring of 1940, when on a trip to Disenchantment
Bay with Jack Ellis.]
J. E. says that Latuya Bay is a bad place.
Just at one time 10 canoes full of Indians were
drowned at Latuya Bay. They had large halibut-skin
bags full of valuable furs, fox, etc., etc.?but they did
not go much for mink and sea otter. The Indians
believed that these two kinds (mink and sea
otter [Harrington should have written land otter]), if
a man got lost and suddently became weak, that the
mink or otter (people) came to him and the man felt
his hands and legs growing short?he was turning into
a sea otter. And he turned into one. So the Tlingit
never killed minks or sea otters much. These bags were
made of halibut skins sewed together and were water-
tight. They floated. They were filled with valuable
pelts.
So when the Latuya Bay Indians saw a white-colored
schooner of otter hunters coming on the high tide
into Latuya Bay the following year, they thought it
was "Crow" [Raven] coming back?they were always
looking for the re-epiphany of Crow. And then they
thought the white people must have picked up a halibut-
skin bag of pelts floating way out somewhere and
knew from that that they must have pelts at Latuya
Bay and so the whites headed straight for Latuya Bay.
The Crow [Raven] had told them that his again-
coming anyone that looked at him directly would
turn to stone, and that all should look at him through
a funnel made of a rolled up skunkcabbage leaf. When
the schooner came in, all the Latuya Bay people took
to the woods, from which they looked at the comers
through skunkcabbage leaves. Only one man looked
at the comers without skunkcabbage leaf, and he
later went over and talked with the white comers.
"NATIVE ACCOUNT OF THE MEETING BETWEEN
LAPEROUSE AND THE TLINGIT11
[The following account, obtained by Emmons from
"Cowee," the main chief of the Awk people at "Sinta-
ka" hini on Gastineaux Channel, was published inl911.
The outline is given here and the names are transcribed
according to the orthography used in this monograph.]
Before the White man came, the people of Chilkat
and Hoonah used to go to Yakutat to get copper from
the Tlaxayik people. One spring a large party of
Tl'uknaxAdi went from the big village at KAxnuwu
[Grouse Fort] in Icy Straits, under three chiefs:
Cadasiktc, ikettitc, and YEnucAtik. Four canoes
were lost at the entrance to Lituya Bay, and the first
chief was drowned. [Is this the episode which was
supposed to have led to the abandonment of Gusex?]
While the survivors were still mourning, two ships
entered the bay. The Indians thought they were two
great birds with white wings, perhaps Raven himself,
and fled to the woods. After a time they came back to
the shore and looked through tubes of rolled up skunk
cabbage leaves, like telescopes, for if they looked
directly at Raven they might turn to stone. When the
sails were made fast, they thought the birds folded their
wings and they imagined they saw a flock of crows fly
up from the ships, so they ran back into the woods
again.
One family of warriors dressed in armor and helmets,
and took their copper knives, bows and arrows, and
launched a canoe. They were so frightened when
thunder and smoke came from the ship that their canoe
overturned and they scrambled ashore.
Then a nearly blind old man said his life was behind
him, and that he would see if Raven really turned men
to stone. He dressed in sea-otter furs, and induced two
of his slaves to paddle him to the ship. When he got on
board his eyesight was so poor that he mistook the
sailors for crows, and threw away the rice that was
offered him, thinking it was worms. He traded his fur
coat for a tin pan and returned to shore laden with
gifts of food. The people were surprised to see him alive,
smelled him to make sure of his identity [that he had
not been transformed into a Land Otter Man?], and
refused to eat the food he had brought. The old man
finally decided that it must be ships and people, so the
Indians visited the ships and traded their furs. Then
the White men lost two boats at the mouth of the inlet
and many were drowned.
The Defeat of the Russians
Although additional details were obtained about the
expulsion of the Russians from Yakutat, the most
complete account remains that told by Harry K.
Bremner (pp. 233-234). He also provided additional
information about the provocations which led to the
attack on the Russian fort,
RUSSIAN PROVOCATIONS
I believe the Indian story about the war with the
Russians.
The Russians said they wanted to buy some land at
Yakutat. The Russian king, Lanista, said they would
pay later. They promised guns, ammunition, ax to chop
wood?-things the Indians wanted. But they never paid.
They just got the land.
The Yakutat chief let the Russians keep the land
because he thought they would pay. [He was pre-
sumably the KwacKqwan chief, Ya^odaqet.]
They had a watchman?or rather, sentries, like the
260 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Army?at the rapids in Ankau where Bill Hall lives
[on Tawah or T'awal Creek, between Aka and Rocky
Lakes (Harrington MS.)]. They searched every canoe
that went through. They took the children?little ones
like this [the narrator gestured to two little boys, 8 and
12, who had come in and were listening]. They took the
women. They took the women inside the fort, made
them slime fish for them in their place. Then they let
them go back to their husbands (after 9 months?). The
men didn't like that.
They told the people they were sending the children
away to school. A native woman was married to the
captain of the Russian ship. Her name was Xosal-tia
[a Kwackqwan and Tl'uknaxAdi name]. She told the
people the children didn't go to school. They were
taken away to be slaves?["To Siberia," explained
the narrator's wife].
Another thing the Russians did was to put a gate
across the creek, way up [on T'awal Creek, above the
Ankau lagoons]. The people had to portage their
canoes way through the woods. The only time the
Russians opened the gate was when the chief came by.
[The gate apparently prevented the fish from going
up to spawn in the lakes.] Tanu? said they would
all starve together because the fish couldn't go up
past the gate.
The next was when an Indian doctor died and they
were going to bury him. In those days they didn't
bury them in the ground. They put them in a box up
high on four posts. They always painted and carved
the box. A man found an old skiff up the bay?all
broken up. It was made with copper nails and he took
the nails to make that grave box. The Russians said
he stole them and were going to kill him. This man
was Tanu?. [The informant did not know how the
doctor was related to him, see p. 234.]
So he started a war on the Russians [February 14,
1954].
[Referring to the History of Yakutat, p. 235:] I
stopped when Tanui take the land back from the
Russians. I told that story already, how they took
the land away from the Russians, and I told you why.
[He summed up the grievances: Failure to pay for
the land; taking the children for slaves; stealing the
Indians' wives; threatening death for the alleged
theft of the coffin nails; and putting a gate across
T'awal Creek.]
That's all I think?all the troubles. [After counting
the five points]?-There's one more, I think. When
they were going to give that land, the Russians promised
to trade guns, ammunition, powder, and the ax they
were going to use for wood?things like that. But they
don't. They don't sell no guns, ammunition to the
Indians, knives, anything. They broke their promise.
[May 2, 1954.]
FURTHER DETAILS OF THE RUSSIAN DEFEAT
Tanui was Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. Very few KwacB:qwan
helped in the war. That was because the Kwackqwan
chief didn't tell them to fight. He didn't want to make
war on the Russians. [This was not further explained.]
There was a watchman at the point. He lived in a
cabin by himself. They forgot about him when they
killed the other Russians. He used to watch the light.
Every night he hoisted a lantern on the tree, in case a
ship came in. He got away. He ran down to the beach.
He saw a Russian ship. He made some kind of a signal
and they took him on board. He gave the word how
the Russians were all killed.
Another watchman on Over [Orphir] Creek was
married to a native girl. He escaped too. When word
came the Russians were all killed, he grabbed his little
teakettle and ran away in the woods. Nobody knows
what happened to him. . . . Nobody knows what
happened.
The Russians make a different story?that Yakutat
people were savages. But I know they weren't, because
they believe in Dog Heaven [see p. 771]- [February 14,
1954.]
THE DEFEAT OF THE RUSSIANS
[The following details were obtained from George
Johnson, a Tcicqedi informant who calls himself
Citlwikw, perhaps the Eyak pronunciation of LucwAq.
(June 9, 1952.)]
Cftlwlkw was a brave man. He built 'Eagle Fort,'
Qutcgalaq glaca'l [the Eyak name], up the Situk River.
He was a L'u^edi man. Tanu? was with him. He was
Teqwedi. He killed the Russians.
The Russians treat the native people pretty rough.
They used to fish at Ankau. The Russians closed the
gate, so the natives couldn't go in there. Every so often
they would tell the native chief to go in. They made
the natives work all day long without pay.
The Russian had a handmade brass snuffbox. The
natives had a dagger, made out of iron from driftwood.
The two strong men went in the water in winter time,
and got tough.
They kill them off. They are lucky. All the Russians
were after fish with a rowboat. Only one man was left
splitting wood. The two men came. One made a mo-
tion?"I'll split it for you." The Russian sat down and
let him have an ax. The other man went to ask for snuff.
The natives agreed to chop his head off while the
other killed the headman. He tried to stab him in the
heart. The native stabbed the brass snuffbox by mistake.
The native made a noise with his feet. That was the
signal. The other men ran up and they killed him. So
they killed the two.
They got the fire on the camp. They used spruce
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 261
pitch. They got that lady. They took guns, clothes,
powder, lead?took them away. Then they set the Rus-
sian camp on fire.
Two boats came back from fishing. They killed them
all with the guns. Only two men ran away in the woods.
In the fall, the Russians were going to come back. But
they found the camp burned; they all went away.
[In the spring of 1940, the informant took Harrington
up T'awal Creek, and gave him further information,
although he evidently did not know exactly where the
gate had been.]
The Russian's fort, 'Annuucii nuuwuu, was built of
spruce poles, sharpened at the top and high?so a
person could not climb over . . . . [In their garden, on
the point near William Milton's smokehouse, the in-
formant and his wife had dug up] many objects of iron,
and also several spruce poles, 4 inches in diameter, and
sharpened at one end.
The gate was called kAnnaaxxAn kAxxaadii, 'the fence's
door.' You could walk around, but couldn't go around
with a boat. That's the only place you can't go through
there. The Russians wanted all the fish for theirselves . . .
The Russians were here. They failed to conquer the
natives here . . . . The Russian return to Sitka was the
permanent end of the Tlingit nation.
MEMENTOES OF THE RUSSIANS
After the defeat of the Russians, a limestone rock was
carved to represent the Bear, presumbably the crest
associated with Tanu? and his sib. This was somewhere
on T'awal Creek, although the exact location was not
known to Harrington's informants. It was found in
1948 and taken to Yakutat, where we saw and photo-
graphed it (de Laguna et al., 1964, pi. 3, b). We were
not able to discover exactly where it had been originally.
It has since disappeared.
According to Harrington, Peter Lawrence at one
time said that "the face on the bear stone at Ankau is
natural, they make'm eyes better. Yesterday he said
that after the Russians had been murdered [in] Ankau,
and the Ankau Mouth again was in possession of the
Yakutat Indians, they made or fixed up a bear there, a
stone totem of the Brown Bear phratry, looking down
upon the Ankau Mouth to symbolize guarding it and
to show that Indians were now in possession of it."
When Harrington tramped up T'awal Creek to Bill
Hall's cabin, he saw a boulder, 8% feet long and 4 feet
high, that suggested a profile. At this point the "gate
stream" was only one yard wide. "GJ a week later says
this rock might be the bear, might look more like a bear
at high water." However, this was evidently not the
petroglyph.
A number of things taken from the Russians were
or still are treasured as heirlooms by the Yakutat
people. One of these was a Russian cannon, kept by
Jack Ellis, the Tl'uknaxAdi leader who died in 1952.
It was damaged by too large a charge of powder when
fired on New Year's Day, 1949. The other cannon
was taken to Gusex, and may either be there or near
the old cannery at Dry Bay. Chief George, the
KwacS:qwan chief who died about 1903, had a picture
of Stanislas, or "Shawnista," which was later stolen
from the ANB Hall at Yakutat. The same chief also
owned a small copper teakettle which had belonged
to Stanislas. The handle was originally twice as wide,
but was cut down to make sea-otter harpoon arrow-
heads. Chief George received two silver fox furs for
each piece that he cut off. This kettle is carefully pre-
served by its present owner, Harry K. Bremner. Jim
Kardeetoo was said to have had the famous snuffbox
with the dent in it made by the knife of Tanui. He
also had a Russian sword-cane (pi. 144), but sold that
to the Reverend Axelson. It was also said to have
belonged to Stanislas.
War Between the Tl'uknaAxdi and the
Tla say ik-Teq wedi
After the expulsion of the Russians, the Tlaxayik-
Teqwedi built Eagle Fort about halfway up the Situk
River, which was equipped, according to some accounts,
with the door taken from the Russian fort. They also
had a fortified sealing camp in Disenchantment Bay,
at the mouth of the second stream above Point La-
touche, at a place now known as WuganiyE. At this
time they had evidently intermarried to some extent
with the Tl'uknaxAdi from southeastern Alaska who had
established themselves at Gusex and in the Dry Bay area.
The Tl'uknaxAdi, assisted by other Raven sibs, among
which we suspect were the KwacKqwan, TlukwaxAdi,
and perhaps others such as the Koskedi, XafkA'ayi,
and DAqdentan (if indeed, these were at that time
separate groups), finally defeated the TlAxayik-Teqwedi
so decisively that the latter disappeared as a distinct
sib at Yakutat. This war would appear to be simply a
continuation of earlier fights between the Tlaxayik-
Teqwedi and the Dry Bay TmkwaxAdi.
Before this, the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi or L'u?edi had
fought with the Bear House lineage of the Teqwedi
from southeastern Alaska, and had killed many of the
latter. This is said to be still a bitter memory, because
they were not able to even the score. Did the Ravens
prevent their revenge by killing their enemies? In
any case, after the extermination of the L'u^edi the
Bear House Teqwedi held securely the lands on the
Situk and Lost Rivers.
262 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
We may begin our account with that given by Frank
Italio, for although somewhat obscure and at varience
with most of the others, it serves to suggest that the
trouble had been brewing for a long time.
TROUBLE BETWEEN THE DRY BAY PEOPLE AND THE
YAKUT AT TEQWEDI
[Told by Frank Italio, August 29, 1952, Minnie
Johnson interpreting. This has been somewhat edited
to make it clearer.]
The TlukwaxAdi were the first people established in
Dry Bay, and they get into some kind of misunderstand-
ing with the Teqwedi here [presumably the Tiaxayik-
Teqwedi is meant]. All the Teqwedi were out in sealing
camp and just one old man, Qadjak", was left at Knight
Island. He was so old that he can't see. All the Teqwedi
but him were at sealing camp, but they left that old
man there.
And the TlukwaxAdi come from Dry Bay and abuse
him, and do all kind of dirty tricks to that old man who
can't defend himself. And so they get into all kinds of
a war about it. . . .
So then they [TlukwaxAdi] build a fort. The biggest
fort Frank Italio ever see. The foundations of it are in
Dry Bay. They even had tribal houses inside the fort.
The TlukwaxAdi built a village and had that fort built
all around it. They even had it way up in the mountains.
It was called Cixa'a nuwu, "Eddy Fort." [See pp.
83, 89.]
Then everything was settled and they had peace
between the TlukwaxAdi and the Teqwedi. Then they
[the former] settled at a place called DinEtki-'an
"It Wriggles Like Jelly" [referring to the shifting sands].
Frank Italio wonders why no trees or greens grow there
at all, up to this time. . . . [For further discussion of this
site, see p. 83.]
So they settled back in that valley after everything
was settled with the Teqwedi.
The Teqwedi just died off or moved away eventually.
[The informant explained that at the time of this
trouble, there were not many CAnkuqedi among the
TlukwAXAdi, just a few married-in CAnkuqedi women
and their children.]
[Our questions prompted Frank Italio to give his
version of how the Yakutat Teqwedi were defeated by
the Tl'uknaxAdi. This was told as a continuation of
the above account.]
The Yakutat Teqwedi and the Tl'uknaxAdi got mixed
up over a slave, you know.
They [Tlaxayik-Teqwedi] got that fort built up
Situk. They got the Russian fort door for the door of
their fort. They took it out of the Russian fort to
GudAliexl [see p. 79]. They just look down on the
Tanyedaq [Prince of Wales Island] Teqwedi as out-
siders, but it's the same Teqwedi.
DSxudu'u ['Buys Two at One Time,' referring to
slaves or coppers] the head Tl'uknaxAdi, gave his son,
Daqusetc [Teqwedi], a dress for his wife, Tsagu-tla
(or Tsiida-tla) [Tl'uknaxAdi]. For just one dress, the son
was supposed to give him a slave. But he don't seem to
show up with it, so that's why De"xudu'u went up to
GudAlkexl to see what's wrong, how come he didn't
deliver that slave. And he got killed. Four other
Tl'uknaxAdi people got killed there.
That's why, when LucwAq got into trouble with
them, he say he never had an idea a man had sense
enough [so little sense] to give away a slave for one
dress.
That's why Tl'uknaxAdi claim WuganiyE.
That Dexudu'u got four sons: Daqusetc, Caka,
and Qiy'ds' is the youngest one, ancestor of Cada.
[Frank Italio had forgotten the name of the fourth son.]
Cada is Kwackqwan. My grandma [the interpreter's]
comes from them. She's a "daughter" of one of the sons.
WAR BETWEEN THE TL'UKNAXADI AND THE TEQWEDI
(FIRST VERSION)
[The following account was told by Harry K. Brem-
ner, July 11, 1952, who indicated that this was the
last war in Yakutat.]
Long after the Russians, some Tl'uknaxAdi married
into Yakutat. Soon after this, word got all over south-
eastern Alaska that the Yakutat people were very
rich with things they had taken from the Russians,
so seven tribes [unidentified] decided to come up and
take it away from them. Before they left, their wives
told them: "Bring a brave, 5 or 6 years old, and
Yakutat baskets, because they make very nice ones."
[The allies of the Tl'uknaxAdi were never identified,
although they were all Raven sibs. The following
comment was made later.]
But long time ago, ever since they had
was the last war, Indian to Indian. They had no war
unless southeastern Alaska Indians come around and
had a war with Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. But Tlaxayik-
Teqwedi was a part of Gatyix-Kagwantan, not of
southeastern Alaska. This was after the Russians.
Galyix-Kagwantan had a war with the Russians.
The man who was the brave one was Tanui. Tanu?
was the general; LucwAq was his assistant, his second.
Before we know about generals and lieutenants, they
worked that way. When the Russians took away
Tanu?, LucwAq was still left there. And LucwAq
have the war with southeast Alaska Indians. Southeast
Alaska come over to have a war with the Yakutat
for no reason, just for the property they took from the
Russians. LucwAq was pretty smart. He move his
village halfway to Situk Lake, halfway from the mouth
of the Situk River. He have a fort around his village.
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 263
He won the wax [there], but I shan't venture to say it.
We got it here in the village yet. Seven different tribes,
all Raven?-we're among them. [This would imply
that the Kwacl:qwan had been involved.] [September 2,
1952.]
The Teqwedi were living at Teak nu [Eagle Fort]
near Situk Lake.
The Tl'uknaxAdi went down near Ketchikan to
consult a famous doctor who told them they would
win. Their own doctor, who was not so highly regarded
said they would lose, but he didn't mention it straight
out.
"If you see the kAt [barbed harpoon head] leave you,
you will lose the war. If you see it come to you, you will
win the war."
The Teqwedi doctor said: "If I am killed first by our
own people by mistake, you will win the war. But if
I'm not, you will lose."
The TJ'uknaxAdi chief was Q'exix. The chief of the
Teqwedi was LucwAq, T anus's partner. His nephew was
There were four houses in the fort. The people dug
tunnels under the floors connecting the houses in
preparation for the war. [The houses were in a line,
with an entrance into the tunnel from the floor of each
house.]
The Teqwedi men were all out chopping wood, early
in the morning. They knew the enemy were coming
but they didn't know the war was on yet. They made a
lot of bear traps [deadfalls] to get the enemy. I don't
know how they were made, but you stepped on the moss
and the log fell. But it snowed [and the traps were
useless].
There was a Tl'uknaxAdi man behind each tree, way
back. The Teqwedi didn't know it was war already.
The old doctor went around to each man, gathering up
chips into the fold of his blanket. When he got close to
each man, he said in a low voice, "War!" and told him
to run back to the fort, carrying a log on his shoidder,
when he himself went back. Then he called out in a
loud voice: "You're going to chop wood all day. You
will cut one, and that one, and that big one there."
They used an adz to chop the trees, small trees
[about 18 inches in diameter], because they couldn't
cut bigger ones. They chopped them all around with
ragged cuts. So when he [the doctor] got back to the
fort, all the men suddenly ran, carrying logs on their
shoulders, so that the butts stuck out like barbs on the
fish spear head.
The little Tl'uknaxAdi doctor said: "You see that
kAt [barbed harpoonhead] leaving you, let's go back
now. We will lose." But the brave ones said: "There
are so few of them, we can win."
They came to the fort. LucwAq told his people:
"We're not going to fight."
Q'exix called out: "My brothers-in-law, we are going
to feed you big blueberries today."
They fired shots at them. The people were all in the
tunnels. The Tl'uknaxAdi thought they had killed them
aU.
Before the shooting started, nobody knows why, the
old doctor went out of the house and after a while he
came back, and by mistake his own people shot him.
They took him into the house, and just before he died,
he said: "You shot me. That means you're going to
win."
LucwAq was sleeping in the house. He gave orders
not to be waked. His nephew, SAd^n, was in the bath-
house. It had a bark roof. One of the Ti'uknaxAdi got
on the roof. There was a little hole, and SAdi:n looked
up and saw him through the hole and shot and killed
him.
The wife of LucwAq came and woke him. "Wake up!
Your nephew has already killed a man."
So LucwAq loaded up his gun with seven bullets.
In a war, they name their guns according to their tribe,
like Xuts [Bear] Gun, or Kit [Killerwhale] Gun. With
one bullet, I think, he killed seven men. The Tl'ukna-
xAdi were all on the roofs of the houses, and he killed
them all except a few.
Then LucwAq said: "No more killing. Let them go
home."
The enemy stayed for 2 days. They wanted the bodies
of the men who were killed in order to cut off their
heads to take home. But iucwAq said: "These bodies
belong to the eagles. You came here and made trouble."
They didn't burn or bury the bodies; they dumped
them through a hole in the ice.
So many more Tl'uknaxAdi had come up than there
were Teqwedi at the fort, but very few went back.
They got even later [next year?].
The Tl'uknaxAdi came in big war canoes. The
Teqwedi were at the sealing camp in the third valley
below Egg Island, called CanAx kusA, 'Narrow Valley.'
It's a little place, with rock all around, like a box, and
they build a stone fort there, with little holes to shoot
through. They always kept their guns there, and they
were always practicing. When a man shoots, a woman
is behind him. He puts down the empty gun, and picks
up another while she reloads the first [explained partly
with gestures]. It's just like a repeating rifle. The chief
doesn't allow anyone to shoot guns at seals?only use
harpoons?so they won't frighten them away.
One man was always telling lies. He never told the
truth. He was out in a sealing canoe and drifted down
near Point Latouche. He saw a man in a tree. He had
a white cloth wrapped around his head and he was
wrapped in a black blanket. That tree is there yet.
It was a dead tree with branches when I first saw it,
264 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
but now only a small stump is left. That man sat in
the tree all day. The other man -watched him. Then
he paddled quietly back to the fortified camp.
He told the chief, LucwAq: "It's war."
There was an older man who told the truth. He
said: "No. It was an eagle in that tree. I saw it fly
away." He explained: "I didn't really see it fly away.
I saw an eagle in the tree, and then I saw the eagle
circling in the sky, and there was no eagle in the tree."
So the people believed him.
But LucwAq believed the other man, even though
he didn't usually tell the truth. LucwAq was a brave
man, and brave men are wise. He said: "SAdin will
keep watch tonight. The rest of you can sleep."
But his sister, SAdisn's mother, came to him and
said: "You always make SAdlsn do everything."
So the chief got mad and said: "SAdisn can sleep too.
We'll all sleep tonight." They did! . . .
The Tl'uknaxAdi came in the night and killed all
but -LucwAq. He got away and was climbing a steep
mountain, a place they thought nobody could get up.
He had bullets in a little packsack, but he dropped
it when he almost reached the top of the cliff. They
shot him in the leg and he began to fall. He just let
himself roll down, and get killed. They shot him till
they killed him. He didn't want to live any more,
because all his people were dead.
WAR BETWEEN THE T L ' T J K N A X A D I AND THE TLAXAYIK-
TEQWEDI
[This version was dictated on May 2, 1954, because
Harry Bremner wished to finish telling the History of
Yakutat, and knew that this should be included. He
had previously been reluctant to tell it, because he did
not wish to arouse any bad feelings, but realized that
now there was no one else who could give the full
account.]
That's where I ended, after that Tanu?. That's
where I ended, 1805, when they chased the Russians
out. I told you that already, about Tanu?, after they
had a trouble with the Russians. . . .
Tanu? is Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. It's a tribe's name. But
they are a part of Qalyix-Kagwantan, and not south-
east Alaska Teqwedi. Not a big tribe. . . . Tanu?,
his brother or his cousin, anyway, his name is LucwAq.
He's just like Tanui?another brave. And LucwAq's
sister is named T'ongwa. That must be a Russian name
[Tanya?], don't sound like Indian. And her son is named
SAde"n. That's tucwAq's nephew.
And after they had trouble with the Russians, they
move up at Situk River, halfway. Just more than half-
way to the lake. They place where they move up is
GudAlkexl. That's a river. They still call it NutA
'iti?they make a fort there. It's gone now, nothing
left. It's named for the way it used to be. Just grass
now.
They built that fort after the Russian trouble be-
cause they expect the Russians are going to come back.
That's why they move so far from the water. But the
other people, Teqwedi, the ones from southeastern
Alaska, they stay in their own village, down there,
Diyaguna'Et, and so the Situk Teqwedi have just
small camps. And so the Kwackqwan, they stay in their
own village, because they're not in a war with the
Russians. . . . I mean they don't fight with the
Russians. I think it's no good to call it a war.
The nu [fort], they built it there. They call it Eagle
nu, Teak nu.
FIGURE 6.?Eagle Fort, sketched by Harry K. Bremner.
There were posts all around the village. The story
said there's only three houses inside the wall. And they
make a tunnel under the houses. It come up into this
house, and this one. Well prepared for the war. . . .
I don't know why they had a war. They [Tl'uknaxAdi]
wanted some property they had gotten from the Rus-
sians. That's why. They wanted to get it from that
small tribe. I don't know for sure, but that's the way
they're telling it. . . . They died off long ago that
people?just a small group. They came from QaliyAX.
They settled down here long time ago. That's the ones
they're calling Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. . . .
They came over here in wintertime. It was winter-
time the Tl'uknaxAdi came. . . . All the way from
southeast Alaska. And they were living there [Dry
Bay], some of the Tl'uknaxAdi, some at the old village
in Akwe. I'm not sure where they came from.
Tl'uknaxAdi had an Indian doctor. And he's not
very strong. That's what his own Tl'uknaxAdi people
believe, that he's not a strong doctor. And that Tl'uk-
naxAdi Indian doctor told his people, "You're going
to lose the war. You're going to be defeated."
And the Tl'uknaxAdi went down to the Dekina.
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 265
It's almost the same as the Haida. "Way outside
people," it's Klawak people. They got two doctors
from there. I don't know how they got them.
And those two doctors said: "You're going to win the
war."
But still the Tl'uknaxAdi doctor said: "You're
going to lose." And his own people don't believe him.
They believe those two doctors from Dekina.
They were coming in wintertime. On the way, that
Tl'uknaxAdi doctor with them, this Tl'uknaxAdi tell
his people: "If the spearhead get away from you,
you're defeated; but if you catch the spearhead you
win the war."
It's like this: [The narrator made the following
sketch, fig. 7]
FIGURE 7.?Spearhead and log, sketched by Harry K. Bremner.
And that's the way they used to cut the wood?
not too big?cut one block. They didn't cut clear
through, just leave them like that, so long that two
men can carry it.
That's the way the Indian doctor see it. It looks like
a spearhead to him. That Indian doctor, he can't
explain without interpreter, and that's why he said:
"If spearhead gets away from you, you've lost the war;
but if you catch it, you win the war."
"KAt nasq qi. . . ." 'Spearhead moving-away. . . .'
The Tl'uknaxAdi were right behind that village
already, waiting in the woods where the people were
cutting wood. It was wintertime. That's the time
Tl'uknaxAdi were going to get them.
But the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi Indian doctor tells his
own people, "If you people kill me before anything
happens, you win the war. If you don't kill me, you're
defeated, you lost the war." That's what that Tlaxayik-
Teqwedi doctor said.
So they already know that Tl'uknaxAdi war is going
to come. So this door, the door of that fort, they open
it way little bit, like this [fig. 6]. Just enough to go in
sideways. It was on hinges. They open it just about
that much. That's the way they did it when they heard
the war was going to come. They don't close the door.
I don't know why. It's a cold winter. So every morning
they pour water in the doorway. Real cold?early in the
morning?midnight, when it's real cold. And they keep
205-517?72?TOL VII, pt. 1 19
doing it until the ice is so high. They're raising it up all
the time. I don't know how high.
The ice made a steep slope into the house.
The headman, he's an old man. So every morning
they went out to the woods. It's Tlingit law. Every
morning?can't miss a day. To get wood. They use
Russian axes to cut wood with it. And early morning,
the people went out to the woods.
And this old man, the head of the tribe, LucwAq, he
went up there where they're cutting wood. Everybody
is cutting wood with the ax. Soon as he get up to where
they go in the woods he saw a man?just the head?
just come out from behind a tree way back in the woods.
That's all he see.
Soon as he see it, he speak out loud to the people.
He said real loud: "You people going to cut wood all
day today. Bad weather coming." And he said: "Some
more people are going to come out to help you, from
the village."
He had a blanket around him, And he came right
close to where they're cutting wood. He just pick up
his blanket like this: [gesture of picking up chips and
putting them into the fold of the blanket]. And he
pick up the wood, and whispered to each person:
"War!" in a low voice. "As soon as I walk back, you
jump off the log and run back to the fort."
But in a loud voice he points and says: "You're
going to cut that tree down." He pointed to the one
where he saw that man. "You're going to cut that one,
and that one, and that one. Bring all the wood today,"
he said.
And as soon as that old man walk away, about
halfway to the fort, those people cutting wood jump
off that log and they run. Those logs they were cutting
like this [fig. 7], they're carrying on their shoulders,
two men on each. They run with it.
And that time that Tl'uknaxAdi Indian doctor he
point to that wood, like a spearhead. He said: "You
see that wood. That's a spearhead. It got away from
you, like I told you. It got away from you, you've
been defeated. Turn back," he said. "Turn back!"
But Tl'uknaxAdi still don't believe it.
And everybody run back into their fort. And every-
body gets ready to protect themselves; everybody has
a gun.
But LucwAq said not to start a war yet, not to shoot,
not do anything. Just about that time they saw a man
coming through their door where they pour the water,
and some of the men shoot him. Dead shot. That's
their own Indian doctor.
The last word he said: "You kill me. My own people
kill me. My wish is come true. You're going to win the
war." That's all. He's dead.
So they come. They kept coming all the time. They
266 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
use the guns, they don't use arroAvs, southeast Alaska.
They're already on top of the fort all around. They see
down into the fort. And no fire inside the fort. That's
LucwAq's orders?No fighting back. They're all under-
ground [in the tunnel].
And LucwAq is in the ground where they have a
steam bath. He sleeps. He don't like the war.
And SAden, he's the first man to kill a man with a
spear. The man was on the roof when he heard it?
bark roof, not wood, bark. It was the roof of the steam
bath house. The man make a little hole, that's how he
can see. He killed him.
And that LucwAq's wife tell her husband: "SAden
kill a man!" Then LucwAq said: "All right. That's a
war now. SAden kill a man. That's a war." He thought
that people would turn back; he didn't want war.
So they fight. They kill all those Tl'uknaxAdi inside
the fort. Some are on the roof already, some of the
Tl'uknaxAdi. The Ti'uknaxAdi think they killed all
the Teqwedi already. They made a mistake. They were
all in the ground.
The headman on the Tl'uknaxAdi side, his name is
Qexfx [or <^exix]. He's the one talked to LucwAq because
he's a brave man, he's a war leader?not a chief, but a
war leader.
Every time they're going to start shooting from the
top, the Tl'uknaxAdi called to LucwAq, "I'm going to
feed you with small blueberries." He's shooting with
small shots, I think.
And that LucwAq, just before he fired, he tell his
people to go around and fight, he said a word to (^ exfx:
"I'm going to feed you with the big blueberries now,"
he said. And he started shooting.
They shot some more. Then they ask that Tl'uknaxAdi
leader: "Where did you get those blueberries from?
What war you win it?" It's got to be taken through a
war, the things you're going to take on it [or talk
about?]. "Which war you get it from? I get mine from
a double fort, my big blueberries." You know where
they got it from the Russians. "I get mine from a double
fort. I'm going to feed you with it now."
They don't kill any more. They just killed the
Tl'uknaxAdi inside the fort. He told his people: "Do
not kill any." All his men go up on top of the fort, and
he told them not to kill any more.
That people were across the river, and Tl'uknaxAdi
on this side. And Tl'uknaxAdi talk to LucwAq. They
want to get those bodies. They're talking to each other
But LucwAq said "No." So they went.
After they went, I don't know how long afterwards,
some of the people said: "Why don't we kill them all?
They're going to come back and clean us up."
So they went and followed to catch up. They stop at
Diyaguna'Et, LucwAq's people. Tl'uknaxAdi's not
there. They already went. Keep on going on snowshoes.
And the Diyaguna'Et people said: "You come too
late, they're gone a long time ago." But the Diya-
guna'Et-Teqwedi were helping Ti'uknaxAdi.
But Tanu? was a prisoner already. And in the spring-
time and the summer afterwards they went up to sealing
camp, LucwAq's people. And one of the headmen said:
"Stay on the cross side" [i.e., west side].
But LucwAq chooses that narrow valley, that small
one, WuganiyE. That's why he chose it, it's narrow.
He likes it, he chooses it.
[Across Disenchantment Bay], it's just like a hilltop.
It's steep. That headman wants to stay on the top so
they can see a long ways, and it takes a long time to
climb up. The headman chose it.
But no, he choose that place, LucwAq. And he said
that valley, where it's narrow, he's going to put rocks
there so they can shoot from behind. And that's what
they did. They built a wall of rocks across the mouth
of the valley?-nu?to shoot from behind. [But no
rocks were put on the back side.]
And this headman was living on that cross side.
Very few people, not much went over there. LucwAq
didn't stay there. It was called Qel'-clki-'an, something
like "village on top of the rock" ['Cliff-Top Village', at or
near Bancas Point]. LucwAq stayed on this side.
That's where they stay for seal hunting. They had a
watchman all the time, lookout man. They stay there
all summer for seal hunting.
And once one man reported he saw an eagle right on
top of Point Latouche?just one tree on top there, the
eagle sitting there. But instead of the eagle flew away,
it climbed down the tree. But this man here, all his
tribe knows it, he never tell anything truth; he always
tells lies. So they won't believe him. He come in, and all
excited, tell the story. He says it's a war, but still
they don't believe him.
When the last man come from the ice, from seal
hunting, up to that camp, they tell him the story,
what that man said. He said: "I see that eagle. It flew
away from that tree across the bay." So that time they
never really believe that man. But that man tell the
real true story that time. He saw the man [in the tree].
Xadi'ik? 'liar.' But that time he was telling the truth.
So that night just before bedtime, LucwAq told his
nephew, SAden, "You're going to be on watch tonight."
You see, that's the way they do. Tie them up like
this[?]. The guns are there already. Fire it and hand it
back to the women. They train the women how to load
a gun for war. They had three, four guns ready for
each man. They get so many guns from those Russians.
That's the way the guns are, all ready for war. They're
going to shoot from . . . each person had so many
guns, all loaded.
And LucwAq tell his nephew, "You're going to watch
out tonight."
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 267
And that time, as soon as LucwAq said it, his sister,
Dongwa, SAdeVs mother, said: "Not only is SAde"n
going to die." She don't say it out loud, just whisper?
because she don't want her son hard punished like that.
"Not only SAde"n is going to die," just whisper.
But LucwAq heard right away?sharp ears. And
tucwAq said: "All right, everybody's going to sleep."
and LucwAq called him. He said: "SAdSn, you're not
going to be on watch. Go to sleep. I'm not the only
one going to die, too."
It's still that way today, everybody says it's too bad,
that woman. . . . She don't say a word [shouldn't
have spoken?]. That brave man should never listen to
that woman. She's his sister.
And that night they came. They caught him when
he was asleep. LucwAq's people never fight back. They
caught them in then" sleep.
And LucwAq, he got away. I don't know how he
got away. Tl'uknaxAdi don't find his body in there.
So they look for him. They find him on the cliffs.
It's a pretty steep cliff there; nothing can climb up.
So they find him; chase him up the mountain. He can't
go no more. He can't go no place. So Tl'uknaxAdi got
him. He lost his ammunition when he's climbing; he
drop it. He's got his gun, he's got his powder. But
they use lead for bullets. The whole sack, it drop. It
slip out of his hand. So he don't fight back.
First they shoot him in the leg, and he start to fall.
That's all the words he said: "TFuknaxAdi," he said,
"I'm going to be a yek [shaman's spirit] against you."
That's all the word he said, that's all.
And it came true. It [the spirit] came to TEK-'IC [a
Teqwedi shaman, see pp. 671, 715-719]. And that yek,
they call him LucwAq yAhayi. YAhayi?"my shadow,"
same thing as "reflection," almost the same as
"spirit." [see Afterlife, p. 766].
[TeK-'ic was the last of a long line of doctors who had
that yek.]
So that's all I can tell. All the bad ones I don't
want to tell. I just try to make it good. I didn't take
much off, when they were talking to each other?
those mean words, [i.e., the exchange of insults at
Eagle Fort].
LucwAq means "no eyes." He doesn't like it when
they call him "no eyes," so [-?-] gave him another
name, a mean one.
[Those who helped the Tl'uknaxAdi in the war seem
to have been] TukwaxAdi, ^aUkA'ayi?all Tl'uknaxAdi
anyway. The names are different.
And after that LucwAq was defeated, Tl'uknaxAdi
said: "Nobody's going to touch that body. Nobody
touch those bones. It's going to stay there forever."
So they've been there for a long time, for many years.
Nobody touched it.
They take it down later, Teqwedi did. Xuts hittan
Teqwedi took the bones.
Tl'uknaxAdi said: "If anybody touch those bones,
there's going to be a war!"
But Xuts hittan Teqwedi get real strong, they want
a war. They bring it down. They want a war. Some
reason, I don't know why. They get ready for war;
they bring it down; they bury it. I don't know where;
took it to Khantaak.
[But they didn't fight.] They sent their brother-in-
law, nakani, Tl'uknaxAdi?sent him up to bring the
bones down. And one Kwackqwan little boy?like Tom
Coxe, we used to call him [T'aw kax, 'Chicken Feathers,'
only child of the shaman, Tek-'ic; born about 1860
died after 1921]. He went along with Abraham, Olaf's
father, and that's all I know about that. [Abraham,
XAnanek, a Tl'uknaxAdi man, was much older.]
That was a long time ago. People were still living
on Khantaak. No White men here yet.
A Tl/UKNAXADI VERSION OF THE WAE
[The following account was given by Annie George,
a Tl'uknaxAdi woman. (August 7, 1952.)]
The Tl'uknaxAdi and the Teqwedi had a war in
Situk. And those Tl'uknaxAdi were pretty nearly all
killed in Situk. It was up the river; it was at a place
called GudAlkexl. This was up the Situk where they
had the war.
I don't know which Teqwedi it is they are fight-
ing. . . . They fight over a woman in the first place. . . .
In that war the Teqwedi use Russian stuff and the
Tl'uknaxAdi at Dry Bay didn't have any. The Tl'ukna-
xAdi can't get in the place where the Teqwedi are
hiding themselves, because the Teqwedi use a door?
just like that [pointing to the door of the house].
That's why the Tl'uknaxAdi got beat up. So then they
went to the sealing camp and make it even.
The Tl'uknaxAdi all get killed. They didn't kill
anybody. It's just them that got killed. Some went
back to Dry Bay. In the wintertime, when it's coming,
they get ready to have a war again with the Teqwedi.
And they send their wives to Yakutat to say that the
Tl'uknaxAdi all went to Sitka.
Those women went to WuganiyE, a sealing camp.
They just try to make those people believe them.
That's why they send their wives over there.
. . . They stay in WuganiyE, all those people
[Teqwedi]. Pretty soon the people try to put up things
for winter. They don't have anything to eat in war-
time. They don't put up seal oil or dry fish. They just
watch and think the Tl'uknaxAdi are going to come
and they're going to have a war again.
The Teqwedi went up the Situk and come out on this
side of GAnAWAs [Knight Island]. And they take their
268 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
canoes out there and went up to sealing camp. They're
going to put up seal grease for the wintertime. . . .
Pretty soon they [the Tl'uknaxAdi war party] come
up there. They go way outside on the other side [of
Yakutat Bay] and then around and down. . . .
And that headman at the sealing camp told one man
to watch out. His name was SAdEn. He told him to
watch out that night. . . .
SAdEn's mother say that?"Oh, that SAdEn. He's
not the only one going to die," she said.
That's why the headman?he is called tucwAq?he
said: "That's O.K. You can all go to bed if you want."
That's why they don't see anything.
Before [earlier] that day, they see an eagle on the
point. There's a point, the first one they call 'Anadlyac
[Point Latouche]. They saw an eagle on this point.
That eagle sees where those people stay. . . .
. . . When they see that "eagle," he's got a big hat
on, that man. They always make a basket on their
head, and they put cloth over it, white cloth. It looks
like an eagle. Then after the man went down from
there, an eagle went right up in the sky from the tree.
That 'ixt' [shaman] made the real eagle take his place
when the man came down. Pretty soon that eagle fly
away amd go right down the other side [of the bay?]
That's why the people [Teqwedi] think it's really an
eagle. They believe and they don't watch good for
the enemy.
They think nothing's going to happen. And they
[Tl'uknaxAdi] go on the other side in the canoe, way
up, and then come down the other way. Then the
Tl'uknaxAdi did the same thing to those people. They
kill all the Teqwedi, Nobody saved.
[The informant did not know what happened to the
wives of the Teqwedi, who were presumably
Tl'uknaxAdi, and perhaps at the camp at the time of the
massacre. She thinks they may have come down "this
way. Maybe they went over to Nessudat."]
[The following remarks were made by another
Tl'uknaxAdi woman, Minnie Johnson, on August 25,
1952.]
My mother and daddy showed me [the site of the
fort at WuganiyE]. The logs still show. The Tl'uknaxAdi
got behind them to see what the people are going to
do?the Tcicqedi, I hear.
That's why the Tl'uknaxAdi come and fight?
because Tcicqedi get away with one of their most
principal men among the Tl'uknaxAdi. He was
Dexudu'u, my grandmother's granddaddy. So the
Tl'uknaxAdi claim they take the place instead of [to
avenge] Dexudu'u. He's the headman. His name means
"two slaves are bought."
The Tl'uknaxAdi killed them all, and they didn't
even expect anybody. That little tree at 'Anadiyac
[Point Latouche]?That LucwAq got wounded and
climb all up there when one leg is shot off. He won't
give in till they kill him. He's the only one who's alive.
He must be the chief.
They took the whole place for that?-to even up the
death of Dexudu'u. That's why, WuganiyE, 'burned
up,' they call it, because they are all killed off . . .
. . . He went up with one leg and one eye. That's
why they call him LucwAq, "one eye."
'AkEdAl keep shooting at him till he reach that
tree. He go ahead and shoot, and they kill him.
[In the spring of 1940, Jack Ellis took Harrington
on a long trip up Yakutat Bay, into Disenchantment
Bay and Russell Fiord, and evidently told him about
this war as they passed by the sealing camps above
Point Latouche. Thus, Harrington's notes record that
Wuukkaanryye', or Khi'KuullAyyaa in Eyak:]
"means where they (killed the people and) burned
the fort?for they always used to burn the fort after
killing the people. At first there was no Tlingit language
spoken up here at head of Yakutat Bay, only 'Yakutat'
[Eyak] language. But after the Tlingit discovered the
place, then they came conquering, working westward,
and that is why many of the place names up this way
are only Tlingit names. . . . The Yakutat (Cordova-
speaking) people had had a fight on the Si-tAk River
and came through the mountains to here and were
camped at this canyon, when in the night a big war
canoe of Tlingit-speaking Indians sneaked right around
the point and attacked them, and massacre them.
This was the last battle of the Yakutat people and was
only ca. 100 years ago."
[The following was told to me by Helen Bremner on
a boat trip to Haenke Island (June 11, 1952). She
has seen the tree on Point Latouche, so knows this is a
true story. We looked for it as we passed the point, but
not even the stump was left on the bare slope.]
There was a fort on the east side of Yakutat Bay,
called WuganiyE. The Tlaxayik-Teqwedi, really Kag-
wantan, built it because they were afraid of their
enemies, the L'u?edi [sic]. One of the men who lived in
the fort was a liar named SAdEn. He told so many
lies no one would believe him.
Once he went out seal hunting in a skin kayak, all
dressed in white, and came down through the ice
towards Point Latouche. There is a dead tree right on
the point. It is so old that it is all broken down, but
you can still see it. He saw an eagle on top of the tree.
While he watched, he saw the eagle climb down the
tree. Eagles can't do that, so he knew it was a man, an
enemy. He sneaked up through the ice and saw it was
a man.
Then he paddled back to the fort and told the chief
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 269
what he had seen. But the people had heard him tell so
many lies that they didn't believe him.
The chief told him he could keep watch; the rest
were going to sleep. The man's mother got mad because
she said they were always picking on her son, so the
chief said he could sleep too.
That night the L'u^edi [sic] attacked and killed them.
[The following information was given by a Kag-
wantan informant, Emma Ellis, on March 27, 1954.]
The L'u^edi stayed up there at that sealing camp,
WugAniyE or Wuganiye. They stayed at Situk, too.
They were Eagle. They had a war. . . .
They had a fort at Wuganiye. . . . They killed
them off over there, you know. . . . That's why they
call it Wuganiye. Just one woman, I guess, they saved,
and one boy. I forget the woman's name. . . .
That big man, that LucwAq, that big chief [was],
xan kunay?, 'general.' The boy who was saved was
SAdin?-that's his nephew. He got saved. He hid
some place.
He thinks he's sitting like that [upright, arms folded?
i.e. on guard?], then he's sleeping. When he hears some-
thing he takes the boat paddle. That's all he takes.
Then he says, "Oh dear!" he says, when he sees that
paddle. It's his gun in that fort yet. . . . He thinks
his paddle is his gun. He's missing. Then they say he
cry out, that's the way they say. The opposite people
say he cry out.
"Oh dear!" he says. . . . I don't know what word
he used. It's Yitqwan word he's using [Eyak]?-just
like "Oh dear!" he says, when he sees it's his paddle
he got in his hand. He thinks it's his gun he grab
instead of that.
I think they were fighting Ti'uknaxAdi, I guess.
And that's why Ti'uknaxAdi wins that Situk. They
win it. Used to belong to L'u^edi. Now Tl'uknaxAdi-
yAtxi [i.e., Teqwedi, the children of Ti'uknaxAdi] own
Situk.
[The following comments were made by a Kag-
wantan man, John Ellis, on two different occasions.]
There's one tribe that's not existing any more?
L'u^edi. . . . L'uiyedi means 'Muddy Water People.'
The reason why they call them L'uxyedi is that at the
time the head of this bay was Situk Lake. Situk River
was all muddy. They used to be someplace along there.
There's a reason why they killed them out. They
killed them out and later somebody else owned Situk.
They killed them off by war. I don't know if L'uxyedi
were Eagle or Raven.
[He dows not know the cause for the war, because he
does not like to listen to war stories. Furthermore, these
are not often told, because they usually lead to further
wars for revenge.]
There's a reason why they killed them, though. The
trouble even went to those Silver Salmon tribes, too.
And that's why this Silver Salmon tribe [Ti'uknaxAdi]
claims Situk, too, but the other people don't recognize
it that way. What they claim is, Silver Salmon people
they don't like war, so that story is that they pick up
different tribe[s?] and give them tmna-yAtxi [small
coppers]. They give them coppers to [take] revenge for
them, because they don't want to fight. That tmna-
yAtxi, I don't know just how big it is. . . . I don't know
who the Silver Salmon tribe gave coppers to. Some tribe
they picked up and paid them tmna-yAtxi to fight for
them. That's when they killed all those [L'uxyedi].
But anyway, they didn't stay out. It came on them,
too. That's when the L'uxyedi were all killed out. [It is
not clear what happened to the Silver Salmon tribe.]
[March 25, 1954.]
[The informant had been speaking about peace cere-
monies.]
There was one on this Nukw [Little Fort Island near
Knight Island].... I think it's the same story about this
Ti'uknaxAdi Tribe, when they had a war up in
WuganiyE. . . .
These women, Tl'uk cawu [Ti'uknaxAdi women] they
were playing there, picking berries, or something. They
stopped at that little island. This woman was just
playing around, dancing like that peace [ceremony],
and she was that kuwakan [peace hostage-ambassador].
And when they find out, they just make it real. . . .
That was way after the war. . . . She's Ti'uknaxAdi. . . .
That woman's name was T6ac-tla, 'Branches Mother,'
[tcac(?)-tla].
[No further details were known. May 9, 1954.]
[Swanton in 1904 (1909, Tale 27, pp. 68-69) recorded
from a Box House Kagwantan man of Sitka what appear
to be references to these same events. They are included
hi a series of unrelated incidents connected with the
Alsek people. The sections which interest us may be
summarized as follows:]
The Alsek people used to go to a small river farther
north to get slaves. There they killed a rich man, so
the people, L!uq!oedl [L'u^edi], built a fort, which
Lucwa'k equipped with a strong door that would
admit only one man at a time. On their next trip, many
of the Dry Bay people were clubbed to death when
they tried to enter.
Lucwa'k then renamed his fort Eagle Fort, and at
first refused to let the survivors take the corpses of
their dead comrades, saying: "The eagle's claws are
fastened in the dead bodies, and he cannot let go of
them." Later he threw the bodies out.
When the bodies were taken back to Alsek, all the
female slaves which the mourners had taken on previous
expeditions were thrown on the funeral pyre. Then all
the "Eagle people" returned to the fort, killed nearly
all the defenders, including Lucwa'k, and burned the
270 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
fort. Lucwa'k's body was not cremated, because a
brave man does not like to sit close to the fire in the
Ghost's home.
[Are these "Eagle people" the Kagwantan living at
Dry Bay?]
On another occasion, when visiting at a certain
place, the Alsek people were killed coming out of a
sweat house. One of the victims was Slta'n, a man re-
lated to the Athabaskans. The Alsek people finally
evened the score, and so the war was ended.
[The name of the victim suggests SEtAn, a TtukwaxAdi
shaman of the Dry Bay area. (See p. 672.)]
The Story of Gusex and the Fate of the
Dry Bay People
The settlement of Gusex on the Akwe River near
Dry Bay was the home of the Tl'uknaxAdi, although
some seem to have lived on the shores of Dry Bay. At
Gusex also lived other Raven sibs, the Athabaskan
TlukwaxAdi, the Koskedi and the ancestors of the
DAqdenten. Apparently the spouses of these people
included Box House Kagwantan, Teqwedi, and prob-
ably the CAnkuqedi. Its founding, or at least its early
days are connected with the Tlingit from Hoonah,
QakexwtE, who taught the Dry Bay Athabaskans how
to fish. In one of the versions of his story recorded by
Swanton (1909, Tale 32, p. 161), the town was settled
by Tlingit from southeastern Alaska in the spring
following QakexwtE's return from the Athabaskans.
Here the Tl'uknaxAdi built Sleep House, the crest ob-
tained when he killed his own sleep in the form of a
bird and gave it to his wife's sib. This story is not very
satisfactory, because Swanton's Wrangell informant
located the town at the mouth of the Alsek River, and
also showed himself ignorant of the local geography
by indicating that the Copper River was close by. Our
own version of the same story (see below, and compare
pp. 274-275) would suggest that Gusex was already
established before QakexwtE came to the Dry Bay
country.
Gusex was abandoned and the Tl'uknaxAdi dispersed
because, it is said, several canoes from the town were
lost in Lituya Bay. It seems impossible to date this
tragedy?in fact, there may have been more than one
shipwreck in the treacherous entrance to the bay. We
know of the loss of several large skin boats shortly
before LaPerouse's visit in 1786. Our informants, while
denying that the boats from Gusex were of skin, sug-
gested that it was flotsom from these overturned
canoes that attracted the Russians to this part of
Alaska. The fact that the woman who composed the
song about the drownings was supposed to have
witnessed the loss of her relatives suggests that the
village from which they came or where she lived was
not on the Akwe River but was in Lituya Bay. The
expedition which was lost is linked with the war between
the Tl'uknaxAdi and the GanAxtedi of Chilkat. A chief
of the latter sib, Yelxak, may well have been the same
man as the chief whom Ismailov and Bocharov met in
Yakutat Bay in 1788 (see pp. 134-135). However, it is
not necessary to assume that, even if we can date the
war and the drownings to the latter part of the 18th
century, the abandonment of Gusex followed immed-
iately. Causes may take a long time to produce results,
as interpreted in native history.
A Russian cannon, taken by the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi
in 1805, and carried back to Gusex by the Tl'uknaxAdi
after they had crushed the latter, is said to have been
left behind when Gusex was deserted. The final aban-
donment of this town, whether or not connected with
earlier or later drownings, would appear to have taken
place about the middle of the 19th century: after 1852?
the date of the massacre of the Wrangell peace party
in Sitka?since a man from Gusex played an important
part in this event (see the War between the Kagwantan
and the C^Atqwan, pp. 279-284). By 1890, when Glave
and Dalton passed through the country, Gusex had
ceased to exist.
I have already given a number of references to
Swanton's two versions of the Story of QakexwtE (pp.
81, 90, 227), so do not need to summarize these here.
It may be of interest, however, to present the version
of the story recorded at Yakutat.
THE STORY OF QAKEXWTE
[The following brief version of the famous story was
made by Jack Reed, Tl'uknaxAdi, born in Sitka, 1880,
died at Yakutat, 1953. It was recorded, July 4, 1952,
in Tlingit, 1952, 1-2-A, together with the song com-
posed by the leading character of the story (p. 1158).
The following version in English is a free translation,
with explanatory details, given by Minnie Johnson,
and also recorded.]
Now I am going to explain the words to the song that
man, KakEndaqin, sings. That's his Tlingit name. His
name is Jack Reed. The song he sang a while ago, they
want me to explain in English, so I try.
The song is composed by a man, QakexwtE.
They call the point Seqayi [sit xayi, 'glacier point'?]?
around the bay, like.
So he's a pretty busy man, putting up food, hunting.
Very little sleep he gets. He's working night and day
and he's a pretty busy man. And he never sleeps much
at night.
Finally he try to sleep, and there was a bird flying
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 271
around him. They call it in English "Bob White, Bob
White" [whip-poor-will?].
I t was around his face and it keep him awake more.
So he got angry and hit that bird?knocked him down.
In English they call it "Sleep." That's his sleep, he
Mil it himself. He's so restless and can't sleep. He kill
his sleep himself, so he is sleepless.
He search for a place where he can rest and sleep.
Finally he made up his mind to search for a place to
sleep.
There is nothing but a glacier from Se^ayi up to
Alsek. . . . He make up his mind to keep on walking.
He is so much alone. . . . Those qayahayi [shadows],
spirits?- he begin to imagine things. Sometimes he
sees a man coming towards him. Soon as he get near,
it disappears.
He keep on going.
He got it in his mind to go to Alsek and meet his
wife's tribe. He keep on going. He still sees things. He
sees a man coming towards him. He got kind of hurried.
He want to have someone to talk to. I t disappears?
the same thing.
. . . He come to Alsek to a tribe called TlukwaxAdi.
It's just the same as Tl'uknaxAdi. They're all together,
but they get different names.
. . . He come to a place and he see where there are
some men up the creek. People are trying to snare
eulachons, sak we call it. They made some kind of a
trap for it. They could only catch one at a time. He
met the people and told them to dig some roots and
make a fish scoop and dip out the eulachon instead of
getting them one at a time. "Dip net" he called it.
He also ordered them to dig a hole in the sand and
to line it with something so that the fish wouldn't get
full of sand, and to put the fish in a pile?-make a big
pile of it?so they can get eulachen oil. That's what
they're after, a long time ago. . . .
So from him they learn how to catch eulachon.
In return, after they are scooping eulachon and make
a big pile, and they decide they get enough. . . .
This new man coming to Alsek?the real settlement
is Gusex. All the interior Indians and Tluk^axAdi are
mixed. . . . It's a big village itself. The ThikwaxAdi
and the Tl'uknaxAdi are together. . . .
Then they find out that man is brother-in-law to
Tl'uknaxAdi, and in return they give him a young girl,
in return for the help he give to the people. So that's
done, and that's why he compose the song. . . .
He got a young wife, and he's friendly with his
brother-in-law. His wife belongs to our tribe [Tl'ukna-
xAdi]. Her name is Kunuc[ [or ]?nak]. He turned this
song over to his wife's family, his wife's tribe.
That's all I can understand.
[The actual words of the song were not translated.]
[The recording made by Jack Reed was played on
March 22, 1959, for John Ellis, who was persuaded to
attempt a more literal translation. This is supplemented
by explanations (in parentheses) made then and on
March 14,1954, when the tape was also played for him.]
Now I'm going to tell you, my friends sitting over
there, that the way they told the story, down below
Se4ayi?the other side, where it was inside.
QakeiwtE?he's married to our sister, Tl'uknaca
[a Tl'uknaxAdi woman]. At that time he can't sleep,
got stone where his foot[?]?that's the time he heard
something that sounded like a bird. And he clubbed it,
and he find out it was ta, 'sleep.' He saw it, and that's
what he gave to his wife (he made it his wife's belong-
ing). [She was] Tl'uknaca?that's why they call our
house Ta hit, Sleep House. That's why he doesn't
sleep for many nights.
(And he wanted to come up to Gusex. That Gu&ex is
Tl'uknaxAdi's tribe's place. That's why they call that
house Ta hit.)
(Then he started walking up here.) He walked over a
glacier. There was a glacier there at that time. He went
over to Le-dAx-nitc (a place on the other side of Dry
Bay, where there used to be a glacier). He kept walking,
all the way to Alsek? (dak hmitc 'alsex? [back along-
the-beach of/at Alsek]?that's the way he walks). He
felt that way. That's why he was going to go to Gusex.
That's the way he felt it, that time he was coming to
Le-dAx-nitc.
(And then when he was walking), he always sees
somebody coming to meet him. And every time he comes
there, there's nothing there. And then after that, the
next time, the same thing again. The same thing
happens. (It just keeps happening like that.)
He dresses up to meet him [the illusion]. (Its name is
"olden time people." I think this refers to what the old
tune people called red face powder.) He puts reddish
stuff on his face?1'exudina?he puts it on his face.
That's the way he dresses up when he's coming to the
people.
This is the song he sings. (He's singing about that
thing that always looks like somebody meeting him.)
He's the composer of this song. It's what I'm going to
sing.
[The words of the song could not be accurately
translated, nor could the Tlingit words be properly
transcribed from the tape. The words of both stanzas
resemble somewhat the last words to the song recorded
by Swanton (1909, Song 2, pp. 390 f.) although they
are not identical.]
(The first two words he's got in there sound funny to
me. The way it sounded: "I witched those little rocks"
doesn't make sense. They have pauses in, so that even
one word sounds like three words.)
272 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
He sees like little rocks?like you're looking for
something on the beach, you look at little rocks. He
was looking around the beach for something. When
you're looking, it turns out like what you're looking
for?-something like an optical illusion. It was just
little rocks.
[Second stanza] "I give up hope of seeing it." ("I
was watching," or something?that's what he's singing.)
And then he came over to Alsek. They trapped
hooligans [eulachons], and that time he saw it, living
way up there in the river, and there was a village.
That's the time he taught the TlukwaxAdi how to make
this trap. They're staying together with the Tl'uknaxAdi.
(Tl'uknaxAdi and ThikwaxAdi were staying up at
Alsek, getting these eulachon.) And then he told them
to get tree roots. A long time ago we didn't know any-
thing. And they made a dip net (dfga). At that time
they call it ieta xedi [trap lead]. They put it in and the
fish came right up against it. (The eulachon trap is
Mtx. But they didn't use it that time. They built a
lead, like a fence, and dipped them out of there.)
They dug a hole. And that's where they're dipping?
into that hole?-where there was good sand. He helped
them nicely, his people [i.e., the narrator's sib].
TcukAnedi?-(the tribe to which QakexwtE belonged.
Same thing as Kagwantan. These tribes just split up
all the time). He made Tl'uknaxAdi. He helped them
to exist, to multiply, helped increase the Tl'uknaxAdi
population. Some people don't believe this?that he
made the Tl'uknaxAdi, this TcukAnedi [man]. It's
because of him?this is why we are people. (He's the
one 'made' us?XAh'ylx?same word for making a
boat.)
This is what he taught them. From there on we are
beginning to think that Ti'uknaca was married to the
man who clubbed his own sleep. We think that man was
the one. [I.e., we think this man should marry a Tl'uk-
naxAdi woman?] That's why this Ti'uknaca, while
she was still young, they gave him permission to marry
her.
That's the way it was about our life. That's the way
their [our] life is. It's surprising?-ku qa da gwAtli.
Where this song ends, and this time we are staying in
Yakutat. (The place they meet is at the cannery over
here.) It's just like we're having the hardest time this
year. (What a situation we are in now, since this?
[Company] took over the cannery [from Libby]. We
are facing hard times.) Two summers, we haven't got
a job here. Everything's going wrong. Everything's
going against our favor?even the head of the cannery.
There's nobody to help us now. We are poor people.
That's all we earn?only $200 or $300 dollars (every
summer?not enough for winter living). That's how
much we make this time. It's hard for us. I'm just telling
you, these village people, just how much we who are
staying in Yakutat are suffering.
Thank you for listening to me.
(This is what you recorded?sounds like he's asking
Southeast people to come up, help us out. That story
he's telling is like illustrating that man who came up to
help us out, and this [recording] sounds like he's asking
those people. . . . Nobody will come here to help us
out.
. . . It doesn't tell in the story what happened to the
wife he left behind. . . . The bird he killed was Sleep,
and he never could sleep again. . . . That's how they
[Tl'uknaxAdi] got Ta hit.)
[A Tl'uknaxAdi woman, Annie George, who heard
the recording said:]
This was the place, Diyayi?East River, where he
taught the people to catch herring in traps. The song
is claimed by the TlukwaxAdi. He found the Thikw-
axAdi all mixed up with interior people. He knows the
TlukwaxAdi are his kani [brothers-in-law], and they
show him the way, how to walk over to Gusex. He
started from TanyedAq?that's Hoonah. He taught
them to make digit, dipper. Then he taught them to
make a fire and scoop up eulachon and line a hole with
skunk cabbage and dip eulachon in there. In the song he
imagines lots of those men come to him. He just
imagined it. [July 16, 1952.]
Jack Reed, rehearing his own recording, August 5,
1952, said that no one in Yakutat knew the story except
himself?just Frank Italio, who forgets. He went on to
explain how the Alsek people were catching fish, and
it seemed as if he were describing a Figure-Four deadfall.
THE STORY OF GUSEX
At Gusex three different people moved there in olden
times. There was an Indian village on the east side at
Alsek, and two on the west side. But it was maybe 30
or 40 miles from the Alsek to the big village on the Akwe
where the people came. There is a Ta hit [Sleep House]
in Sitka and there was one at Gusex [Jack Reed;
August 5, 1952.]
Gusex is about halfway up Akwe River. It's where
the interior Indians and the TlukwaxAdi and Tt'ukna-
xAdi were settled. They had Ca hit [Mountain House,
for Mt. Fairweather], Yay hit [Whale House], and
Dekina hit [Far Out House], and some other houses
there. . . . There were four houses and a lot of small
ones I don't know. I could remember only three of the
big ones: Frog House, Sea Lion House, and Whale
House. [Annie George; July 7 and 16, 1952.]
Four tribal houses were built up at Gusex [Mrs.
Frank Dick, May 17, 1954.]
At Alsek [Gusex] they had Dekina hit [Far Out
House], 'Itc hit [Boulder House], T E hit [Stone House,
or was it Ta,Sleep?], and Xixtc hit [Frog House].
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 273
[Minnie Johnson; June 23, 1954.]
Just as there seems to be some confuston in house
names, for undoubtedly the same houses carried more
than a single name, so their owners or builders seem
to have had several names.
The owner of Frog House was Qalgekw?the most
important Tl'uknaxAdi man in Gusex. He had other
names [MJ, July 13, 1952]. The man who owned Frog
House at Gusex was named Djisnfya?this seemed to be
the consensus of opinion. Djisniya and his brother,
Dexwudu'u owned Frog House [MJ, August 25, 1952].
Frog House was built by Stagwan [MJ and AG, July
7, 1952].
Djisniya was head of Tl'uknaxAdi when they were
building Frog House, and he found the Frog. [MJ and
AG, August 8, 1952]. [I heard several accounts of this
remarkable find:]
They were digging the foundations for the corner
posts and they find this frog. It was froze solid. The old
people were suspicious of such things. They put it in
a good warm place. When the frog thawed out, my
goodness! it come to life! That Frog House got four
corner posts carved like frogs. They are still in there.
[Minnie Johnson; July 30, 1952.]
So when the Tl'uknaxAdi started to build the house
there, they found a frozen frog. They put the frog on a
piece of spruce bark, and they just put it aside. They
were going to put it back again [in the post hole], but
that frog came back alive. That frog is kind of a white-
looking frog. That's how come the Alsek people claim
that Frog belong to us. They called [the house] Xixtc
hit, and it's still named Xixtc hit to this day. They
made a xin [screen, rear partition] out of the frog. . . .
[Mrs. Frank Dick; June 17, 1954.]
Tl'trknaxAdi tribe was digging in the ground where
they were going to put the posts, the foundation of
the house they were going to build. And while they
were digging and digging, they dig up a frog that was
frozen?frozen to death. And they put it up. They put
it up on a piece of bark, I think. And while it lay there
it came back to life. . . . And while they were working,
they look at that frog. I t is come to alive. And they
were all surprised to see that frog come back alive.
And that's why after they built that house, they call
it Xixt6 hit. It was at Gusex. . . . And after they built
that house, they make a totem pole in the four corners
of the house, and a big frog xin, Xixtc xin [Frog Screen].
. . . .The headman, Djisniya, he's the one that's
going to built that house. . . . That's why they put
that frog on four corners and when they fix that screen
they put a frog [on it]. . . . [Frank Italio; May 7,
1954; Minnie Johnson interpreting.]
The frog was said to be "the biggest frog you ever
saw"?about 12 inches in diameter. Stagwan built the
original Frog House, and his namesake built a Frog
265-517?72?Tol. VII, pt. 1 20
House at Sitka that was broken up by the KiksAdi
(pp. 290-291). "The posts at Gusex were still standing
all covered with moss when I saw it about 40 years
ago." [Annie George; July 7, 1952.]
That Frog House was at Gusex. Right next to it is
Yay hit [Whale House]. It's the biggest tribal house
that was ever built. It was made of logs bigger than that
one [at least 5 feet in diameter]. That's why it's still
there. The chief of the house was Q'exix. He is my
mother's relation . . . . Yay hit is the biggest tribal
house in Gusex. It was made of big logs and a big frame.
Nobody can understand how in the world they got it
up there. That's why they still see it, covered with
moss. They name their grandchildren after it, "Never
Turn to Ground" ['Never Decays']. [Minnie Johnson;
July 30, 1952.]
Ldaxin built a tribal house in Gusex?Yay hit??
biggest house in the world. People don't know how in
the world they got the studdings up. The posts are still
standing, only covered with moss [Minnie Johnson;
August 7, 1952]. Frank Italio was telling me about
that Gusex house, Yay hit?the big studdings are just
as solid, only the moss all grown over it. He kicked it.
How many years ago since those eight canoes capsized
in Lituya Bay! They just moved out of there. [Minnie
Johnson; May 1, 1954.]
The next house above Yay hit is CA hit, Mountain
House. The owner is Dexudu'u. [Minnie Johnson;
July 30, 1952.]
DESTRUCTION OF THE CANOES FROM GUSE:?; WAR WITH
THE QANAXTEDI
[Most of the following account (somewhat edited)
was told by Minnie Johnson on July 30, 1952, when
she and Frank Italio sang the songs commemorating
the drownings in Lituya Bay, 1952, 2-2-B (p. 1159).
Another recording was made by his sister, Mrs. Frank
Dick, 1954, 6-2-C (p. 1160), who also dictated the
words, May 17, 1954.]
From there [Gusex], the Tl'uknaxAdi left to go trad-
ing, and they are supposed to come back. . . . Mount
Fairweather gives a sign if something terrible is going
to happen. They knew it before they started. . . .
(There were 10 war canoes, 8 men in each canoe.
They were in Lituya Bay for a rest. They struck it at
the wrong tide. The big rock, tantsyi [sea lion rock],
got them.) [June 30, 1952.]
People were going to make war on the GanAxtedi of
Chilkat. They killed a bald-headed man at Qa ca
kutnuq wAt[?], right at the mouth of Chilkat River.
Our own tribe cut his head off. And that head had no
hair. The Tl'uknaxAdi get that [head]. They just get
the body and cut off the head with no hair.
274 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
So when they get excited, the bald-headed head is in
the way, and the young fellows threw it overboard.
They were going to replace the GanAxtedi man that
the TI'uknaxAdi had killed, but the TI'uknaxAdi man
sent to even the score died with heart failure in the big
canoe, so there was still one to make it even for us
TI'uknaxAdi.
Big Raven, Yel-tlen, was the TI'uknaxAdi doctor.
When he get his spirits sent, he question all the people
around him: "Who threw that bald-headed head
overboard?" He pointed to them. "You? You? Was it
you?"
There was a GanAxtedi 'ixi [shaman]. His name was
CAX [Wild Currants]. His spirit's name was 'An-
kuxoyi, "Town-Rover." They believed he hurt them
because the TI'uknaxAdi killed the GanAxtedi man, and
when they threw the head overboard, this hurt the
doctor's feelings, so he upset the boats. They believe
that is the cause of it all, because the bald-headed man
was killed by the TI'uknaxAdi. That's why the doctor
gets angry at us. It was just to make it even, he upset
the canoes. I guess we were as guilty as they were.
Then that spirit of Yel-tlen captured that CAX'S
spirit, for Yel-tlen is on our side. That Big Raven got
more power than any Indian doctor. He took the spirit
away from CAX.
The lady who composed the song, Wuckika, lost
eight brothers. It's her real brothers who got drowned
before her eyes. They were on the overturned canoes.
One of them was XatsakwA (XasAliw, or Xatsuqwa, or
Xasagu'), the last of Yay hit. He knows there's no hope
for him. He makes a noise; it sounds like a frog. [I.e.,
he made the cry of his sib totem when meeting death
bravely.]
The woman who lost the eight brothers composed a
lot of songs. She used to sit on the sand dunes and cry
and sing, especially when the tide was smooth. The song
composed by the woman belongs to [is about?] Mount
Fairweather. That's why we claim the song. The
woman's uncles and brothers were all gone. Because so
many of our people drowned, Paul Henry named his
boat [bought in 1952] "Mount Fairweather."
The boats that were lost were not skin boats. They
didn't have them that time. Only lately[?] they start
to get skin boats in Lituya Bay. That time they drowned,
they had eight men in each canoe. Skin canoes are too
small [sic].
[Only the words for the first stanza could be recorded
and translated. As dictated and explained by Mrs.
Frank Dick, they are:]
Your grandfathers were watching the paddlers'
mountain [like a compass].
Close by, your hands miss it. [The canoe over-
turned, and they tried to grab it.]
[The mountain that was used as a compass was Tsalxan,
Mount Fairweather.]
[A song (1954, 1-2-E; p. 1161), commemorates a
canoe, Crane Boat, that was lost in this war. Both
TI'uknaxAdi and Kwac?qwan claim the rights to the
canoe and to the song. The following account, somewhat
edited, was given by Charley White and Frank Dick on
April 9, 1954.]
The towns were fighting each other just as Americans
were fighting in Germany. The GanAxtedi and TI'uk-
naxAdi were fighting. They have that big canoe, Duf
yakw [Crane Canoe]; they take it up to Chilkat. They
fight over there?no more TI'uknaxAdi?clean out the
whole thing?that canoe, too. The GanAxtedi bust up
the whole thing, smashed the canoe.
[Only one stanza of the song was recorded and "trans-
lated"; the singers were uncertain about the second:]
All smashed up, the Crane Canoe.
They went away from here.
The Crane Canoe is still there.
SWANTON'S VERSION OF TH6 WAR
[Swanton's version of the story of QakexwtE, recorded
at Wrangell (1909, Tale 32, pp. 161-165), ends with an
account of the war between the GanAxte'df of Chilkat
and the L!uk!nAXA'd! of Kosle'x and of KAqlAnuwu'
(Grouse Fort, Hoonah territory). This would seem to
have taken place immediately after the founding of
Kosle'x (Gusex), the year after Kakeq!ut^ (QakeiwtE)
had returned south with the Athabaskans.]
The GanAxtedi chief, Cku'wu-yel, 'Tailless Raven'
[now a TI'uknaxAdi name], had invited the Kagwantan
to a lavish potlatch at Chilkat. This seems to have
been in connection with the making of a totem pole,
carved to represent AnkAxwa'i ["Town Rover"?], the
spirit of his shaman, CqeLaqa', and also with the dis-
play of his Raven Hat. Apparently the TI'uknaxAdi,
spouses of the Kagwantan, were also at this potlatch.
Q!one f&one], the TI'uknaxAdi chief, made a Raven
Hat, on which a Raven, with beak, tail, and wings of
copper pecked at a copper plate. This he displayed to
the Kagwantan at Grouse Fort, speaking disparagingly
of GanAxtedi generosity.
In retaliation, the GanAxtedi built Whale House
(Ya'i hit), and bought Tlingit slaves (Decitan, Tcuk-
Anedi, and Tl'enedi) to give away at the potlatch.
This provoked war, because the TI'uknaxAdi who had
only less valuable Flathead slaves to give, felt ashamed,
and the sibs whose relatives had been enslaved were
also angry, but the GanAxtedi defeated them all.
A GanAxtedi chief, Yel-xak, had married the daughter
of a TI'uknaxAdi man named Big Raven, Yel-tlen
(yel-Len). The latter lived at Laxayl'k, which the
narrator seems to use synonymously with Kosle'x.
Yel-xak sent a slave via the interior with food and
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 275
tobacco to his father-in-law (see pp. 144-145). He
thought the latter would make peace for theTl'uknaxAdi
slain at Land Otter Point and AnAk!-nu (unidentified).
A Tl'uknaxAdi man, Cadisl'ktc, prepared for war,
with a helmet carved to represent the monster rat that
lives under Wasli'ca mountain (Saint Elias), and with
spearheads of drift iron, while Yel-tlen sent his spirit
to scout the route for the war party. They were joined
by Tl'uknaxAdi from Grouse Fort, whose relatives had
been slain by the QanAxtedi. The help of the KiksAdi,
DAqdentan, and "other families," was purchased with
coppers (see p. 269). Yel-xak was killed by
Cadisl'ktc, because the spears of the Chilkat had
points only of bone and mountain goat horn, not of
drift iron. The Tl'uknaxAdi from Grouse Fort took the
totem pole, AnkAxwa'i.
Then Cku'wu-yel went to Grouse Fort to make peace.
The war had lasted 5 years. The Kaven Hat which he
had captured was returned by his wife, the daughter
of Ldahi'n who was the Tl'uknaxAdi chief, and head
of Sleep House. The captured totem pole was returned
to the QanAxtedi in exchange, both objects covered
with eagle down (a symbol of peace). Cku'wuyei and
his father-in-law, Ldahi'n, were exchanged as "deer,"
and a permanent peace was established.
We might note that several Tl'uknaxAdi men have
borne the name, Tailless Raven, suggesting that it
might have been obtained or captured from the
QanAxtedi. One was Jack Reed, born in Sitka in 1880;
another is William Benson, born in 1890 in Yakutat,
but now living in Sitka. The latter also has the name
Cadasiktc as a "potlatch name." A man of this name
was chief of Sleep House in Sitka in 1904 (Swanton,
1908, p. 406).
COMMENTS ON THE DBOWNINGS IN LITUTA BAT
[The following statement was made by a Tl'uknaxAdi
woman, after telling about the war between the
Tl'uknaxAdi and Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. (Annie George;
August 7, 1952.) The drownings in Lituya Bay were
mentioned. It was sorrow for those who drowned that
led the others to abandon Guiex.]
That's how the Russians came on this side in a
schooner. They saw those things drifting by [flotsam
from the canoes]. They want to find out where those
things come from, and they found out on this side
there were so many skins. And then they go to the
native people. People were at QAUAWAS [Knight
Island], and at Khantaak, and at Nessudat, and at
Gucine [at or near Diyaguna'Et], when the Russians
came. I don't know why they left QAJIAWAS.
[A Dry Bay woman, Emma Ellis, said on August
1952:]
You know that Lituya Bay? The Tl'uknaxAdi get
drowned over there. And all that good stuff washed out
to sea?sea-otter skins wash out to sea. And those
halibut skin bags [waterproof bags in which the furs
were carried]?it floats. The Russians get it. That's
why the Russians came to Lituya Bay.
[The recording of Wuckika's songs prompted the
following comment, by John Ellis, March 14, 1954:]
Frank Italio told me that story. All I know, when
the Tl'uknaxAdi used to trade, they used to go south
and would trade with furs, and then come back here.
And the seven canoes are what capsized in Lituya
Bay, at the time the song was composed. Maybe
there's another song, I don't know. But that song may
be at the time it capsized over there.
There's another song they're singing. All those things
they had?those halibut skin bags had a lot of furs in
them. And that's what drifted out and those Russians
found it. That's why they started looking up this way.
That's what she was singing about. . . .
There's lots of furs in it, and those things [halibut
skin bags] got buoyancy; they could drift far away. . . .
They don't use skin boats?all wood, big canoes,
yakw
[A Tl'uknaxAdi woman added (Minnie Johnson;
July 4, 1952):]
The houses at Gusex became empty because the
eight canoes, going south to the southeast of Alaska,
got drowned in Lituya Bay. A Russian cannon was
left at Gusex. That's where you should dig. The people
that lived there moved to Dry Bay and to here
[Yakutat].
GIANT WAVES AT LITUTA BAT
That the wrecking of the Tl'uknaxAdi canoes may
have been due to giant waves, and that the village
which was abandoned as a result was not Gusex, but a
settlement in Lituya Bay, is suggested by the tradition
reported by J. P. Williams (1952, p. 138). This is
summarized, after describing the giant waves of 1936
and evidence of an earlier catastrophe of the same
nature.
"The incidents just related tend to corroborate
the old Indian story about Lituya Bay. They say
that at one time a large native village stood near
the bay entrance. The place was much favored as
a base for sea otter hunting. Inherently weather-
wise, and using Mount Fairweather as a barometer,
the Indians ventured to sea when the weather was
clear and scurried for the shelter of the bay when
the storm clouds began to gather on Fairweather's
high snow cap. There came a day, however, when
the returning hunters faced a scene of wreckage
and destruction far greater than that of 1936. The
276 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
village had been completely wiped out and the
only person who remained alive was one woman
who had been able to reach high ground and
escape the flood. She had been gathering berries
well up on the slopes of the hills."
Although Williams believes that this disaster oc-
curred "175 or 200 years ago"?probably dated from
his own visit to Lituya Bay in 1936?it seems to me
more likely that this was due to the giant waves of
1853 or early in 1854 (p. 94).
A SITKA VERSION
What may be a reference to the same tragedy is
found in a story that Swanton heard in Sitka, about the
Alsek River People (1909, Tale 27, p. 65). According to
this, the shamans who lived in a town on the Alsek
River predicted that disaster was coming to their
neighbors who lived in a great town on a lake (Lituya
Bay?). This was because the latter had said that they
were not afraid of things that stutter and cannot speak
properly. When two men from this town had gone
hunting on top of the mountain, they saw a great flood
pour down between the mountains and destroy their
town. "This flood was caused by an avalanche which
poured into the lake and filled it up, forcing the water
out. Some human bodies were hanging to the branches
of the trees." The two survivors knew that this had
been brought about by the angry land otters.
THE FATE OF THE DRY BAY PEOPLE
Although Gusex was said to have been settled first,
there were also Tl'uknaxAdi living in "Ory Bay during
its occupation. When Gusex was abandoned "in a
hurry," the people from there joined their relatives in
Dry Bay, or dispersed to Sitka, Hoonah, and Yakutat.
One of the settlements mentioned was at Diyayi, on
the east side of Dry Bay. The Tl'uknaxAdi that were
moving towards Yakutat were perhaps those who built
houses on Johnson Slough, Situk, and Lost River.
According to our informants, it was on moving away
from Gusex that the Koskedi and the DA4dentan be-
came separated from the Tl'uknaxAdi.
Misfortune was also to overwhelm the TlukwaxAdi.
Two explanations for this disaster were given by the
same informant, the daughter of a TlukwaxAdi man.
FLOOD AT DRY BAY
[Told by Emma Ellis; August 5, 1952. The in-
formant's grandmother was 10 years old in 1852, at
the time of the massacre of the Wrangell peace party
at Sitka. The flood probably took place about that
time, perhaps somewhat earlier.]
Then one time, you know, when my father's mother
was a little girl up at Tinx kayani [Kinnikinnik Leaves,
on the Tatshenshini, see pp. 87, 89], there was a
flood all over. It was because my father's people
[TlukwaxAdi] made fun of a seagull. They threw it in
the fire. It was a young one and couldn't fly. They
threw it in again. All its feathers burned off. They
laughed at it.
And then a great flood came. And there was no place
to be safe. That glacier broke that used to go across the
Alsek. The people tied their canoes to the "Whale's
fin." That island at the mouth of Dry Bay, GAltcinuwu,
used to be a whale, and the people tied their canoes to
the part sticking up. But some of the young people
untied their canoes too soon. A great wave came along,
turned over the boats, and the young people were all
flooded in the ocean. Only the old people were saved.
It was when my father's mother was a little girl at
Tinx kayani when it happened. When she'd grown up
my grandma called her sons by all her uncles' names.
Her uncles got drowned that time. When she talked
about it, my grandma always cried. They lose lots of
people that time.
BIG RABBIT AND HIS WIFE
[A brief summary of this incident was given by John
Ellis, July 23, 1952.1
They moved away from Diyayi. The wife cried every
day because they had killed her relatives. He [Big
Rabbit, the shaman] got tired of it and told his people
to cut his wife's hah1. The rest all died off. Only John
Williams [TlukwaxAdi, died 1949?] stayed there. The
TlukwaxAdi are all scattered now.
[A fuller account of this incident was told by Emma
Ellis on April 18, 1954.]
GAx-tlen (Big Rabbit) was a big Indian doctor??
TlukwaxAdi. His wife, a Teqwca, was crying about her
brothers.
The TlukwaxAdi had given them food?some kind of
Tlingit food?meat or something, that mountain goat
meat, or berries. They gave it to those Teqwedi, that
woman's "brothers." Wayout cousins, in olden time,
they call them "brothers." They gave them food in a
dish, and they don't give it back to TlukwaxAdi. That's
what they war about i t . . . . They just leave it some-
place, then they go away. Olden time, a fancy dish is
close to them. Some of them, moose horn or something,
they make a dish out of it. And some kind of good wood,
they make a dish out of i t . . . . I don't know what kind,
they just tell it like that.
Then they kill those two boys?about that d i s h . . . .
Teqwedi can't do anything. They're scared of my
father's people [TlukwaxAdi] . . . .
Then that GAx-tlen's wife crying all the time. And
that GAx-tlen, he can't do anything about it. Then one
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 277
time he says he got tired of it. He loves his wife?crying
all the time about those two brothers they killed, and
they don't want to pay [an indemnity for the slaying].
Just because they don't bring that dish back to
ThikwaxAdi, they kill them, just because they look at
TtukwaxAdi like they were just nothing. That's the way
they think about my father's people. That's why
they don't bring that dish. So they killed those two
boys.
GAx-tien says: "Cut my wife's hair. Make a fire out
there," he said, that big Indian doctor. "Make a fire."
Then they put it in the fire, that GAx-tien's wife's
hair, they say.
"They can die off, the TlukwaxAdi people," he says.
That's why he says:
"Wucftde yAx 'angix nAsift 'an 'ixfi CAt CAxd-ci."
[No literal translation was given.]
"Nobody there," was what GAx-tien said. "All that
people died off."
See, this Yakutat place, all these people died off.
GAx-tlen wanted his own people to die! [The informant
explained that although ordinary people cut off their
hair in mourning, it was taboo for a shaman to do so.]
That's against the law. . . . Indian doctor and his
wife can't cut their hair. That's bad luck. . . .
That's a bad thing that man did. That's why
Thik"axAdi get mad at him sometimes. And Teqwedi
and TlukwaxAdi died off because of it. . . . They died
off. Crazy man!
Smallpox
The abandonment of some of the villages between
Yakutat Bay and Dangerous Biver seems to have
been due to smallpox, and if the ravages of that disease
were as severe in the Akwe River-Dry Bay area as
they were near Yakutat and in southeastern Alaska,
it may well account for the virtual disappearance of
the population in and about Dry Bay.
Smallpox came to the Tlingit at a very early period,
for near Sitka Portlock in 1787 saw pockmarks on the
faces of all but the children. The disease probably
had spread from the Spanish expedition of 1775. A
more severe epidemic began at Sitka in November
1836, and by March of the following year had killed
about half the adult population. By 1838 and 1839 it
had spread over southeastern Alaska, and when it
died out in 1840, one half the Tlingit had died. It is
probably this epidemic which devastated the villages
near Yakutat. There was also another widespread
smallpox epidemic in 1862 (see pp. 177-178). We
should also remember that two Aleuts came down with
smallpox at Yakutat in 1795, although no epidemic is
recorded (pp. 166-167).
In addition, some serious disease afflicted the Russian
garrison at Yakutat in 1800 (p. 169). Measles spread
over Russian America in 1848 (p. 178). There were also
epidemics of typhoid in 1819, 1848, and 1855.
Since native accounts of epidemics are fairly brief
it is very difficult to determine which one is meant.
According to a CAnkuqedi informant (Mrs. Chester
Johnson; June 7, 1954), smallpox "killed everyone"
in Dry Bay. It was at this time that QAlaxetl, also
called Ltune?, became a shaman, and acquired the
Disease Spirits as his familiars. This man was the
mother's father of Lituya Bay George, a ^afkA'ayi
man who was born in Sitka in 1854 of a Kagwantan
father. The epidemic was before the days of schooners.
Before the Russians came, some people who had
been in southeastern Alaska brought back the corpse
of a person who had died there of smallpox, starting
an epidemic here [Sampson Harry, July 14, 1952].
When smallpox came, the Indian doctors saw spirits
coming, paddling in canoes (see p. 710). So
many died they couldn't burn them. Diarrhea came,
and then another epidemic of smallpox. This was
when my mother's father's father was a little boy and
it orphaned him [1836-39?]. A lot of people moved
away from here to Sitka [Jack Ellis, 1949].
Jack Ellis's mother's father's father was the Kwac&-
qwan chief, Yaxodaqet (II)?uncle to Chief George
who died in 1903. His wife was the Drum House
Teqwedi girl, QakEnAxkugE, who was suckled by her
uncle after all her relatives had died of smallpox.
(For another version of the story see p. 279.)
I don't know what year it was?-they had smallpox,
and everybody died off. My mother's mother was a
newborn baby. She was born during the epidemic.
They had sothing to give her because her mother died
when she was a baby. They used to feed her on straw-
berries. Her name was Qelkf (or Qelke'). I saw her.
I think she died about 1908, because I was 8 years
old when she died. She was really old, but I don't
know how old. [She was a Gatyix-Kagwantan woman,
wife of Dry Bay George, who had come from Bering
River about 1896 or a year or so later.] [Helen Bremner;
March 13, 1954.]
Cada, the Kwackqwan chief, seems to have been about
II years old during the smallpox epidemic. He died
in 1908 or 1909, a very old man. Presumably this was
the epidemic of 1836-39.
A more complete account of this epidemic and its
effects was given by Cada's grandson.
SMALLPOX AND THE KWACKQWAN
[The following was told by Harry K. Bremner on
several occasions.]
278 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
At the time of the smallpox, people were living at
Aka. It was KTackqwan, but not the capital city.
They stayed there to smoke fish and sometimes they
stayed there in the winter, too, but the true capital
was Nessudat. On Summit Lake was Gutc-caki-'an.
Here the Kwackqwan men had smokehouses. They
were married to [Qlalyix] Kagwantan and to Teqwedi,
the latter all mixed up by that time. The Kwackqwan
capital was Nessudat. That's the capital, like Washing-
ton, D.C. It was the last village to Lost River, near
the airfield. It was a village after the Russians. They
stay there in just small smokehouses before, but after
the Russians they make a big city. At Nessudat was
Raven's Bones House, the highest house of our tribe.
The chief was Yaxodaqet. There was also Moon House
and Fort House, and more I don't remember, but those
were the big ones. All the people in the different houses
were like cousins. They were "brothers" in the same
tribe, but they don't always get along good, I don't
know why [July 11, 1952].
Smallpox, kwan, came after the Russians. There
were people living all the way from Summit Lake,
Second Summit Lake, to Lost River. And they all died.
They died where they were sitting, mothers with babies
in their arms. A few people were left alive at Lost
River and some were left at Situk also. All the rest
died. They didn't try to burn them that year, but next
year the survivors burned them [August 28, 1952].
All the way from Summit Lake to Lost River, they
were burning so many bodies, the air was thick with
smoke. My father showed me the charcoal all along
the ground.
They moved from Nessudat to Khantaak, and there
the tribes all lived together in one village. From
Khantaak, they moved to the Old Village at Yakutat.
[July 11, 1952.]
TEST OF THE STONE LAMPS
[The following story was told by Harry K. Bremner,
May 2, 1954, in response to questions about an episode
that had been mentioned by Jack Ellis in 1949: That
people at Diyaguna'Et were starving, but a boy had
thrown a stone lamp down the blowhole of a whale and
killed it.]
. . . I think that was after the smallpox. . . Well,
that's the story. Maybe just a story, I don't know....
I don't know how the people died. They said it was
smallpox?they call it kwan?the biggest death in
Yakutat. The biggest population here at that time. . . .
At First Summit Lake [Aka Lake] there used to be a
village?not a town. There were just small places from
there to Diyaguna'Et, from the village all the way . . .
lots of little places. That's the time the people died off,
of the smallpox. In those days, they don't bury each
other. They burn it?they burned the body [and put
the ashes in a little house on posts, he explained].
And deaths are coming fast. They don't look at the
bodies; everybody was sick. When a person died, just
sit there.
The whole village, from Ankau to Diyaguna'Et,
nobody left. If that didn't happen Yakutat would be a
big population. Two sickness [two epidemics?].
After that sickness was over, what was left of them
at Diyaguna'Et, they got no lamp. But they know
where there's one?up at Nessudat. There's a lamp in
one of the houses.
And one of the men said: "Who was the bravest?"
That was night. It's dark. "Who was the bravest man
to get the lamp from Diyaguna'Et?" In those days
people were very afraid of dead body. They don't
[get] afraid of anything [else], but they are afraid of
dead body.
And one of the braves said: "I'm going to go. I'm
going to get that lamp."
They gave him a stick. He carried a stick. That
headman of them told the brave man: "See how far
you're going to come close to the house; you're going
to put this stick in the ground."
And he went. He didn't bring it [the lamp]. He come
without it.
So another one go. He gets the stick again. He goes
into the house, but he don't come through the door
inside. He just open the door. He left his stick there.
Then another one go. He went in the house, but he
don't reach it [the lamp].
Another one went again. I don't know how many of
them, but so many of them?(maybe more than four)?
see who's the bravest man.
When that man come back, the head of the braves
ask, "Why don't they bring it? Why? Why not get it
when they're inside the house already?"
And this man said: "It's dark in there. Can't see
nothing." It's nighttime. It's pretty dark. He don't
see nothing. That's all he could see is eyes?eyes of
the dead bodies?shine, shine just like a spark. And
the mouth?-the only thing they see.
And next day, they take a look to see who's coming
close, who's the bravest. And they don't touch the lamp,
they don't take it. They went back to Diyaguna'Et.
The next night, when it's real dark, that man ask,
the head of them ask the men again: "Who's going to
go this time, bring the lamp?"
And one of the young fellows said: "I'm going to go."
And he went. He got the lamp. He take the lamp out
But he don't bring it. He throw it right in the river in
front of the house at Nessudat.
He went back and reported he got it but he throw it
in the river. And a little while afterwards, I don't know
how many days, they find the whale. Out on the ocean
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 279
beach, I don't know exactly where. And they find that
stone lamp?that blowhole, they find it in there.
That time you mention it, there's starvation that
time. After sickness over, nothing to eat. Then they
find that whale. That's the story. Maybe just a story.
[In response to questions]: I don't know why they
didn't get it in the daytime. They want somebody to
bring it at nighttime. He didn't bring the lamp back
because maybe he was just a brave. On the oceanside
of the timbers, they just took the bodies to the ocean
side and burned them.
THE FATE OF THE AHRNKLIN TEQWEDI
Smallpox was evidently blamed by some for the
depopulation of the AhmVlin villages occupied by the
Drum House Teqwedi. Others evidently ascribed, the
decline of this lineage to war. All agree, however, that
the only survivors were the little girl baby, QakEnax-
kugE, who later married the Yakutat chief, Yaxodaqet
(II), Kwac&qwan. One of their children was the Teqwedi
chief, Daknaqin, also known as Dok-na-kane, or Old
Doc. Another was 'Anesu, Mrs. Mary Abraham,
(1858-1900), mother of Olaf Abraham and his brothers,
leaders of Drum House.
[As told by Emma Ellis, July 12, 1952.]
That Old Doc's mother [QakEnaxkugE]?when
smallbox came, everybody died. All her family was
dead; just her uncle was left. And that man nursed that
little girl from his own breast. That little girl was
raised on her uncle's breast.
[Minnie Johnson, August 25, 1952, however, had a
different version:]
In 'Antien they have some kind of war. My mother
preach to me about it. They kill all of them?their own
tribe, the Teqwedi. They fight over shame business.
When they [you] are starving and they give you some-
thing, they held you slave, just the same for spite work.
Then your people have to go and pay. [See "dried fish
slave," p. 469.]
This here man, Nusni [or NusnE]?and after he get
away with everything [killed everybody] he thought,
and then he struck something with his leg, and it was
a baby. He already sober up, come to, you know. He
just went wild before.
He said to himself: "Pick it up."
He clean it up. The baby's mother is killed. There's
nobody to take the baby to for help. He's so much alone
and he doesn't want to kill the baby. It's his sister's
child.
I don't know why [he would kill his own sister].
They're just fighting one another. He don't care who
he kills. He got mad. He's been planning a long time
to start that, you know.
QakEnakugE, Daknaqin's mother, was the baby. The
reason my mother is preaching to me about her, she
was raised by a man. He don't know what on earth to
do, so he just give his breast to the baby. Qa-tl'a
[-tla?] cawAt?"Man's Titty Woman" they call her
when they get mad at her.
The Teqwedi is all gone but that little girl. And she
raise lots of Teqwedi [the informant enumerated her
descendants].
If you grow into be a good woman, you be like that
woman. That's why I'm so particular about it [raising
girls]. That woman had more Teqwedi out of her. She
start the whole Teqwedi tribe. . . .
ABANDONMENT OF THE VILLAGES EAST OF YAKUTAT
It is difficult to fix exact dates for the desertion of
the villages east of Yakutat. Thus, Gutc-caki-'an was
probably never reoccupied after the smallpox epidemic,
for none of our informants mentioned any individuals
known to have lived there. 'Aka, on Aka Lake, was
used, at least as a fishing place, until about the be-
ginning of the present century, although now there is
nothing but a clearing at the site. There were a few
people at Nessudat in 1888, but they may have been
here only for the summer fishing. Diyaguna'Et was
deserted before Nessudat. Henry Shada (born about
1865?) used to tell about people living there, perhaps
in his childhood, about 1875. The last important house
to have been built at the village was probably Bear
Paw House, in the 1850's. From Diyaguna'Et there was
a movement, both to Situk village on Situk Kiver, and
to Khantaak Island, where the Kwackqwan also settled.
The temporary houses on Khantaak, seen by Dall in
1874 [p. 182], were evidently replaced by permanent
houses by 1880. The native history of these movements
can, however, be better understood by tracing the his-
tory of the actual houses, and this is postponed until a
latter chapter.
The War Between the Kagwantan and
the Q
The story of the war between the Sitka Kagwantan
and the C^Atqwan, or Wrangell people, also involved
some of the Kagwantan of the Dry Bay area. It
culminated in the massacre of the Wrangell peace
party at Sitka in 1852, in which a Kagwantan youth
from Gusex played an important role. This story was
told as an illustration of Tlingit customs of war and
peace, but it is also of interest in indicating that at this
period the Box House Kagwantan were living at Gusex,
married to the TlukwaxAdi.
280 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Two versions of this story were told. The characters
in the first may be identified as follows: DaxquwAdisn,
the Kagwantan hero from Gusex; Yixudu'as, his
TlukwaxAdi father, and QAtsuqE or KatsukE, a
TlukwaxAdi woman born about 1842. The latter was
the daughter of a sister of Yixudu'as, and was 10 years
old when she saw her uncle rejoicing in his son's
triumph. This woman was the paternal grandmother of
the narrator, Emma Ellis. The latter was uncertain
about the identity of the C&Atqwan, knowing only that
the people were southern Tlingit of the Eagle-Wolf
moiety. It would appear that they were not Kake, but
the Nanya'ayi of Wrangell. We know the date of the
massacre because it is recorded by Tikhmenev (1863,
vol. 2, pp. 205-211).
At Sitka, on March 31, 1881, Commander Henry
Glass (Keport of U.S. Naval Officers . . . 1881-82)
secured the consent of the Sitka Kagwantan chiefs and
those of their former enemies from Wrangell to a
"Treaty of Peace between the Stickeen and Sitka
Tribes." According to its terms, both parties pledged
themselves to abandon any claims based on former
wars, to permit each other to hunt and fish in their
territories, to assist each other in distress, and to refer
any future disputes to the senior officers of the United
States in Alaska. Those who affixed their marks to this
document were for the StiMne or Wrangell natives
(see Swanton, 1908, p. 402): George Shckes [sic,
Shakes], or Ceks, chief of the Nanyaa'yl 'Big House'
(Eagle-Wolf), and Jake Sha-Kach, probably Sgaxk!,
chief of the Kasqlague'dl Thunder House (Raven).
For the Sitka natives, were Annahortz, or Anaxu'ts,
'Grizzly Bear,' the Kagwantan chief of Wolf House,
and Woos-kina, probably meaning 'Over All.' The last
name does not appear in Swan ton's list (ibid., p. 406).
Yakwa'n, 'Swimming Wolf,' chief of the Kagwantan
Star House, who was listed by Swanton as the man who
"led in the last great fight with the Stikine Indians,"
was perhaps dead by 1881. He was mentioned by an
informant at Angoon who told the story, but not by
those at Yakutat (de Laguna, 1960, pp. 155f.).
[This was told by a Dry Bay Kagwantan informant.
The episodes are rearranged in chronological order
(July 22, 1952.)!
C^At is a place name. It's Kake. The C&itqwan are
on the Eagle side.
In Sitka the Kagwantan were killed by the C^Atqwan.
The C^Atqwan went over there. The Kagwantan's wife
liked a C^Atqwan boy. She run away with him when
they go down from Sitka.
She was KiksAdi. The KiksAdi cawAt [women] are
crazy?like . . . [the names of two sibs are deleted].
But Kagwantan, Tl'uknaxAdi, and iat'kA'ayi are
good. That's why they run away. They never think
they're going to have [cause] a war.
Then she stay outside. She got her monthly all the
time [she pretended]. She tell a lie because she was
going with that boy.
The Kagwantan sent some of their young boys to get
their wife back. After a while they see the woman.
"What's the matter? We thought you had your
monthly."
In the old days they were afraid of monthly. It was
bad for a woman to be among men [at that time].
Men are going to die or get poor.
After they found out, the Kagwantan boys try to
take her back. The C^Atqwan don't like it. They had
a war and the Kagwantan got killed. The Kagwantan
got that woman and took her clothes off and beat her.
The Kagwantan people did it. They got mad. . . .
. . . At Gusex, Dry Bay, there was a Kagwantan
boy, DaxquwAdiin, my cousin. His father was Yixudu'-
as, TlukwaxAdi. When he was small, the boy used to go
in the water with his father. It was freezing, and he was
stiff, like he was dead. After a while, next time, he do it
again. Next time, too. Then he's used to it. He was
strong as a rock. Big muscles. Till he was 20, he used
to go in the water in winter, and sleep without a blanket.
Yixudu'as's wife was crying all the time, because her
people had been killed by the C&Atqwan. That's why
the boy was training to kill the CiAtqwan. . . .
. . . The fight was in Sitka. DaxquwAdEn went
down from Dry Bay to Sitka. They were going to
have a peace dance, exchange hostages. They put
feathers on their head and red paint, lexw (or le'i"), on
their face. They call it kuwakan 'deer,' and peace dance.
Each side takes one man from the other tribe.
"DaxquwAdEn is sick. DaxquwAdEn is sick," they
said, but he just pretended. He's ready for the fight.
He hid a spear under his clothes.
He goes over there. "What you go there for? Leave
them alone."
"No, I can't. My mother is crying."
He open the door. The people just go to the end of
the house, diyE. They just go in the end rooms. It's
just full of Kagwantan and C&Atqwan people.
Then he killed eight people with one spear thrust.
They used tsagAl in fights?a knife tied on the end of
a stick.
He killed all the C^Atqwan. All the Kagwantan had
knives in then- pockets.
On the other side of Sitka, they put the dead bodies
there. They call the place Foxtcikanu [? obviously an
error in my transcription], meaning that the waves
sound funny when it [the tide ?] is going out.
Just one C^Atqwan was left over there?one little
boy. He hid in the gravehouse. He was there without
eating. After a while they found him. He was just
skinny. The man who found him asked: "What's your
name?" The boy told him his name was Qa-tlen, 'Big
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 281
Man.' It was his father's name.71 [So the man drop his
big knife. He was so down-hearted he don't want to
kill him . . . .
. . . My grandma [father's mother] was about 10
years old when they stayed with the sister of Yixudu'as.
He was my grandma's uncle [mother's brother].
Yixudu'as was laughing and singing that his son killed
all those C^Atqwan. He called: "Hi !" [high
pitch]. They call that when somebody kills someone . . . .
They killed them to pay off, to even off . . . .
. . . In 1922 or 1925 they had peacetime in Sitka, real
peace this time. They put two big knives on the dish,
one for C^Atqwan and one for Kagwantan, and put the
American flag over them. Then they take it off.
It was real peace this time. But still they get mad at
us. They aren't satisfied. [The informant mentioned a
G&Atqwan man of her acquaintance who "even now
won't shake hands with me."]
That's why we Kagwantan women, we stay with our
husbands. If we see something wrong, we don't know
it [i.e., overlook our husbands' faults], because we
don't want our brothers to get killed [if a fight starts].
Kagwantan men respect their wives, too. They think
about that KiksAdi woman.
[The informant sang a song composed by two Kag-
wantan men, mourning those slain in this war; 1954,
3-1-A, -D; March 21, 1954.]
Two men made it. It is called Kackisn's song?
Kacktiii daciyi . . . . They say it was their own
craziness. That's the way the song is. That's her own
doing like that, that [caused] the war going on over
there. That's why people died over there. Those two, five
Kagwantan . . . . They take the wife away, Kagwan-
tan's wife. That's why those five people go after their
wife. That's why they got a war. Some old people tried
to stop it. They said: "Let her go, that wife. Those
C^Atqwan can have that wife." Those young people
want to war about it. That's why this song is sung
like that.
[The words of the song seem to mean:]
It's your own fault,
Wolf people,
You wounded yourselves.
[Second stanza:]
Always longing for you,
My uncles,
I want to dream about you.
Just two Kagwantan got saved over there: Kack^n
and Lxudagege. . . .
71
 Qa-tten is a Dry Bay Tlukwa?Adi name, which could indeed
have been that of the Kagwantan's father. This means that the
boy was a Raven.
[The following was told by Harry K. Bremner in
answer to a query as to whether a peace hostage,
kuwakan, had ever been killed. This story properly
belongs to the Sitka Kagwantan, but is not much told
at Sitka because of the enmity it rouses. (May 2, 1954.)]
[The informant had never heard of a kuwakan being
killed.] Never. The only time it happened in the history
is in the Sitka war against Wrangell. They killed all the
kuwakans at once. That's the only [case I heard of]. . . .
Sitka Kagwantan?-they're the ones. I forget the
name of the man, the one that's the cause of the trouble.
They [Wrangell people] took his wife away from him.
But he don't care. He called that man his brother, so
he don't care. [The Sitka Kagwantan man and the
Wrangell man were the sons of half-brothers, and though
in different Eagle-Wolf sibs were "just like real brothers.
That's Indian custom" for paternal parallel cousins
like this to call each other brother and to share wives.
"That's the way it happened over there."]
That Kagwantan, his [the Wrangell man's] father's
brother's son, stay at Wrangell, and [the Wrangell man]
took his wife away, because that's the Indian custom.
They always take the oldest brother's wife away. It's
fine and dandy with him. He went back to Sitka.
So his whole tribe called him a coward [because] he
didn't do anything. So he go back. He change his mind.
He don't want to do anything to his own brother?just
want to take his wife back, so everybody would shut up.
Instead of that, his brother killed him.
So they reported back to Sitka what happened. So
the Kagwantan go over to make peace and pay this
man's life [presumably to get paid for the Kagwantan
that had been killed].
On the way, they find one of the leaders over here
[i.e., a Wrangell leader]. His name is YAntAn tcit (or
YAnliAk tcit). T6it?-that means "sea bird" [murrelet].
He was one of the headmen of the C&Atqwan. . . .
Him and his wife, they found him in a canoe. So they
take him in the war canoe, and they do lots of things to
him. They take him as a coward [GAtxan?'coward;'
berdache or homosexual].
This man said: "If you Kagwantan want to kill me,
kill me. [Or] Put a feather on top of my head." That
means peace.
[They were not torturing him.] No, those fellows were
just fooling around with him. No harm?just funning
with him.
So those C^Atqwan, they know it right away. That's
why they come in war canoe.
The Kagwantan land. . . . When they see that
Wrangell bunch is coming on the war canoes, they put
that feather on the head, but it's too late [i.e., they tried
to treat their captive as a peace hostage]. They
282 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
[CiAtqwan] get mad already. When they land, those
C^Atqwan are ready [for] that war canoe.
YAnikn-tcit says: "Did you get my gun?" They
already had guns at that time. He gets his gun. He
shoots the Kagvvantan in a bunch. That's when they
start a war?kill all the Kagwantan. Just one left,
I think. He went back to Sitka. No more Kagwan-
tan. . . .
Two Kagwantan canoes were saved. One is named
Tcatl yakw?in English it's a 'Halibut Canoe.1 I forget
the other one. . . .
[At Sitka, the elder Kagwantan had a meeting.]
Just a few old ones have a meeting, decide what to do.
They decide next generation [will seek revenge??].
Anyway this happened.
This man here, he was born at 'Akwe?that Kag-
wantan baby. I don't know how many years after.
And his grandfather was gray and old when he took
this baby. He said: "This is the Kagwantan that's
going to revenge, this boy." [It was DaxquwAdiin].
So he train him. The Indian people believe at that
time, [those who] are trained from the icy water be-
come brave and strong. So it's a baby yet, his grand-
father took him in the water before daylight?ice
water. And that's the way he raise him till he become
a man. When this man was old enough to understand
things, his grandfather tell him a story, about what
the C?Atqwan did to the Kagwantan.
And he did it. He killed all those C&Atqwan?women,
kids, everyone. No one left. No opposite tribe [i.e., he
killed all the wives and children, too]. The C^Atqwan
[women were] coming down with their husbands?he
kill them all. He killed everything.
I think it's not too long ago. I don't know how many
years ago. My father tells the story. . . . This man
that took in DaxquwAd?n where they were dancing
as kuwakan [peace officers], he's got canoe sails. He put
it around him, that man, and he [DaxquwAdfen] hide.
That's the way he walk into that house. He's going to
fight. And this man [who smuggled him into the peace
dance] was still living when my father see him, not too
long ago.
The Sitka Kagwantan, some of them didn't want a
war. These Wrangell people were coming to Sitka for
peace. So the good time was going on already, peace
dance, everything. But this man, DaxquwAd^n, he
still want revenge. But his own people don't want it.
He's all by himself in the community house at the time.
Everybody goes [had gone] to that dance. He's always
by himself. . . .
[The following was added later, to explain how
DaxquwAdEn had come to change his mind. He had
originally agreed to the peace.]
He give up already, himself. When the Kagwantan
were talking to him, they don't want no war. He already
change his mind.
But just those Wrangell people, C&Atqwan, carried
on their words?talk too wild. That makes the Kagwan-
tan mad again. They talk too wild.
Those Kagwantan boys, young fellows, came to a
person. He was working on his fishook, nAxw?fishhook
for halibut. And the young fellows, these Kagwantan
boys, they come to him and say: "What's the name of
your hook?" [All halibut hooks are carved to represent
something living, and are named.]
And this C^Atqwan said: "It's a brave hook," he
said. "It's brave." He said: "It's a 'Anda Yel." That's
where the Kagwantan people got killed?'Anda.
That's where the Kagwantan were defeated. And he
calls his hook, "It's 'Anda Yel." ['Raven at the End of
the Village'?]
And he said again, "That Raven eating the human
body at 'Anda That's a Raven," he said, "eating
Kagwantan body?Raven."
So those boys don't like it. They reported to their
uncles what this man said.
And those other Kagwantan boys coming to the other
Wrangell man. Oh, they were just talking to each other.
They take up that man's gun and said, "Your gun is
crooked."
"Yes, it's crooked," he said, "but it was the best gun
at 'Anda," he said. "I get two in one shot with that
gun," he said.
So the Kagwantan don't like it. And they say that's
how DaxquwAdlsn has already changed his mind, then
he gets mad again. . . .
[DaxquwAdEn was alone in the house, while the
others had gone to the peace dance.]
His grandfather was helping him. He had it?tsagAl',
'spear'?so long [both arms outstretched]. The handle
was wood?something like mahogany. They don't
have it in Alaska. It drifts ashore. Sometimes a lucky
man finds it on the beach. They use it for the bow,
for bow and arrow. That's what they use it for, that
handle [for the spear].
He was practicing all the time. Nobody was around,
when they went from the house. He ran around with
the spear. When he go into a room like this, it's too long.
But it's good to be long, so nobody [can] rush [him].
His grandfather keeps cutting it, until it's about that
long [from fingers of one outstretched arm to the
elbow of the other]. When he goes in the room with it,
it's handy.
He practice from room to room, and [the spear] is
just right. It's short.
But his grandfather told him: "It's too short. You're
going to get killed before you revenge Kagwantan."
But the brave man said, "No. This is just right."
Before that [before the time that he went to kill
them], he was coming to that place, to have a dance.
Just to see how the people are [sitting], and who the
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 283
people were. His song is sung in there. He composed it
himself?just half of it.
[The kuwakan (peace hostages) were dancing.] He
was coming to that place?in peace. He [DaxquwAd?n]
sing a song and he dance?but just half of that song.
After he ended, he said: "The generation after me
is going to compose the end of my song." He already
told it [by that] he's not going to be living tomorrow,
he's dead today. But just the same, the C#Atqwan
were too slow. He already tell them: "That's going to
be the end of my song. Next generation after me is
going to finish my song." And his song, that's his song
tells it to them already, that he's going to have a war
with them, but just the same they're too slow, don't
catch on.
When he finished, he walked right out. He don't
wait.
And he dressed up for war. . . . I don't know how
he dressed. He had a blanket around him. And he
painted his face with black. That's for war. On the
eyes. That means war. [The narrator showed how he
put black paint on the heels of his palms and rubbed
these on his eyes.]
After he [had been] dancing in there for a while, he
went in there [outdoors??] just to see the town standing,
how it looks.
It was moonlight, at night. Lots of people in the
village, on the street. He didn't mention where he was
going, or said where he was going when he dressed up
for war.
Every person he meet on the street, he said, "I'm
going now." He said it close to the face [i.e., putting
his face close to the face of the person he met]. Nobody
say a word. Next one he meet again, in a little whiles?
"I'm going now." And nobody ask him where he's
going.
Just before he came to the door, he met an old man.
But that man is grandson of Kagwantan. No matter
how old [young] you are, you call them "grandson."
And DaxquwAdsn said: "Grandson." But it's an old
man, older than him. "Grandson, I'm going now."
And that old man stopped looking at his face, and
encouraged him. And at the same time the old man
said: "You're going to jump into a giant devilfish."
That's all. "You're going to jump into a giant devilfish."
Then the big brave man, he's got a tear in his eyes.
It's not for his life. He's not going to revenge his tribe.
He thinks it's that way?[that] he's going to be killed
before he kills anybody. He stopped for a while, and
cried. He don't hold them back.
After he stopped crying he said: "Hu! Hu! Hu! Hu!"
That means war. And he put black on his face again.
[The narrator made the same gesture of grinding the
heels of his palms against his eyes.]
But that man took him [in the house]. I don't know if
he's brother-in-law [i.e., the nakani, or 'sib brother-in-
law' who officiates at a peace dance]. I don't know,
I can't tell that one. He had that war canoe sail around
him, that man. And he hides that man behind him,
that's how he walk in.
As soon as they take him inside, he took his sail?he
used it for a blanket?took it off, and put it to the side.
He [DaxquwAdEn] had brown bear ears on his head.
He tied them up with a string, I think. That means
it's for war.
He said to the C&Atqwan: "It's your father's slave
you got a war with? Is this your father's slave, you had
a war with them before? Before you pay the life, you
tried to make a peace." That's the way he said.
[The narrator explained:] In Tlingit, it's that way:
Your father's slave, you can do anything to him. You're
the boss. If you want to kill it, you can kill it, because
it's your father's slave. [He agreed that DaxquwAd^n
was saying "You treat us like dirt."]
That C^Atqwan, that one I don't know. He's stand-
ing by the door. He's a strong man, almost a giant. His
wrist, right here?everytime they tell the story, they
put their wrists together [to show] they're so big.
He stands by the door. If there's any trouble, he's
going to stop it?on the C&Atqwan side. When he look
at that man's face [DaxquwAdiin's face], he don't do
anything. He just smile at him. He never move, he
never say nothing. I don't know if he's nakani [brother-
in-law] to C&Atqwan, or anything.
So that Kagwantan brave, he don't use his spear to
kill that man. He just push him with his spear out of
the way. And he fell against the wall and his head is
busted. He's so strong, that Kagwantan brave.
Then he use his spear?-take two at a time. And every
one that's sitting there [is] helping him, all those
Kagwantan braves. All those Kagwantan sons help, too,
but they don't mention it afterwards. [These were the
sons of Kagwantan fathers.] And Kagwantan sons, they
all help, too. It was opposite tribe [i.e., the sons were
Ravens].
[The Kagwantan and the C&Atqwan, too, we gather,
had come with knives and guns.]
Kagwantan on this side, and Wrangell on this side?
that's peace. This one dancing, and that one dancing
after a while.
[The Kagwantan] had knives ready, under their
blankets or their shirts. They're supposed to search.
Nakani in a peace are supposed to search to see if
they got anything. . . .
[The Kagwantan kuwakan had knives.] They sew
it to the skin before they became kuwakan. Kagwantan
did it. To their own skin?right here [inside of the left
thigh]. They don't search for gun here, they search up
here [body and chest]. They sew it down here, to the
284 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
skin. . . . Kuwakan is 4 day's dance. Two days, I
think [they wore the knives]. Supposed to be 4 days.
DaxquwAd?n didn't wait that long. . . .
I forget the name of that one brave man, C^Atqwan.
He had eagle tails, one in each hand, but he hold two
pistols under them when he danced. Way before that
DaxquwAd?n came in, he told his people to go ahead,
kill the Kagwantan, start another war with the Kag-
wantan. He knows what's going to happen. But they
refuse him. . . .
Anyway, he still there yet. When he had killed about
half those C&Atqwan, that DaxquwAdin saw that
man on the floor, that C#Atqwan brave. He play dead.
Soon as DaxquwAdfn come close to him, he sat up
with the pistols. DaxquwAdfin thought that's enough,
he had killed enough. He just put up his spear like that
[holding the spear horizontally above his head].
[The C^Atqwan shot at him.] But the gun don't go
off. The hammer's gone. The other one don't go off.
Nobody knows what happened. I think he lost the
ammunition that time.
So then DaxquwAdEn killed him. . .
That house they had a war in is Qukw hit/Box House.'
It's still there yet [in Sitka], They said about 4 feet all
around [the inside of the walls] is red after that war's
over. And that house in Sitka today is still there?not
the same house, built not long ago. They paint it red,
just Hke it used to be. . . .
The next one [episode], I don't know much. They
[CiAtqwan] came back. They don't reach Sitka. I don't
know what happened to them. . . . The Kagwantan
just chase them back. [The story of this incident is not
told, now that peace has been made.] . . . If his people
were agreeing with him [the C&Atqwan], he was going
to kill all the Kagwantan again. But his people don't
want it. . . .
[When questioned if the heads of the victims were
taken:] Just the hair. Not all of them, just the big ones.
CiAtqwan took Kagwantan heads off in the first war?
just big shots. So Kagwantan got them, too, the big
shots, big names. Not small men like me, they wouldn't
bother me, they wouldn't cut my hair off. Big ones.
[The informant was not certain what was done with the
scalps so taken.] I don't know. . . . They used them
in a potlatch?I don't know the law of that one.
[When the scalp was hung up, the hair moved.]
That's just only one person?that brave C&Atqwan
man. Spinning all the time, hanging up, never stop. All
the others are hanging there, but his never stops spin-
ning all the time. . . .
[In discussing this war, Minnie Johnson added,
May 23, 1954]
At that ANB convention in Angoon they made peace.
They stop talking to one another, they got that argu-
ment in their hearts, but at that convention they go
together, that ANB, so they have that brotherly love.
Make them shake hands with them?1926.
[HKB added:] Still bad feeling even today. Still bad
feeling. Even the young ones?.
An Averted War With the Tsimshian
The waters off Icy Bay were famous sea-otter hunt-
ing grounds, visited by hunting parties from distant
areas, although the hunt was supposedly controlled by
the leading Kwac?qwan chief. These parties of hunters
were often brought up from southern Alaska or from
British Columbia on sailing ships, as a White financial
venture. Other parties of natives came in their own
canoes. It was in these waters that the Yakutat natives
nearly had a war with the Tsimshian. The following
story was narrated in Tlingit by Annie Johnson, a
Kwac&qwan woman born about 1875, who also sang
the commemorative song based on the incident. These
were recorded, as well as the translation by Minnie
Johnson (1952, 3-1-C; July 13, 1952). The tune is
apparently that of an older song, to which Ckinan,
Tl'uknaxAdi, Minnie Johnson's mother's "brother,"
put new words. The characters in the story are Yakutat
Chief George Yaxodaqet, head of the ranking Kwack-
qwan lineage, Raven's Bones House, and as such,
"owner" of the Icy Bay hunting grounds. His ordinary
name was Qa?wAtxe'tc (heard also as Kauqatqdtc, etc).
He was born before 1862 and died about 1903. B. A.
Jack, Wasfx (or Watsix), also Kwac&qwan, was born
in 1860 and died in 1948. Txak-'ic, also Kwaciqwan,
was called Nanut, and had the English name, Shorty.
Clarence Milton, born 1918, is his namesake.
These events occurred when Minnie Johnson, born
1884, was a little girl, and the natives were living at
the Old Village, probably after 1890.
[The following version of the story is based upon the
recorded translation, supplemented by explanations
given later the same day, but not recorded on tape.
There has been a slight editing of some of the phrasing.]
This song that we just got through singing, I was
asked to translate it in English, so I'll try. . . . That's
Ckinan's song. Somebody composed it, but he put the
words for it. Because it's about how those Tsimshian
came in four big war canoes. They used to go sea-otter
hunting to Ivy Bay, to Yakategy, in little canoes,
t61yac. . . .
I was only a kid when this happened, when those four
war canoes came up from Metlakatla to Yakutat.
They generally travel all the way up from there to
Yakutat. . . . Chief George is taking care of them.
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 285
They all start together and went to the place where
they hunt. . . .
So the Yakutat people is ready to go to Yakategy
and Icy Bay. In the springtime they go there to hunt
sea otter. They went as far as Yakategy. They were
hunting for sea otter.
You know, long time ago there is no such a thing as
gun or revolver here in Yakutat. They use bow and
arrow and they go up sea-otter hunting with it. But
these Tsimshians got all kinds of guns, revolvers, and
big guns, and all that. . . . The Yakutat people has to
load shells themselves, and use tcun6t [bow and arrow],
and get after the sea otter until it is short winded, and
that is the way they kill it. . . .
So they went out together to kill those sea otters.
The Yakutat people know how to hunt sea otter. They
get after the sea otter until it gets short winded. It's
easy to hit them with bow and arrow. . . . The canoe
is chasing from one end of the water to the other.
Sometimes it goes way out of sight of shore. . . .
So this sea otter was hit by Chief George with his bow
and arrow. At the same time this Tsimshian got his
gun out and take a shot at it. And he claimed that his
gun killed the sea otter.
They are way out. They didn't even see the
mountains, they were so far out [when] they chase
the sea otter.
Then one of the Tsimshian jumped in Chief George's
canoe and grabbed the sea otter and throw it in the war
canoe. And Chief George's outfit didn't like that very
good. That's an awful insult the way they do?come
all the way up here from Metlakatla to get sea otter
from Chief George which he's entitled to it. He is the
one?his bow and arrow killed that. Every canoe that's
around there?everyone that's around in the canoes
sees that Chief George killed that sea otter. The
Tsimshians tried to claim it, and then they grabbed
that sea otter and throw it in the big war canoe.
Well, this here fellow, his Tlingit name is Txak-'ic,
and his English name is Clarence [his English name was
Shorty; Clarence now has his Tlingit name]?he took a
tumble and jump aboard the war canoe, and he just
walk through the Tsimshians and step on the cross
pieces of that war canoe, and grabbed that sea otter
and threw it back in Chief George's canoe. . . .
Trouble begin. All the Tsimshians got revolvers.
The Yakutat people got nothing with which to defend
themselves. . . . And then they start a war right
in the water where they can hardly see the mountains.
They didn't even know where they are, but they get
in a war. And the Tsimshians are getting ready to get
every native in Yakutat killed. The Tsimshians intend
that, to kill every native. They took their revolvers
and their guns out, but the Yakutats got nothing but
bow and arrow. They got guns enough [i.e., muzzle-
loaders], but you know they got to load the guns
themselves. At that time there's no such thing as
ready shells. You have to load it by hand at that time.
[See pp. 186-187].
That was a long time ago. I was only a little girl
then when I see those four war canoes myself, landed
in front of this village.
Then a fellow by the name of B. A. Jack?his Tlingit
name is Watsii (or Wa?ix)?being he's traveled
around Southeast of Alaska and he happened to be in
Metlakatla, I guess. And he knows the meaning of this
Gmo [probably klnau; rendered as Mnayu in the song].
Gino, that's Tsimshian word. He just got up and say
it, raised his right hand and said "Gmo!"
All at once this here fellow that seems to be a head of
the Tsimshian?he's big, husky, and got a patch on
his eye?-he order the four canoe load of Tsimshian to
get their weapons down, get their guns down, be quiet.
That means, Mr. B. A. Jack demonstrates to the
sea-otter hunters that means "That's enough!" and
"No more trouble!"
So this song that we sing here regards to that.
The words are about that Gmo business. So you hear
the song, the song composed by Ckman, he's my uncle.
It's composed like that:
"Grab hold of the word that means Gmo! so every-
body can use it." That's what the Yakutats captured
from the Tsimshian. They know what that means,
and find out from Mr. B. A. Jack what that Gino
means. So the song is composed like that:
"Grab hold of that word, so everybody can hear it,
and keep it, captured." So that can be remembered
by what happened, by what that Gmo means to the
Yakutats, [when] those Tsimshians intended to get
into war with the Yakutat. But this word Gmo means
"Quit fighting!" So this song is composed about it.
"Grab hold of that Gino! So everybody can hear it!"
So they captured this song. That's when it was com-
posed. That's all I can remember.
And on the way back from Yakategy, before they
start to Icy Bay, one of the Tsimshian saw this sea
lion. . . . They went ashore. And he tried to grab his
gun out of the canoe. He's supposed to take a shot
at the sea lion, but instead the gun went off by accident,
and killed his mother's husband, his stepfather-
killed Viim dead.
So they can't leave the body in Icy Bay. . . . The
Tsimshian don't want to get one of the people's spirits
in the hunting ground.
So this Patch-Eye, big, husky fellow went to work.
. . . He's some kind of doctor amongst the Tsimshian
people. They took the body down as far as Icy Bay,
where he get operated on. [The doctor] took his insides
out from him, and [then] they take his dead body down
to Yakutat. . . . And they put the body in a tent.
286 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
The boy who shot the man was watching him so the
flies don't get in. . . . That's all I remember.
The glacier has been a way out. The natives here
claim that because they buried human guts in that
place, the glacier is retreating now. . . . Because the
inside part of the man that got killed is buried in
that ice, that's why the glacier is melting away so
fast. The glacier used to be sticking out, but now you
can hardly see any glacier there. . . . I suppose
warm weather has something to do with it.
Mud Bay is called TsutsxAn geyi, 'Tsimshian Bay.'
It's on the west side of Icy Bay. [Pp. 26-28, 95, 97.]
[After listening to a Teqwedi "walking song" with
Tsimshian words (1954, 6-I-G), a type used by guests
at a potlatch, Louise Peterson, a Kwad?qwan woman,
observed (May 16, 1954):]
There's one time they have a kind of war with the
Tsimshian over to Icy Bay. Mrs. George Johnson
spoke about it [cf. the account recorded 1952, 3-I-C,
translated above]. There's lots of songs like that they
[Tsimshian] gave for forgiveness, and I guess that's
the time they got that song.
[Another couple, Olaf and Susie Abraham, who heard
this recording, were of the opinion that Old Sampson,
Yandulsin (1866-1948), had composed the tune,
while Ckman made the words. At that time, if any
strangers came to Yakutat, or any ship came in, Chief
George used to welcome them to his house as Chief
Minaman had done previously.]
Geological Changes in the Yakutat Area
A number of native traditions, as we have seen,
report movements of glaciers. Some of these accounts
refer to the remote past, and others to events within
the memory of living persons. Some are of such a
mythical nature that they are discussed in a later
section.
Apparently after the glaciers that covered Icy Bay
and most of Yakutat Bay at the time of the Kwaciqwan
migration had retreated, a village was established in
Icy Bay. Or, the site may have been up an estuary
formed by the Yatse Kiver. This village was over-
whelmed by a subsequent advance of the ice. A brief
account of this event was recorded by Topham in 1888,
and we heard a somewhat longer version. Both of these
accounts should be compared with the incident re-
corded by Swanton (1909, Tale 104, pp. 337 f.) in
which a glacier destroyed Shadow House and Sandhill
Town, somewhere on the coast north of Cross Sound,
and so forced the emigration of the Kagwantan to
Grouse Fort. The advance here, and that in Icy Bay,
probably culminated in the 18th century. Tarr and
Martin (1914, pp. 46 f.), who quote the story from
Topham, believe that the destruction of the village in
Icy Bay took place between 1837 when Belcher sailed
into "Icy Bay" (the mouth of the Yatse) and 1886
when Schwatka saw only a wall of ice (p. 28, map 15,
p. 98) and the silted delta of the river. The ice was not
quite so far advanced when Vancouver's expedition
sighted Point Riou in 1791 (p. 000).
ICY BAT
[According to Topham (1889 a, pp. 432^33):]
"I learned too, from George ["the second chief at
Yakutat"], the origin of the name Yahtse'-tah. There
is a tradition amongst his people, that formerly there
was a large bay running up from the sea to the very
foot of St. Elias; that there was a village at the head
of that bay; that all around the village was swampy
or muddy (Yahtse) ground; that the mountain was
therefore called Yahtse-tah-shah, tah meaning harbor
[t'A, 'bottom side,' Boas, 1917, p. 107], and shah
[ca] meaning peak; that a river flowed into the bay
from the north-west, where there were large glaciers;
that the east of the bay was all ice, but the west,
sand and trees; that at the mouth of the bay dwelt
some Indians, and that one day an Indian came
rushing home crying "Quick, quick, the ice is com-
ing," pointing to the river down which the ice was
seen to be rapidly advancing. The Indians escaped
along the shore. The ice came on right across the
bay, till it struck the opposite shore, when it turned
and continued down the bay to the sea, swallowing
the village in its course."
[In a later article Topham (1889 b, p. 350) sum-
marizes the above and adds:]
"The Indian tradition states further that the ice
subsequently descended and covered up the harbour,
but the river which flows beneath that ice and
descends into the sea close to where we were en-
camped, is still called the Yats6tah-hein."
[The following version was told by William Thomas,
July 4, 1952.]
There used to be a village at Mud Bay, just inside
Icy Cape [Point Guyot]. My Dad told me: "Don't
say anything bad or laugh at the glaciers." Here in
olden days they had a place like Chicago Harbor
[Eleanor Cove on the east side of Yakutat Bay]. There
are high mountains, and the glacier is just coming over
the mountain. They can see just a little piece of it.
They were cooking king salmon. It was a king salmon
stream. The young people who were doing it called to
the glacier: "Hey! Eat something!" They did it just
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 287
like they were giving it out at a party [serving food at a
potlatch]. They were young people, just happy young
boys. It was a mistake like, to invite the glacier to eat.
They say afterwards, it start growing. It grew and
covered everything.
You can tell, too, it's true?all that story. Under the
ice are young roots and you can still see the points of
the trees just half sticking up. You can see the way the
wood was all turned upside down. It's because the
young boys invited the glacier out to dinner. It's some
place in Icy Bay. There used to be a river there. Maybe
it don't look that way now.
[Additional observations cited as evidence by the
informant are quoted on pp. 97-98.]
RUSSELL FIORD
[Tarr (Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 128) reports:]
"A very old Yakutat native, without knowing my
interest in glacial recession, stated to me, as translated
by my boatman Henry, that he remembered the time
when this glacier [Nunatak] extended as far as Marble
Point [in Russell Fiord]."
[Beasley or Fourth Glacier also cut off the head of
Russell Fiord making an ice-dammed lake. About the
middle of the last century, this barrier broke, releasing
the lake waters, which no longer drained down the
Situk River. This event was described by Harry K.
Bremner, whose father was a young man at the time.
The latter died when his son was 16, i.e., about 1910.]
The people were near the lake, picking strawberries.
Great numbers of wonderful, big strawberries grew all
around the lake. There were so many that everybody
would go out to pick them. The younger men [boys in
their teens?] had the job of just carrying basketful
after basketful of the picked berries to load them in the
war canoes. That was what my father was doing. Every
time he came back to the boat, he found that it was
going dry, so he would push it off into deeper water
before going back for another load. When this happened
a few times he realized that the water was really going
down. He reported back to the people: "The river is
going down!"
Everybody ran and got into the canoes and started
down the stream. Suddenly a big wall of salt water
rushed downstream. Everybody got away safely. There
was still enough water in the stream for the canoes.
But after that, Situk River was just a little one. [HKB,
July 11, 1952.]
[Jack Ellis, in 1940, when traveling with Harrington
in Russell Fiord, spoke of some event which may have
been related to the retreat of the ice.]
When telling myths they tell of Tshaa 'iittii, literally
'the backside of Seal Rock,'?not the bay, but the
land there. Big catastrophe was when four lakes became
three. [No further details are given.]
FALLING GLACIERS IN DISENCHANTMENT BAY
One of the small glaciers, 1,000 feet high on the
western wall of Disenchantment Bay, opposite Haenke
Island, Tarr and Butler (1909, pp. 67 f.) called "Fallen
Glacier" because the whole mass of ice fell into the
water on July 4, 1905, after a rainstorm. Its crash
produced waves that rose and fell for half an hour
some 15 to 20 feet on the shore of Russell Fiord about
15 miles away where Tarr was working. Later examina-
tion showed that a huge wave, 110 feet high, had broken
off the alder bushes half a mile south of the site of the
crash, and had also swept to a height of 115 feet on
the northwest end of Haenke Island. Bushes a mile
away were uprooted for 30 feet above the waterline.
"The Indians stated that this was the third time
the glacier had fallen; but on questioning them it
was evident that the tradition merely referred to a
glacier falling from the west side of the bay, and
not specifically to this one. The last fall, which is
said to have occurred about sixty years ago [1845],
is reported to have destroyed a hundred Indians
who at the time of the fall were at the summer
sealing camp a few miles south of Haenke Island.
It is said that only one of the Indians in the camp
was saved. It is fortunate that in 1905 the Indians had
left the bay before the glacier fell, for it is hardly
conceivable that their canoes could have lived in the
floating ice during the passage of such waves as this
glacier avalanche generated in their sealing ground."
[Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 68.]
[An earlier catastrophe of this kind was described by
Jack Ellis to Harrington in 1940.]
The following WuganiyE story happened long before
[the massacre] [see pp. 261-270], and is a legend. The
olden people always wanted to see food respected and
used in the proper way, and when camped at WuganiyE
some of the younger people were throwing young sea-
gulls alive into the fire. The proper way was to cut
[the] heads off and pluck them like a chicken. [They]
used to eat young seagulls (fledglings) much. And all
of a sudden a glacier, now only a tiny canyon glacier
straight opposite WuganiyE, and it came as such a
sudden slide, it killed many of the young people
camped at WuganiyE across the bay. [Compare with
the story of the Alsek flood, p. 276.]
THE YAKUTAT EARTHQUAKE, 1899
The most important event within the memories of
the older people is the great earthquake of 1899. At
that time there were no longer any people living on
288 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Khantaak Island, since they had moved to the Old
Village on the mainland north of the mission. The
graveyard was at Point Turner on the island.
Geologists who studied the effects of the earthquake
had to rely on the testimony of residents at Yakutat,
both White and native. Thus Tarr (Tarr and Butler,
1909, p. 92) reports that the earthquake "was of un-
usual vigor" with shocks lasting throughout a period
of 17 days, those of September 10 and September 15
being the worst. As we know, the center was on the
west side of Disenchantment Bay [p. 28].
"The people living at Yakutat, the nearest in-
habited point, report long-continued and terrifying
shaking of the ground. Some prospectors camping
near Variegated Glacier [east of Hubbard Glacier at
the northern end of Russell Fiord] make a similar
report, adding to it the statement that the most
violent shakings were accompanied by noises like
thunder, as huge avalanches of snow and rock
descended from the neighboring mountain slopes.
. . . The Yakutat natives declare that in places the
'face of the mountains was totally changed,' and my
observations lead me to accept this statement as
essentially true." [Tarr and Butler, 1909, p. 92.]
[The following account was given by Minnie Johnson
who was a young girl at the time:]
Then they lived at Old Yakutat near the mission.
This was when the earthquake came?like thunder.
The earth shook and our water barrel fell over. My
mother told me not to run into the house. The mis-
sionary had a big tent and put it on top of the hill
and we stayed up there. [Apparently many native
families took shelter there.] The bay was full of logs
and stumps and driftwood, and the water came right
up to the houses. Some people thought Yakutat would
be washed away, and they went off in a schooner.
Afterwards they came back. Somebody gave me and
some other children a nickel apiece, and we went
down to Beasley's store in the Old Village to get
cookies. We had to jump over a crack in the ground
back of the village where the salt water squirted up.
Sometimes it would shoot up as high as a treetop.
There was another crack back of the mission. My
stepfather came to get me and my mother was just
wild.
The quakes lasted about a week, and every night my
mother tied her children to her with ropes around our
waists, in case something happened in the night. How
I hated sleeping in that rope!
My mother's mother and my mother's brother were
buried out on the point of Khantaak Island (Point
Turner), and my uncle on my father's side got all
his people in a big war canoe. They went over there
and they dug up the graves to save them from the
water that was coming up. Just as they got my grand-
ma's body out, the whole place collapsed into the
water. [June 7, 1952; edited.]
You know, my uncle Abraham had a war canoe on
hand the time they had the earthquake. Just look
how much respect they had for the dead people! This
bay here was all covered up with stumps and stuff,
and a big wave washed over the houses down in the
village. I was at the mission then. And my grandmother
and her sons were buried at the point of Khantaak.
They tied them up. Everybody lined up in the water
to move my grandmother's body away before that
breaks. Just when they got that dug up, that whole
point broke off. That whole Khantaak point moved
like that. And they carried that body to a high place.
[That reef was made then, it was explained later.]
We all went over to that place, all tied up together
with that big rope from my uncle down. GunEtkAnayi
[opposite moiety] dug the body up, and the opposite
tribe pack it back. All I remember is packing it up.
Coming back we had difficulty. The canoe was just
going round like that; you can't steer ahead. Stumps
and trees just boiling in the bay. I think about it
sometimes at night. They ought to[?] lose their lives
putting a dead person in a safe place!
That's why the people, long time ago, they believed,
they don't want to disgrace their tunAX kugwAsti&
[progeny, descendants]. They got to be good, or else
there'll be a mark on their tunAX kugwAstii?offspring.
Their offspring will be marked if you [they] do any-
thing wrong. Will have no respect. That's why you
got to be brave and honest, or your tunAX kugwAstix
will be marked in the face. You have respect for them.
[March 24, 1954.1
This informant's brother mentioned a 'sad song,'
tuwunikw datx ci, which he intended to record, but
never did. It referred to the destruction of the grave-
yard "on S'US&A [Khantaak]; it broke down when the
earth shook.. . . My uncle's coffin broke down. Dakeyti
kawul?'his coffin broke down.' Two old ladies,
Tl'uknaca, made the song." [Charley White; March
14, 1954.]
History of the Frog House: Trouble Between the
Ti'uknaxAdi and the KiksAdi at Sitka
The history of the Frog crest, and particularly of Frog
House, is worth reporting in some detail, since it illus-
trates so clearly the importance of crests and named
houses to the Tlingit, the historical justification for
such claims, and the ways in which such rights are
defended.
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 289
It will be remembered that the Ti' uknaxAdi found a
huge frozen white frog when they were digging the
foundations of a house at Gusex, and that in con-
sequence they named the building Frog House, decorat-
ing it with Frog House Posts and a Frog Screen (pp.
272-273). Personal names based on the Frog were 'Old
Frog' (Xixt6 cAn), 'Cold Skin' (Duksa'at), and 'Drown-
ing' or 'Sinking' (YEnatA*). Later houses built at Dry-
Bay in 1909 and 1915 were also named Frog House and
contained Frog Screens (cf. pp. 318-319).
No one in the Yakutat-Dry Bay area disputed the
Tl'uknaxAdi right to Frog House, but in Sitka it was
a very different matter, for here the Tl'uknaxAdi found
themselves opposed by the KiksAdi, Ravens like
themselves, but more powerful. The latter say that they
were the first settlers at Sitka and that they were
responsible for driving the Russians out in 1802. They
also claim the Frog as theirs alone. Therefore, when the
Tl'uknaxAdi attempted to dedicate a Frog House at
Sitka, the jealous KiksAdi were roused to anger. This
happened in the winter of 1902-03 (?), shortly before
Swanton's visit to Sitka in January-March, 1904, and
when Jack Ellis, born in Sitka in 1892, was still a small
boy. The latter's version of the episode, told in 1949,
was: The Tl'uknaxAdi at 'Akwe had a Frog House.
Some moved to Sitka and built a Frog House there.
Then the KiksAdi who also claimed the Frog, came into
the house and chopped the frog down. Jack Ellis was
scared that his uncle would shoot them and start a
fight. The KiksAdi were cowards, for they waited to
come until there was only one Tl'uknaxAdi there.
[Swanton (1908, p. 416) mentions the event as follows:]
"The frog was a special possession of the KlksA'dt,
who claimed it from the fact that persons of their clan
had had special dealings with frogs, although the stories
told about them at Sitka and Wrangell differ. The
QanAXA'df of Tongas tell the same story as the Wrangell
KlksA'dl about the marriage of a woman of their clan
to a frog, and probably claim the frog also. In recent
years the QatcAd! at Wrangell and the T!iu'k!naxA'di
at Sitka have tried to adopt the frog, but in the latter
case their attempt to put up the frog carving
precipitated a riot."
Swanton probably heard of this episode from his
informant, Katlian, chief of the Sitka KiksAdi, since
his note reflects the KiksAdi point of view. Most of the
accounts which we heard at Yakutat were from Tl'uk-
naxAdi informants, and so naturally express their side,
although some reports are from persons unrelated to
either sib. Although the trouble was over 50 years old
when we were last hearing about it in 1954, yet it would
be rash to assume that it is "settled," even today.
KIKSADI CLAIMS TO THE FBOG
The KiksAdi claims to the Frog are based upon at
least two different, episodes, one involving marriage to
a frog, and the other the finding of a frog. Some of my
Tl'uknaxAdi informants had read Swanton's Tlingit
Myths and Texts (1909), for at least one copy had
passed from hand to hand before my first visit in 1949,
and after this was destroyed in a fire, I replaced it with
another copy, at the request of the original owner.
Those who told about the trouble with the KiksAdi had
read the stories which the latter tell about their frog,
and the Yakutat people were apparently also familiar
with other versions of the same tales.
According to the first story (Tale 22), told at Sitka
by Dekina'kw, a Box House Kagwantan man, a chief's
daughter in the Yakutat country said something which
displeased the frogs. One appeared to her in human
form, took her to the frogs' home under the water, and
married her. When her own people finally took her
back and drained out of her all the mud she had eaten,
she died. "Because this woman was taken away by the
frog tribe at that place, the frogs there can understand
human beings very well when they talk to them. It
was a KrksA'dl woman who was taken off by the frogs,
and so those people can almost understand them. They
also have songs from the frogs, frog personal names,
and the frog emblem. All the people know about them"
(Swanton, 1909, p. 54).
It is hard to understand why the scene of this story
is set in Yakutat, which is not and has never been
KiksAdi country, unless the woman is supposed to be
the daughter of a mother who had married into Yakutat,
or unless the narrator confused the KiksAdi with people
at Gusex. Swanton (1909, p. 53, note a), in referring to
Story 76, another version of the same tale, remarks that
"This myth is more often localized at Wrangell, and the
woman's name is said to have been Qaltsi'xklt." In
this version, told by the mother of Katishan, chief of
the Raven Kasqlague'df, the frogs are all killed and the
woman survives.
My Tl'uknaxAdi informants did not approve of these
stories.
"I read in the book you gave me (Swanton, 1909,
Tale 22) how the KiksAdi claim the frog. See how that
story is mixed up. They claim right here in Yakutat
that man went under the lake and met that queen of
frogs. A frog spirit captured that man."
Another woman to whom this story had been read
expostulated that it was "not true. . . . That one goes
that xixtc just fell in the lake back there. And that
woman went in the lake. And that xixt6 'anqawu king?
and she married to him. And pretty soon they make
that lake dry, and try to take that woman away from
that xixt6, take that woman in the house. And they
say that woman is KiksAdi! No KiksAdi here! Ice was
here. They never see xixtfc until ice was melted away.
Just so much they want to claim that xixtc, they don'
290 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
care [what they say]." The informant had not heard the
story until she read it "in that old-fashioned book."
Tales 66 and 95 tell how a man and his KiksAdi
wife, while in a canoe somewhere near Sitka, heard a
frog singing. Both claimed it, but finally the man let
his wife have it as a crest for her people.
This tale is accepted by my informants, although they
feel that their claim is at least equal, if not superior,
because they found their frog first; it was found in the
ground, not floating on the ocean or washed ashore on
the beach; and anyway, two different frogs are involved.
"The KiksAdi found their frog on the ocean beach?
afterwards. But TluknaxAdi got theirs from the ground.
They just want to be somebody.
"The KiksAdi tried to chase the Tl'uknaxAdi back to
Gusex. They got jealous. They chopped our xixt6 up.
They don't like to see it. There was a fight through the
court. Judge de Graaf is in Sitka at that time. It's
in the history." (July 7, 1952.)
"When the Tl'uknaxAdi built the Xixtc hit in Sitka,
the KiksAdi busted up the Frog. That's the time they
went to court. They went to court in Juneau, and the
Kosledi and the ^afkA'ayi said they were going to be
Tl'uknaxAdi then. Only just that KiksAdi was saying
all the time, that they owned the Frog. Everytime they
make totem pole they say xixtc is theirs.
"We Tl'uknaxAdi don't say much about it. We just
keep quiet. And we don't try to put it in the history.. . .
"Yes, the Frog belongs to the KiksAdi. Long ago
they get it out on the ocean in Sitka. They went hunting
hair seal, and a big log drift on the ocean and there was
a frog sitting on it, and he make a noise. So they claim
it, but we don't try to take it away from them.
"That's ours from inside, from Gusex. They weren't
going to call it Xixtc hit, but when they dig up the
frog, they call it that [i.e., Frog House]. That's a long
time ago. It's before the KiksAdi found that frog in
the ocean that they claim.
"The GanAxtedi also claim the Frog. They told me
that in Juneau. But they don't fight with us. They
just keep on making it and keep quiet."
Another informant, referring to the original Frog
House at Gusex and its decorations: "They had that
Frog for a totem pole [i.e., crest]. They had it for
generations. That totem proves honestly that Frog
business. It's ours. It's not the KiksAdi's."
Neutral opinion, that is, as expressed by members of
the opposite moiety, is that: "The KiksAdi frog was an
old, old one, and they didn't like the Tl'uknaxAdi to
get a new one." Or, there is a grudging admission that
the KiksAdi were probably right, "because the Frog
is more on their side."
THE FBOG HOUSE AT SITKA
[The following was told by a Tl'uknaxAdi informant
at Yakutat.]
X [a visitor to Yakutat in June, 1952] is KiksAdi.
He is our enemy. KiksAdi is the one?-you hear about
it??when that Frog was chopped up? It just happen
40 or 50 years ago.
[The story of Gusex was sketched.]
They [Tl'uknaxAdi] built a house in Sitka, Xixt6 hit
[Frog House]. And they got the finest carvers together
and they pay a lot of money. When that Frog goes right
in the middle of the house, it sticks haKway out of the
house wall. They chop it out, the KiksAdi tribe. Jack
Ellis' mother [Elizabeth or Duqwetc], and his uncle
[Stagwan], and Jack Ellis?he's just a little boy?they
were just a few in there. It was after everybody eat,
after they potlatch the opposite side.
The KiksAdi just take it down and chop it down.
Pretty near there was shooting over that. They went to
the law for 2 or 3 years. Finally they settle. [The settle-
ment was never explained.] The Tl'uknaxAdi got a
lawyer. If it's a long time ago and there was no law,
they would have slaughtered them?-every woman and
child on the next night.
Oh, that was a upset! Everybody was nervous?even
up here. They just shove that man around here when
he come back. "You coward! Why didn't you get a
gun?" He is "uncle" to Jack Ellis [i.e., one of the
Tl'uknaxAdi sponsors of the house]. . . . Oh, his
brothers got mad at him. His sisters, too. "Who's
going to die for you?"
[This man seems, however, to have done his best to
prevent bloodshed, and was apparently successful.]
I was home when it happened. They called that house
Xixt6 hit. . . . It was the next house to Yay hit [Whale
House].
[The house to be named Frog House would seem to
be that which Swanton (1909, p. 406) lists as Xl'na hit,
'house at the lower end of the town,' so-called because
of its original position in a "town on Alsek river,"
(Gusex on the Akwe?). It was one door from Whale
House and its chief was Stagwan.]
Daniel Benson and Yel nawu carved it [the frog
image] together. They were the best carvers.
[Benson, Ceq'-'ic, later known as Daqusetc, was a
Teqwedi artist at Yakutat, born about 1868 and still
living in 1940. Ye! nawu, 'Dead Raven,' was the Sitka
artist who painted the screen for Drum House in the
Old Village, Yakutat (pi. 92).]
And every thing was peaceful, but that confounded
KiksAdi went in there, nighttime. Just Elizabeth, that
Jack Ellis' mother, and Jack Ellis about that big
[a small boy], and his grandmother [Mrs. Daknaqin,
LtanEt] was down in Xixt6 hit.
IN THREE PARTS MYTH, LEGEND, AND MEMORY 291
. . . They just watch their chance, when everybody's
out, just Elizabeth, and Jack, and Stagwan in there.
It's a dirty trick. They spend a lot of money on that
[frog].
That man got punished for that. He got busted open.
He's head of the KiksAdi, almost got into shooting
scrape. ?u-xwatc, 'Blanket of Tanned Skin/ was
head of KiksAdi. . . .
And everybody get down on StAgwan. "Why
didn't he kill that man?" And Elizabeth grab the gun;
she was going to shoot it. But he grab that gun away
from her and throw it down. She was going to shoot
the people cutting up the Frog. . . .
Her name would have been high amongst our people
if she had killed that [KiksAdi] man. But that Stagwan
grab the gun away. "You go to jail if you kill anybody."
She just bite her nails. But what can a woman do?
Her name would have been printed in a book. Get her
name high. . . . She would have died in prison, just
the same, but her name would have been up amongst
us. Oh, it's a big trouble.
A photograph (pi. 209) taken of the Tl'uknaxAdi
sponsors of the potlatch, shows them posed in front
of a big American flag, with a big carved wooden
Frog, painted white, on a table. The Frog in the picture
is the very one destroyed by the KiksAdi.
AFTERMATH OP TEOUBLE AT SITKA
The aftermath of this affair seems to have involved a
legal case heard before a court in Juneau. It is not clear,
however, whether this was a prosecution for breach of
the peace, or, perhaps more likely, a suit for damages.
In any case, it does not seem to have settled the rival
claims.
Thus, Dry Bay Chief George, the leading Tluk-
naxAdi chief in that area, is said to have taken some
Frog emblem to Sitka, but "while they are in the
hands of the law there, they didn't pay any atten-
tion. . . ." In 1909, a Frog Screen was taken from
Dry Bay to Douglas near Juneau, and Dry Bay Chief
George wanted to take another to Sitka, both ventures
planned to establish Tl'uknaxAdi rights to the Frog.
The Frog Houses built at Dry Bay in 1909 and 1915 (or
1925) (see p. 319), the beginning of another Frog
House in Yakutat in 1950 by Jack Ellis, the carving of
a Frog on the latter's tombstone, and the excitement
when boards of a Frog Screen were reported at Dry
Bay in 1952, all testify to continued Tl'uknaxAdi con-
cern with this crest.
The most interesting consequence was the action
taken by the KiksAdi. This was explained by someone
who showed me the photograph taken of the Sitka
Tl'uknaxAdi and their frog emblem before it was
installed in the house:
"Xu-xwAtc was the KiksAdi that split up the frog.
He warned: 'Don't put that frog on the outside. I'm
going to split it up,' and he did.
"It was sitting on a platform above the door, they
tell me [just as it is in the photograph].
"After he split it up, he went to Ketchikan. Some-
body made him a totem pole up high. He put Tl'uk-
naxAdi stuff [crests] and stuff of another tribe on it to
get even with them. He called it Ta gas, Sleep Pole.
"Now the Tl'uknaxAdi got it. Before that old
KiksAdi die, he said, 'Give it back to Tl'uknaxAdi.
They're my grandfathers [i.e., his paternal grandfather
was Tl'uknaxAdi]. I want to make peace before I die.'
It's in Charley Kitka's house now in Sitka. He gave
$700 to KiksAdi for it. He didn't want to get it free.
"Kitka is a nice man. His Tlingit name is Qaniisgu-
'ic. Kitka's daughter is a college girl."
The picture was entrusted to me, so that I could
have copies made for the potlatch to be given in
Juneau in the fall of 1954, by Frank Kitka, a Tl'uk-
naxAdi man whose mother had just died. While the
photographs could be made almost at once, my Tl'uk-
naxAdi friends at Yakutat were disappointed that I
was unable to send them, in time for the potlatch,
phonograph records of the song for the Frog Screen,
composed by Dry Bay George in 1909. They had
hoped to play the song at the potlatch, and when
recorded (1954, 2-2-D, 6-2-D), the song was preceded
on the tape by an account in Tlingit of how the Frog
had been found at Gusex. I do not know how this pot-
latch may have affected the rival claims to the emblem.
Sentiment in Yakutat, as expressed in 1952, can be
summed up by what a Tl'uknaxAdi informant wanted
to say to a KiksAdi visitor: "You are our enemy. We
don't forget the Frog House."

Yakutat Houses
294 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
ABORIGINAL DWELLINGS AND OTHER STRUCTURES
Meaning of the House
The house (hit) of the Tlingit, that is, the real house
usually occupied only during the late fall and winter,
was more than a solidly built shelter against the cold.
It symbolized for the inhabitant the whole social order,
his place in lineage and sib, and his family ties with
those of the opposite moiety. The house name, which
usually referred to a lineage or sib crest, recalled the
the days of his ancestors whose great adventures
had secured this totemic emblem which, in turn, linked
the maternal line of then- descendents with the order
of nature. Other house names, although not derived
from crests, were equally the property of the lineage
or sib, and all descended from house to house, just
as the names of the inhabitants were inherited from
generation to generation.
The house was also an object of beauty and pride,
skillfully built. It was often adorned with sib crests,
carved and painted on the interior posts and rear
screen, which visibly testified to the glory of the lineage
(hit-tan), 'the people of the house.'
While sheltering the living, the house was also a
memorial to the dead; constructed upon the death of
a former house chief by his successor, it was named and
dedicated at the dead chief's funeral potlatch at which
the new chief assumed the honorable name or title
of the deceased. At this potlatch all the dead of the
lineage were remembered, and the grandchildren of
the houseowners received honorable names, those given
to women and girls often referring specifically to some
feature of the new house or to the graves of the dead
whose memory was being honored.
Probably most of the heavy labor of construction
had been performed by the owners of the house, but,
in theory, members of the opposite moiety had built
and decorated it. They were the guests who were
feasted at the potlatch and rewarded both for their
labors and for their services as witnesses to the new
names. Gifts given to the guests were as liberal as
the owners of the new house could afford, and the
latter were assisted by all the members of then* sib.
For this reason, the house was called a "tribal house."
Because of the prestige of building and dedicating a
house, it was the ambition of every man to do so and
thus become a house chief. Wealthy men were able
to build or rebuild (or repair) a series of houses, often
on the same site, thereby enhancing their personal
status and honoring their dead relatives. As the house
often received a new name, in addition to that of the
earlier structure, so its owner could claim another
hereditary title for himself and bestow additional
honorable names upon his grandchildren. The history
of the Yakutat area and the fortunes of its lineages
can be told in the history of its houses, their locations
in the past, and the rosters of their chiefs.
Within the house lived many related families, so
that it was with justice called a "community house."
The male owners consisted of the house chief or 'master
of the house' (hit sAti), his younger brothers or parallel
cousins, and the maternal nephews of these men, all
members of the chief's lineage. Some of the daughters
of the houseowners remained at home, for it was the
custom for a newly married man to live with his father-
in-law. Usually these young men were also members of
the house lineage or of the sib to which it belonged, but
they might be members of any sib of the same moiety.
A widowed mother, or even a married sister and her
husband, might live in the house, for any relative of a
member of the household could claim hospitality and
shelter. Sisters of the owners who were married into
other houses still reckoned their brothers' lineage house
as then- own, even though they might never have lived
in it, but would visit it to assist their brothers at
potlatch es.
The position of the sleeping quarters of these indi-
viduals and their families reflected their social standing
within the heirarchy of the household?the rear of the
house (deyi) was the place of honor, where the house
chief had his quarters and where he seated visiting
chiefs at feasts, while the front of the house was for
those of little or no account. A large house might thus
contain 50 or 60 persons: Men, women, children, and
slaves.
At the old winter villages ('an), a line of these great
houses faced the beach or the riverbank. Before 1880
or 1890, settlements were not large, and might consist
of 3 to 6 (possibly 8) named houses, in addition to
smaller subsidiary dwellings and other structures. Over
a hundred years ago the threat of war might force
small villages or even camps to erect a wall or a palisade
about the houses for defence. Such settlements were
called 'forts' (nu), and a single house might be so pro-
tected and named. In front of the houses there was a
space for beaching canoes, for drying racks, etc., and for
a path or roadway along the shore. Behind the row of
houses were caches were provisions were kept, bath-
houses, and possibly the huts where women were con-
fined at childbirth. Behind these again, or beyond the
end of the village were the grave houses containing the
ashes of the village dead. The forest behind the houses
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 295
served as latrines and also furnished firewood. Water
was obtained from a convenient stream, lake, or spring.
Within the village, the arrangement of the houses
symbolized the social structure, for the houses of the
same sib were grouped together, often flanking that of
their leading chief. "Daughter houses," erected by
prosperous younger brothers of established house chiefs,
stood beside the "mother house" of their lineage head.
Even the cemetery or 'village of the dead' (sege qawu
'ani) reflected the same social pattern in the arrange-
ment of its grave houses.
Despite the importance of the permanent house and
the established village, these were occupied for a rela-
tively short period during the year. In early spring
people began to move away to a series of hunting and
fishing camps, returning in the late fall, when the
winter's supplies of food had been gathered and stored.
Since autumn and early winter was the time for pot-
latches, many households might be entertaining guests,
or might themselves be attending a series of potlatches
at another village for days on end. The seasons at
which people moved from or returned to their village
depended upon its situation, for some were located on
fish streams where eulachon could be caught in the
spring or salmon in the summer and early fall. Those
who traveled farther away on the annual food quest
often broke up into small groups to occupy temporary
shelters, sometimes at scattered camps. Some fishing
places where salmon were caught and preserved might
have permanent structures, used for smoking fish as
well as for dwellings and big enough for the entire
multifamily household.
The Aboriginal Winter House
It has been so long since houses of purely aboriginal
type were built that it is difficult to secure accurate
information about them. Our oldest informants had
evidently lived during their childhood in houses which
had already been modified somewhat in details of con-
struction, although the general plan and arrangements
of the early type had been retained (pi. 81). There
seem also to have been variations from house to house,
depending perhaps on their relative age, local styles,
or the means and tastes of their builders, so that the
descriptions we received are not consistent. I shall,
therefore, attempt first to give a generalized description
of the type of large house built in winter settlements
in the Yakutat area between 1870 and 1880, and will
later mention various departures from this type. These
again may be compared with the descriptions left us
by early White visitors.
The old houses were built of wide planks and heavy
beams, mortised or fitted together without nails or
lashings, and had low pitched gable roofs. They were
almost square, sometimes a little over 50 feet long,
with a single door at the middle of one end (fig. 9, pp.
296-297).
The doorway (XA wul) was a round or oval hole, cut
through the front of the house well above ground level,
so that it was reached from the outside by two or
FIGURE 8.?Front of Bear House, Khantaak Island, sketched by
Minnie Johnson: o, doorway; b, porch, c, steps.
more steps, and was so small that one had to stoop to
enter (fig. 9A). The interior of the house was excavated
to a depth of 3 to 4 feet, so that one descended a flight
of eight steps to the floor. Sometimes there might be
an outside porch (xfyi kAyaci or ieyi kayaci) across the
front of the house, but this was not common. The door
itself (XA hat) was a wooden plank, and could be se-
cured on the inside with a wooden bar.
To excavate the floor a wooden shovel with a blade
about 12 inches square was used.
All around the four sides of the central open part of
the house was a bench (tai), about 4 feet wide, and
approximately at ground level (fig. 9e). Under this
were lockers equipped with doors hung on heavy skin
hinges. At the level of the bench, but behind it, across
the back of the house (deyikA), and along the side
walls (qAfiiti), were partitioned sleeping rooms ('itkA).
The rooms in the four corners were sometimes store-
rooms (yetiek). One informant spoke of houses with a
series of eight encircling benches, but this was an
ideal never achieved in the Yakutat area, and possibly
referred only to the legendary house of some great
chief in the south. On the other hand, houses were
certainly not limited to one bench, for an informant of
Harrington (MS.) described his father's house (in
Katalla ?) that had three encircling benches ("thaax").
"The shelf-top inside the door of the house they call
296 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
storage
1 b
f
storage?
h-m
FIGURE 9.?Aboriginal winter house, Yakutat. a, b, Bedrooms for the houae head and the next ranking man, or for two house heads.
c, Bedroom ('itkA). d, Painted screen (xin). e, Bench (ta?). /, Fireplace (?an 'iti). g, Steps from floor to bench and from bench to door-
way, h, Doorway (?\ wul). i, Steps from doorway to the ground, j , Main posts (gas), k, Corner posts (gukcAtu gas). I, m, Timbers
at level of eaves (kiyix kAXAt); m laid first, n, Main beama ('AkAjyi 'Adi), o, Rafters, also gable end pieces ('AkA sugu). p, Planks
(taiayit). q, Roof planks in two layers (kA tayi). t, Logs on roof to hold down roof planks ('AkA dAtB). 8, Wooden pegs holding the
roof planks and logs in place ('AkA xuwu).
'iix-taak," but the benches at the sides and back had
different names, which Harrington did not record.
The house chief and his wife or wives traditionally
occupied the central room at the rear of the house.
"The head of the family has got to be right in the
middle" (MJ). But if there was an even number of
rooms across the back, the chief claimed one of the
two middle rooms, while the next highest ranking man
and bis wife had the other. The front wall of the chief's
room, or of both middle rooms, was often covered with
a wooden screen (iin), decorated with the crest of the
lineage. I do not believe that at Yakutat such a painted
partition was ever pierced for a doorway into the chief's
room, as it was on some Tlingit houses (see Emmons,
1916, pi. 2). Less important families occupied the
rooms along the sides of the house. The rooms near the
front might be kept for visiting relatives or poor
dependents.
These rooms were about 8 by 10, or 10 by 12 feet, and
their ceilings, which reached to the level of the eaves,
formed a platform (yac, yacki) below the roof of the
house which could be used for storage or as a sleeping
place. In the story of Chief Fair Weather, his un-
married daughter slept on the platform at the rear of
the house, and there was a slave appointed to take
away the ladder after she had gone to bed. The same
woman who told the story cited a girl in her grand-
father's house at Dry Bay who slept on the platform.
"That's the way olden time?young girls stay up there
so they couldn't get down [and so] some boy can't get
up there until they get married." Her son believed that
only boys would sleep above, and that a chief's daugh-
ter would have a bedroom. "She can't be on the plat-
form, because they store a lot of things up there and
people are going back and forth all the time."
Unmarried youths, poor relations and probably
slaves, sometimes slept on the bench. On it there might
be spaces marked off with "curtains" (mats?) or parti-
tions of some kind, but these were always cleared from
the bench when a potlatch was given. One informant
said, however: "The slaves had their bedrooms at the
IN THREE PARTS
k
YAKUTAT HOUSES 297
_ QJ
nk
L__J
m
luL
FIGURE 9.?Continued
corner by the door. I never heard of letting them sleep
in the main part of the house."
Those living near the front of the house, 'dwellers by
the door' (xAtiaq ku-'u)?"they're the ones really
worked. 'Go get some water!' and they're supposed to
get up and get it. The name means 'the people that live
on the door side.' They're the ones have to work for the
house people," that is, for the chief and his family living
in the rear.
In the middle of the main room, in the sunken floor,
was the square fireplace (?an 'iti), filled with gravel,
small rocks, or sand, and sometimes with broken shells
to look nice, the gravel held in place by a frame of
boards around the sides. One informant described the
hearth as raised from 6 to 12 inches above the floor and
about 5 feet square, but all others indicate that it was
a large sunken pit. Outside the hearth, the floor was
covered with planks about 4 feet wide. During the day
persons might sit on the floor with their backs against
the front of the bench, or on the bench leaning against
the walls of the sleeping rooms.
Above the fireplace was the smoke hole (gankA).
This was provided with a movable board screen
(ganye"tti, gankA t'ayi, gankA yi&i). This could be tilted
on one side or the other, depending upon the direction
of the wind. This had to be done by someone who
climbed onto the roof by means of a ladder (tse't);
a log about 2 feet in diameter, notched for steps.
The framework of the house was supported by heavy
posts (gas) (fig. 9j). There were four very large posts
inside the house to hold the main weight of the roof
(hitkA), one at each corner of the bench. These were
actually flattened logs, shaped more like huge planks
than pillars, about 4 feet wide, and probably 12 inches
thick, to judge from photographs. One side was hol-
lowed out, but the convex surface that faced the middle
of the house was often carved with crests of the lineage.
Sometimes only two posts (at the rear?) were so deco-
rated. As old houses were torn down and replaced by
newer ones, the old carved posts were transferred to
the new buildings. Often the posts had become so
rotted that they could only be set up as carved shells
around or in front of the actual supports.
There were also four smaller and shorter posts
(gukcAtu gas), one at each outer corner of the house.
These did not, as in southeastern Alsaka, rise above the
level of the eaves, which our informant implied was a
modern style, nor were these posts decorated. It is un-
certain whether there were any other posts along the
side or end walls, for while one man said that a large
house might have additional posts at the front and back
walls, others denied this, specifying that the eight posts
already mentioned and the walls themselves were strong
enough to support the roof, or that such wall posts were
employed only in the modern type of construction.
The four main posts inside were notched at the top to
support two huge beams ('AkAxyi 'Adi), 2 to 3 feet in
diameter, that ran from the front to the back of the
house. The corner posts were similarly notched to hold
the frame of squared timbers (Myix kAXAt), about 2
265-517?72?vol. VII, p t 1- -21
298 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
feet wide, that ran around the house at the level of the
eaves. The pair at the sides or eaves were laid first,
resting in the notches of the corner posts, and these
supported the pair across the front and back. The
beams at the eaves were grooved on their lower sur-
faces to receive the upper ends of the wall planks, and
on their upper sides were notched or grooved to hold
the lower ends of the rafters ('AJSA sugu) that ran from
the ridge of the roof to the eaves. The beams across the
front and back were similarly grooved on the lower sur-
face to hold a lower tier of wall planks, and also on
their upper surface to hold the planks that rilled the
gable ends. The tops of these upper planks fitted into
grooves cut into the lower surfaces of the outer pair of
rafters that formed the gables.
The rafters were described as poles about 6 inches in
diameter, although it is almost certain that those at the
ends of the house were heavier planks. I do not know
how many were used. Above these again an unspecified
number of longitudinal planks (fexayit), ran the
length of the roof, parallel to the main beams below.
The innermost and highest pair formed the sides of the
smoke hole, and presumably two shorter poles formed
the two sections of the ridgepole between the smoke
hole and the ends of the house. No pole crossed the
smoke hole.
The roof itself was composed of planks (kA t'ayi),
about 2 inches thick and 12 inches wide (fig. 9g).
There were usually two, sometimes three, rows of these,
laid like shingles, sloping from the roof towards the
eaves. The planks were set close together in two layers,
those of the upper layer covering the cracks between
the planks below. At the ridge, one set of roof planks
projected beyond the ends of the other side to keep
out the rain.
On top of the roof a few lines of logs ('AIIA dAtti)
were laid, parallel to the side walls, in order to hold
down the roof planks. Holes were drilled through them
so they could be held in place with wooden pegs ('AkA
iuwu). The pegs were presumably driven into the
rafters below. If the pegs were omitted, or thought
insufficiently secure, the logs were braced by poles that
ran between them and between the lowest line of logs
and the ground. Stones were not used to weight down
the roof.
The informant from whom most of these details were
secured indicated that the roof had the same steep
pitch as on modern framehouses at Yakutat that are
built to shed the heavy snows. Another man, however,
maintained that the roof was almost flat, as on Tlingit
houses in southeastern Alaska.
The walls were made of planks (ta), about 4 feet
wide, set vertically (yindE tcun, kindK tcun 'atax).
Their lower ends were said to have been simply buried
in the ground, not set into a grooved frame like that
which held their upper ends. Sometimes the wall
planks were set horizontally (tladjsn, tladiin 'ata?).
Presumably in such a case, they must have been
mortised into longitudinal grooves in the corner posts,
and probably additional posts, similarly grooved,
were needed for the middle of the side and end walls.
My informant, however, did not know how the planks
were secured. The name 'Sidewise House' (tladin
hit), belonging to the Tl'uknaxAdi Raven sib, may
once have referred to this type of construction, al-
though the last house of this name, a frame building
erected in 1916, was said to have been so called be-
cause it stood at an angle to the row of other houses
that faced the beach.
"For the doorway they are looking for the biggest
tree they can find, and cut the hole through it." That
is, a very wide plank was used for this purpose. With
one possible exception, (see Bear House, at Diyaguna-
'Et, p. 317), doorways were not cut through totem
poles set in front of the house, as they sometimes
were much farther south. The facades of other old
houses seem to have been undecorated, although two
modern houses (Bear Paw House at Lost River, and
Thunderbird House at Yakutat, pp. 321 and 327),
built in 1918 and 1921, had carvings above the door
(fig. io).
Two very old style houses described to us were the
Beaver House at QalyAx (Kaliakh River) and a
smaller house of the same name at Strawberry Point
west of Controller Bay. They were both standing in
1900, although the second house fell down in 1908.
They belonged to the Qalyrx-Kagwantan, and the
peculiarities of their construction may reflect either
the local style, or their age. In the main, however,
they were like the large Yakutat houses, and my
informant believed that they represented the original
Yakutat form. Their most distinctive feature was
that instead of pairs of straight rafters there were
large curved pieces that formed the gables and the
two ends of the smoke hole. On these rested the two
sections of the ridgepole (fig. 11). There were no other
longitudinal beams, except the two at the eaves and
the two main beams supported by the four interior
posts, and the roof planks were said to have been laid
directly on these. The carved rafters were described
as "a pretty fancy job . . . big logs, maybe four-
or five-foot logs," but it was not clear whether each
was a single piece that arched over the entire roof,
or whether it was simply a curved middle section that
joined the tops of two shorter straight rafters. The
ones at the gable ends were grooved on the lower side
to receive the upper tier of wall planks. The lower
ends of the wall planks at the Kaliakh River house
were set into grooved planks at the bottom, but my
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 299
informant gave conflicting reports about this feature
for the house at Strawberry Point.
JG told Harrington in 1939 or 1940 that as a small
boy he had seen the old house at Strawberry Point.
It was then abandoned and rotting. It was made of
heavy timbers, 2 by 12 inch planks of spruce, shaped
with axes and adzes. The stringers were 6 inches in
diameter.
"My mother and I were picking strawberries at
Strawberry Point, and my mother took me over to
that rotting house, and she cried, and she said,
"This is your paternal grandfather's house." [The
informant, Tcicqedi, was evidently the grandson of
Qalyix-Kagwantan]. A couple of years later my
mother and I went again to Strawberry Point and
the roof of the old house had already caved in.
The name of that house was sikkeedfi-hhft, Beaver
House. They said that that house was built when
there were White people already in Alaska."
Other houses in the Yakutat area varied from the
large house described above in the number and arrange-
ment of the sleeping rooms; in the use of a room at the
front for the sweat bath; in the absence of a bench;
hi the use of central poles at each end of the house to
support a single ridgepole; in possessing two, not one,
FIGURE 10.?Bear Paw House, Lost River Landing, built by
Jim Kadetoo in 1918. (Front view and floor plan sketched by
Edward Malin in 1949; detail of carved wooden paws, after
Malin.)
red
green
black
300 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
FIGURE 11.?Detail of roof construction of Beaver House,
Kaliakh River, sketched by Harry K. Bremner. a, Curved
crossbeams, b, Ridgepole, c, Smokehole.
fireplace; or in lacking a planked floor. I suspect that
some of these variations were due to the expense or
labor of building a house of the classic type with ex-
cavated plank-covered floor and heavy twin roof beams,
to the smaller size of a household that did not need so
many bedrooms, and also to the fact that some of these
houses seem to have been at fishing places, serving to
smoke fish, and therefore dispensing with such amenities
as the bench in order to have two hearths. On the other
hand, the single ridgepole crossing the open smoke hole
was reported for the Eyak houses at the mouth of the
Copper River, and may well have been the original type
at Yakutat before the introduction of the heavy paired
beams (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 39,
367; de Laguna, 1947, pp. I l l , 279). That this may have
been the case is also suggested by the appearance of a
small archeological house on Knight Island (de Laguna
et al., 1964, figs. 7 and 8, pp. 73-74).
One informant, for example, suggested that large
houses had two main roof beams as well as additional
ones, three or four (possibly more) sleeping rooms
across the back and one in each front corner, but none
at the sides, and no bench. There were two fireplaces.
A small house, he said, might have a single ridgepole,
a single fireplace, a single sleeping room at the rear,
and have the floor only partially planked. His tes-
timony cannot be accepted as completely reliable or
clear, since he denied the existence of a smoke hole,
saying that cracks in the roof were sufficient for ven-
tilation and light. Perhaps he was describing smoke-
houses.
Another man specified a bench all the way around
the house, steps up to it from the floor at the back as
well as at the front, but a row of bedrooms only at
the rear (fig. 12). He believes that there was a single
ridgepole across the smoke hole, but is not sure. He
also said that in the fall, when all the fish had been
smoked and put up for winter, they moved the fire
from the center of the house towards the two side
walls and had "something like a Thanksgiving feast."
This was called 'moving the fire back' (ian dAq
yusixix). While the fish were being smoked, the people
FIGURE 12.?Winter house, sketched by John Ellis. X indicates
the fireplace. The entire center area was dug down 3 feet
beneath surface level. The break in the outside diameter
indicates the doorway. The house was probably longer than
is shown here; i.e., longer than it was wide.
had to be careful not to have the fire too hot, but
when the dried fish had been packed away, they could
have two fires, or build up the central one for greater
warmth.
However, neither of the last two men had ever lived
in an old-style house, as far as I know, and informants
who had done so insisted that there was only one fire.
As for two fireplaces?"they just use that kind for
smoking fish" (MJ). Probably the two fires were
pushed together into the center, not to the sides,
when the fish were cured.
Three Old Houses
I secured diagrams of three houses in which some
informants had lived as children. The most recent
house, built about 1903 and occupied until at least
1907, was the Kagwantan Box House in Dry Bay
(fig. 13). This had an excavated floor covered with
sand, a bench all around, a fireplace in the center,
three rooms across the back, and one room in each
front corner. In the right rear corner room (A) (as
one faced the rear of the house), lived the owner and
his young wife; in the center rear room (B) lived his
daughter, and in the left rear room (C) his old wife.
In the right front room (D) lived the owner's married
son, his wife and their small daughter (the informant).
Another granddaughter (and an unmarried son?) slept
on the platform above the rooms. The left corner
front room (E) was either a bathroom or a storeroom.
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 301
Bear House, one of the Teqwedi houses on Khantaak
Island in the 1880's , had a front porch with a railing at
the sides (fig. 8), a bench around the walls with lockers
under it, a central fire, three bedrooms across the back
and four along each side (fig. 14). The central rear
room (A) belonged to the owner, the noted shaman
Tek-'ic, and his wife. The two corner rear rooms {B,
C), three on the left side (D, E, F) and one on the right
(<?) were occupied by the owner's three full brothers
and his two half-brothers and a male parallel cousin
(all counted as brothers) and their families. Another
room on the right (H) belonged to a brother's married
daughter and her husband, a Qalyix-Kagwantan man.
The remaining three side rooms near the front of the
house (/, J, K) were "extra rooms," in case some of the
other married daughters and their husbands should
want to move in. Two married sisters of the shaman
seem to have lived here fairly regularly. I gather, how-
ever, that younger brothers, nephews, married sisters
and married daughters were not necessarily permanent
residents.
c
bench
b a
bench
e
f i re-
place
doorway
bench
d
FIGURE 13.?Diagram of Kagwantan Box House, Dry Bay,
1903-07. a, Owner, Qatan, and his young Tluk^axAdi wife,
Deaku. 6, Owner's TlukwaxAdi daughter, La'at (unmarried ?).
e, Owner's old wife, LusiEt, mother of Desku by a previous
husband, d, Owner's Tlukwa?Adi son, Qeduaxtc, and his
Kagwantan wife, Qanatin, and their little daughter, CawAtxus
(EE). e, Storeroom or bathroom. The younger son of the owner,
Qutcda, and a granddaughter of the owner's old wife, Nacawu,
slept on the platform above the rooms.
FIGURE 14.?Diagram of the Teqwedi Bear House, Khantaak
Island, about 1886. a, House head, the shaman Tek-'ic or
Lxagusa (died ca. 1890) and his Kwackqwan wife, Diyaxladzu.
6, Half-brother to the house head (by the same mother, but
a different father), Sisdjak" or Ca-kuwakan (1831-99) and his
K"ackqwan wife, Nacaqet. c, Xenk or Qadaqek-'ic, full brother
of the house head, and his Kwackqwan wife, d, Xadanek
Johnstone (1843-88), full brother to the house head, and his
two T'luknaxAdi wives, CawAtk and her younger sister,
Qateqaket. e, Hadhs-nak? or Kuyex-'ic, half brother to the
house head (same mother, but a different father) and his two
Kwaciqwan wives, (jAtkiya and Qesiyax, daughters of his
older brother, Ca-kuwakan. /, Nexmtek or SAqwantia-'ic,
parallel cousin to the house head, probably an unmarried boy.
g, 'Awca' or DjakcA-'ic, full brother of Ca-kuwukan and half-
brother of house head, and his K'ackqwan wife, Qadaiiyak or
DjakcA-tla. h, SA'AI or Wanise'' (Yakategy John, Qalyix-
Kagwantan), and his K^ackqwan wife, Sisgex", daughter of
Xenk; i-k, rooms available for visits of married sisters of the
house head, such as 'Antcawtr-cti (GAx'k-tla or CxanAtl-'At)
and her Kwackqwan husband, Qadaqet; or Kaxgawrjltm and
her Tl'uknaxAdi husband from Sitka. Children of these couples
are not indicated. (After a sketch by Minnie Johnson.)
Thus, one of the younger brothers who sometimes, or
at one time, had lived in this house, assisted his father-
in-law to build the Teqwedi Coward House at Situk.
This was occupied until the death of the son-in-law in
1888. This house had a plank floor and central fire-
place, but lacked the bench. There were three bedrooms
across the back and three on each side (fig. 15). In the
central rear room (A) lived the elderly head of the
family, and his wife, as well as his daughter's little
girl (Minnie Johnson). The corner rooms on either side
302 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
FIGURE 15.?Diagram of the Teqwedi Coward House, Situk,
1888. o, Head of the houae, Lusxox, and hia TluknaxAdi wife,
Kcxsma-tla (maternal grandparents of MJ, who slept with
them). 6, Yak"unaxEn (Charley or John Brown), unmarried
son of the house head, c, Ldaxin, unmarried grandson of the
househead (oldest brother to MJ) and hia little brother
Natskik (Jim Blaine). d, i adane i Johnstone and his two
wives, CawAtk and Qatcqaket, daughters of the house head,
and baby, John, e, "guestroom" for unmarried nephews of
Xadanek (Peter, Teet, and Johnny Milton, all Teqwedi).
/, Sister of Xadanek, GAxwk-tla or CxanAtl-'At, and her
Kwackqwan husband, Qadaqek. g, Sister of Xadanek, Cukwin,
and her Kwackqwan husband, SAnax-'ic and their daughter,
Sophie Milton, and the baby, William, h, Spare rooms. Three
daughters of GAx"k-tla and Qadaqek (Cawu-tla, Kitty, and
Joaie) slept on the floor in the main room. It was not specified
where the small boy, Charley White, slept. (After a sketch by
Minnie Johnson.)
at the rear were occupied by an unmarried son (B) and
by the two unmarried sons of a daughter (O). On one
side (D) lived the house chief's son-in-law (probably a
"nephew," although the exact relationship was never
specified), together with his two wives and small sons.
This man (my informant's father) had done most of the
work of building the house. The other side rooms
were occupied by this man's sister and her husband
(F), by his sister's daughter, her husband, and little
girl (G), and by three maternal nephews (E). There
was also another maternal nephew who slept in one of
the side rooms, and at least three little maternal nieces
who slept on the floor. One or two vacant rooms near
the door (H, I) were available for visiting relatives.
There was a plank walk from the house to the river, and
a fence that enclosed a shallow pool where the children
could play safely. This house was decorated inside
with four posts, carved to represent women's faces, that
is, the "Coward" or berdache, for which the house
was named.
My informant's older brother, Charley White, who
a
e
b c
1 i
d
e
FIGTJRE 16.?Diagram of the Teqwedi Coward House, Situk,
1885. Note that the arrangement of this house is that of a
smokehouse, with two fires, o, House head, Lusxox, and his
T'itrknaxAdi wife, Kuxsma-tla, maternal grandparenta of
Charley White. &, Xadanek Johnstone and his wife, CawAtk,
daughter of the house head, and their children, Charley,
Minnie, Jim, and John (the other wife, Qatcqaket, was not
mentioned), c, Ldaxin, oldest unmarried son of Xadanek.
d, Qelk-'ic or Peter Milton, unmarried sister's son of Xadanek,
who later married his widow, e, Fireplaces. (After information
given by Charley White.)
had also lived in this house as a small child described
it as lacking decorations, and as possessing only four
bedrooms across the back, and none at the sides (fig.
16). There were two fireplaces. In the rear left corner
room lived his maternal grandfather (the house chief)
and his grandmother; in the next room slept his father,
mother (no co-wife was mentioned), his little sister,
two brothers, and himself; next was the room of his un-
married older brother; and in the right rear corner was
the room of an unmarried paternal cousin or uncle.
Probably this informant remembered the house before
it was refinished and dedicated as a named house, and
when it was still used for smoking fish, but I suspect
that his memory is less accurate than his sister's.
Smokehouses
Smokehouses (JAt ?an hidi, 'At ?an dakA hidi) were
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 303
built either for the sole purpose of curing fish or to serve
also as dwellings at the fish camps. These were smaller
than the large "community houses," and were less
carefully made. It is doubtful whether they had
benches or plank floors, and they sometimes had two
fireplaces but only a single smoke hole. If the smoke-
house was also a dwelling, there were (or might be)
partitioned sleeping rooms. Above the fire (or fires)
was a false ceiling or "table" (ganigedi), made of
boards, to catch the soot and the direct heat and to
spread the smoke throughout the upper part of the
house. Above this were the racks for drying fish.
The houses faced the river, and the permanent poles
of the fish racks (hung from the roof beams?) ran
parallel to the sidewalk. The fish themselves were hung
over smaller movable sticks (djikA qas), set across the
poles so that the heads of the fish were turned upstream
as they dried. There were also racks (xanA&) outside
the house for preliminary drying (pi. 27).
Recently built smokehouses, to judge from those
we saw, were not used as dwellings and lacked parti-
tioned rooms (fig. 19). These buildings were located
either behind or beside a regular house, or close to a
small cabin or shack at the fishcamps (fig. 20). On some
smokehouses the smoke hole was equipped with a large
movable wooden screen, fastened across the middle to a
pole that was set on the ridge of the roof in such a way
that the pole could rotate and the screen be tilted from
side to side by means of ropes that hung down inside
the house (fig. 17). Other smokehouses had a per-
manent, louvred, wooden wind baffe set above the
smoke hole like a chimney (figs. 18, 20). To Judge from
a picture of Sitka in 1827 (Lutke, 1835, Atlas, pi. 7),
this was an arrangement copied from the Russians.
:?? / /f//A
"'??-'X-\ '- ' i
FIGURE 17.?Smokehouse with moveable screen at William
Milton's fish camp, at the reputed site of the Russian Fort,
Ankau Lagoon, as sketched by Edward Malin in 1949.
304 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
FIGURE 18.?Smokehouse beside Bear Paw House, Lost River Landing, sketched by Edward Malin in 1949. The eaves at the corners
stand 68 inches above ground level. The doorway measures 31 by 62 inches.
FIGURE 19.?Smokehouse, o, Smokehole. 6, Racks for finishing
drying, c, Racks for first drying, d, False ceiling or "table" for
catching soot, e, Fireplace. (After a sketch by Maggie Harry.)
Camps
In the old days there were also cabins or shacks at
hunting camps, as there are today. These were not
described in detail, but were said to have been made of
"shucks" (shakes), that is, roughly split boards or
FIGUEB 20.?Modern smokehouse at the mouth of Lost River,
sketched by Edward Malin in 1949.
shingles, and were big enough for two or three families
(MJ). These camps were usually near the headwaters
of the rivers east of Yakutat, from which the men. went
hunting mountain goats and bears in the late fall and
early winter. Sometimes families moved here earlier
in the season so that the women could gather berries.
At the sealing camps near the head of Yakutat Bay,
occupied in early summer, the people formerly lived
in small bark houses (tiy hit, lun hit). These were
rather flimsy rectangular structures with a gable roof,
and have been admirably described and photographed
by members of the Harriman Alaska Expedition in
1899 (seep. 314, fig. 22). Already by this time the
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 305
liVili!
DeolL
FIGURE 21.?Log cabin at William Milton's fish camp at the
reputed site of the Russian Fort, Ankau Lagoon, as sketched
by Edward Malin in 1949. The doorway of the cabin, which
faces the doorway of the smokehouse, is 69 inches high. The
cabin itself is made entirely of logs up to the height of the door.
Plank cedar boards form the roof. The entire top (x) is com-
prised of cedar shakes.
people were camping chiefly in ordinary canvas wall
tents, and the bark houses were primarily used for
smoking seal meat. The hemlock bark, used for the
walls and roof, was gathered in the spring when the
people were moving to the sealing camps, and the sweet
inner layer was scraped from the bark sheets to serve
as food. (I believe that spruce bark was also used for
these shelters.) Such bark houses were also erected
at other camps (MJ, SJ). The emigrants from the
Copper River were supposed to have built shelters of
yellow cedar bark when they reached the coast near
Icy Bay. Sheets of such bark were formerly carried in
the canoe when people traveled, to serve as tents
(cf. p. 230). When one elderly informant was taken
as a child from Katalla to visit relatives on Khantaak
Island, the party camped along the way in such bark
shelters (KDI).
Caches
A stock of food for current use was kept in the houses,
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 22
but the main supplies were stored in pit caches (t'cAl),
behind the dwellings. These were holes dug deep in
the ground and lined with logs or planks. On top was
a roof of bark, covered with mud, sometimes arched
over like a Quonset hut; others had a gable roof made
of planks, presumably also covered with earth. There
was a wooden door at one end and a ladder for entrance.
It was the men's job to put things into the cache.
The top of the cache was sometimes as high as 5 feet
above the ground, and the hole was perhaps sometimes
as deep. There are said to have been two stories in
the cache. The bottom one was used for dried fish,
preserved meat, and other foods that were not supposed
to freeze. The upper story was used for less perishable
items, such as dried berries. Each woman in the multi-
family household had her own special place in the
cache for her wooden boxes of food and for her bundles
of dried fish. The latter were sometimes tied up in
special ways to distinguish each woman's property,
informants recalled.
"Sometimes they have a little log cabin on poles?
four posts, high up, so dogs, wolverines, crows, and
wolves can't get at the grub. They may do this when
they are out hunting. They call it by the same name
as the hole to store grub in." (MJ)
At the prehistoric site on Knight Island, a number
of rectangular, boxlike caches were found, apparently
all originally lined with bark or planks, and ranging
in size from 3 by 1% feet to over 12 by 6 feet. There
were also innumerable basin-shaped pits, some of
which had been lined with bark. These various pits
were used for storing food, trinkets, and other objects;
some were probably ovens for baking, or pits in which
fish heads and fish eggs were allowed to rot or ferment.
Eventually all served as refuse dumps (de Laguna et
al., 1964, pp. 45-51). Similar pits were common also
at abandoned sites of the historic period.
Bathhouses
In the old settlements there were also bathhouses
(xa, xayi) for steam baths. Some were small?"just for
a small family. Sometimes, though, they have it big.
They're going to invite all the chiefs, all the big shots.
They sit around in there and have a meeting." The
various house chiefs would take turns each night in
providing the bath.
These bathhouses were built in a slightly excavated
pit. Rocks heated in a fire outdoors or in the main
house were used to produce steam from water thrown
over them, and the bathers used fine shavings like
sponges to scrape off sweat and dirt. The bathhouse
306 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
was illuminated by a small window of bear gut skin,
called 'the eye of the bathhouse' (xayi WA?E), a word
now applied to any window. The bathhouse at Eagle
Fort on the Situk River was apparently an annex of
one of the houses. It was a hole dug in the ground and
had a bark roof. The chief slept there, at least on one
occasion (pp. 263, 265). Bathhouses built approxi-
mately 100 years later were like small log cabins behind
the main house. They had wooden floors and were
scrubbed out after each use.
Sometimes a bath room might be simply partitioned
off in one front corner of the main house. This was the
arrangement in Box House at Dry Bay. "The bath
room, xa, is in the corner. It has its own fireplace. . . .
They put water on hot rocks to make steam because
they don't want to see each other. [Hardly the reason,
even though several persons of the same sex bathed
together.] Some men would run in the water [outdoors]
after a sweat bath, but the ladies would just put on big
blankets. They might put roots on the hot rocks, as a
medicine for the chest?some kind of gray thing."
The bathhouse or bathroom was, as already indicated,
a meeting place for house chiefs. Other men, too, were
accustomed to take baths every evening. "The old men
used to get together, too, to take baths. I used to listen
to them, in the corner of the house. They would tell
stories, and talk about their hunting experiences" (MJ).
Women also took baths together, apparently inviting
each other. They would call: "xa wa-wet'a?the sweat
house is already heated up!" (MJ). At Dry Bay, the
shaman sometimes performed in the bathhouse.
At camps, bathhouses were made of alder branches,
arched over like the frame of an hi verted basket, their
sharpened ends stuck into the ground. They were
covered with "blankets and anything else they can get
ahold of" (MJ). This woman went on to describe a
childhood escapade in which she and some other little
girls built a bathhouse of branches and blankets, and
made a fire inside. When the rocks were hot, they took
the coals outside, and undressed, but then discovered
that they had neglected to bring any water. When
using such a small temporary bathhouse it was more
customary to have the fire outside and to bring hi the
rocks with wooden tongs.
Archeological evidence from Knight Island would
indicate that the larger separate bathhouses had their
own interior fireplace at one end in which the rocks
were heated, as was the arrangement for the bathroom
in Box House at Dry Bay (de Laguna et al., 1964,
figs. 11 and 12). When the rocks were hot, the bathers
would cover the fire and pour water over the rocks to
make steam (MJ). Other informants said, however,
that there was no fire inside, and that rocks were always
brought in. There was disagreement as to whether the
water was poured directly onto the pile of rocks, or
whether it was first heated by putting some hot rocks
into a container of water.
Sweat baths are no longer taken at Yakutat.
House Furnishings
There was no furniture hi the old houses, although
wooden boxes might serve for seats as well as for storage.
There were no tables, for example, and food was served
into dishes set on the floor.
In the sleeping rooms the beds were made of piles
of dry grass, about 2 feet thick, with boards set up
in front to hold them in place. The grass was apparently
the coarse ryegrass(?) from the edge of the beach.
"The grass is plentiful. They gather it up when the
westerly winds blow." It was not tied up hi bundles.
"Then feather beds on top. Nice and soft and warm,
too. Blankets on the feather beds." (MJ) The feather
beds or "feather matresses" probably had a cloth cover,
and our informant remembers how her mother used
to pluck swansdown to fill them. The blankets were
either Hudson's Bay blankets or robes of fur and
birdskin. At a still earlier period, before commercial
blankets became available, only fur and birdskin
robes and mats of grass or cedar bark were used.
Rooms hi some houses had windows. My informant
mentioned a gut skin window hi her father's sister's
house or smokehouse at Nessudat, where she stopped
overnight in 1888. It was here that she lost her hair
ornament, because her mother stuck it in a hole in
the gut skin window that night to keep out the cold,
and forgot it when they left the next morning. "They
used bear guts for windows?big pieces sewed together
with porpoise sinew. It's sewed fine and never show.
And it ram on it and it swells up, and the rain never
goes through." (MJ) Since no one else mentioned
windows in connection with the house or its bedrooms,
it is possible that my informant and her mother actu-
ally slept in the bathroom, since the house on that
occasion was said to have been crowded with visitors.
Sleeping rooms were, however, more regularly illu-
minated with stone lamps (six?'dish,' tsma tEyi, tE
tsma). These were evidently in common use in the
Yakutat and Dry Bay areas to judge from informants'
reports and archeological specimens (de Laguna et al.,
1964, pis. 11 and 12). Like the lamps seen by Aber-
crombie in 1884 among the Copper River Eyak (Birket-
Smith and de Laguna, 1938, p. 43), most of the archeo-
logical specimens from Yakutat were simply limestone
cobbles in which a shallow concavity had been pecked.
This is said to have been done with hammerstones
or with stone chisels. The more carefully finished
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 307
lamps were circular or slightly oval, sometimes with
lips or grooves in the rim to hold the wick, and a
deepened reservoir in the center of the bowl. Seal oil,
or occasionally mountain goat fat, was used as fuel;
rags, formerly strips of twisted beach grass, served as
wicks. If the wick was twisted tightly and well soaked
it would not smoke, informants assured me.
Lamps used in the bedrooms had only one wick,
"because they don't want to get no fire in there," but
in the main room of the house there might be a lamp
in each corner, each with two or three wicks. "They
give lots of light. You light as many [wicks] as you
want to. The women folk weave baskets like that.
They make a pretty good light." (MJ) The woman
who had lived in Box House in Dry Bay said that the
same kind of lamp was used there. "But when I was
getting about 7 years old [about 1901], they have
regular oil lamps." We found no archeological speci-
mens with more than one groove in the rim to support
a single wick.
Little girls used to play in the corners of the big
houses with clam shells which they lit like lamps in
imitation of the larger stone vessels of their elders.
My informant's mother was always cautioning her to
be careful of the fire in her little lamp (MJ). Several
archeological stone vessels that were too small to have
been useful as real lamps were probably similar toys.
When going outdoors at night, people carried pieces
of pitchy wood as torches.
The fire in the middle of the main room served for
light, warmth, and cooking. The gravel or sand under
it retained and radiated the heat even when the fire
was low. There were no draughts because the house
was built in a pit. It was customary to burn large logs,
pushing the ends into the flames as they were consumed.
The fire was kept overnight by shoving two big logs
together, and shavings (kayextfAgu) were kept handy
to build it up in the morning.
Firewood was piled up near the door of the house.
It was "Tlingit law" for the men to cut wood for the
fire every morning?"can't miss a day." Apparently
this heavy work was done by the young able-bodied
men, while an older man might gather up the chips
for kindling. From one historical account, I infer that
the logs were formerly cut just long enough for two
men to carry, and were (sometimes? usually?) deeply
notched to form four easily detachable sections (pp.
263, 265). Cutting wood "before the Raven calls at
dawn," clad only in a belt or breechclout in winter,
was part of the physical and magical conditioning of a
young man. It was also a service rendered by a youth
to his prospective or newly acquired father-in-law and
to his uncle (cf. pp. 472, 480).
Before matches were available, fires were kindled
with a drill, or by striking two stones together. Appar-
ently the drill was more commonly used, for one inform-
ant had never heard of the strike-a-light (datsi). An-
other, in describing the strike-a-light, said that the
stones were of flint. "They used to hit it together and
make sparks. And they have dry stuff they keep it in all
the time, dry grass. They use pitch off the trees for
kindling, like a creosote piling. They make a shaving of
it. They use the dry grass and then the pitch." (MJ)
The drill was of red cedar, as was the hearth. The
latter was a board with a pit in which the drill revolved,
and the hearth was held steady by kneeling on it. The
drill was rotated between the palms of the hands, or with
a bow, or with a cord twisted around the shaft a few
times and operated by two men. The fine roots (kits) of
an unidentified plant, and pitch wood were used to
catch the glowing dust. Wax from the ear might be put
on the tinder to make the fire catch better. Once fire
was obtained it could be kept in punk (Gtrnana tEtl,
'Athabaskan grease'). This was obtained from old
rotted stumps and would hold fire for a long time, al-
though my informants did not know in what the glow-
ing punk was kept (SJ and friends).
In addition to the wood piled at the front of the house,
there were also wooden buckets containing water.
"They know how to keep water in the houses. In each
front corner they put water. They got buckets and cover
it up. No matter how dark it is, they light pitch torches
to pack water at night. Over at Khantaak, it's a long
ways to pack water. They don't use that lake [behind
the village], because the Government folks [men from
Coast Guard vessels?] wash clothes in there and swim
there, so they dug a hole for a well back near the woods.
They got slaves to pack water." (MJ) The informant
recalled how her small brother refused to fetch water as
a menial task, but how she herself, as a little girl, liked
to bring water in her little bucket. The water buckets
(lAkt, 'box,') were square wooden boxes, probably pro-
vided with handles. They were made, like other water-
proof boxes, with a piece for the bottom and another
bent around for the sides. That fetching of water was
a customary evening task for slaves is indicated by the
story of the man who married the daughter of Chief
Fair Weather, for the slave brought water at night in
a wooden bucket, and purposely spilled it to extinguish
the fire as he came down the steps inside the door. The
"servant" of the Owner of Daylight also fetched water
in a square wooden bucket, using a pitch torch in the
dark. Raven concealed himself as a spruce needle in the
corner where the sides of the bucket were pegged to-
gether (see p. 853).
Boxes of urine, used in the old days for washing and
as a mordant for dyes, were kept by the door.
In the house would also have been found watertight
boxes and baskets for cooking, spits for roasting meat
and fish, tongs for handling hot rocks, wooden dishes
308 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
and platters for serving food, basket cups, dippers and
spoons of wood and horn. Boxes and baskets and skin
bags, of various sizes and shapes, were used for storing
and preparing food, for holding sewing materials,
clothing, and ornaments. There would also have been
mortars and pestles and large grinding slabs for pre-
paring food, medicine, tobacco, and paint. Hammer-
stones were undoubtedly common, to judge from the
archeological evidence. The women would have had
bundles or skeins of split spruce roots for baskets and
cordage, prepared grass stems for decorating baskets,
and also such sewing materials as awls, sinew thread,
ulos, and scrapers of various kinds. The men's tool
chests would have held wooden wedges and mawls for
making planks, adzes, knives, chisels, whetstones, drills,
and paintbrushes. These and other domestic utensils
and tools are described later (pp. 412-431).
With the coming of the first Europeans, a few iron
pots for cooking and a few silver spoons became avail-
able, and by the 1880's and 1890's the well-to-do
household would have had metal pots and frying pans,
galvanized iron buckets, 5-gallon kerosine cans (the
indispensable and ubiquitous container today in Alaska),
glass bottles, barrels, Hudson Bay porcelain dishes,
metal tableware, and imported Chinese camphor chests.
Boxes and chests with clothing, blankets and personal
ornaments were piled in the sleeping rooms, and prob-
ably also served to mark off sleeping spaces on the
bench. The valuable china dishes, used only for feasts,
as well as bundles of dried fish, were put up on top of
the platform above the rooms. Other food and dishes
for daily use were kept in the lockers under the bench,
and spoons were stacked in big baskets hung on the
wall. Precious objects children should not touch were
often put in small boxes suspended from the roof.
How much clutter and confusion there was in the old
houses it is impossible to tell. While the usual impres-
sion of the White man who visited Tlingit houses during
the 1880's and 1890's is one of filth and disorder (cf.
p. 194, Topham at Yakutat in 1888, as typical), I
believe that they were misled by the unfamiliar sight
of plates and other culinary utensils on the floor, not
on a table, and also by the unfamiliar smells of cooking,
especially of seal and fish oil. Probably a stranger to
one of our houses would find them equally confusing
and strange smelling, if he came in while housework
was being done and the paraphernalia for daily living
were lying about. It should be remembered that such
apparent confusion would have been greater in a multi-
family house with members coming and going, cooking,
eating, and engaged in various tasks at different times.
In Sitka at this period, the Tlingit were already de-
moralized by long contact with the Whites. Their
homes were those of the economically underprivileged,
corresponding to our slums, and therefore cannot serve
as a reliable guide to standards of housekeeping main-
tained in the homes of more secure and independent
Tlingit in less acculturated communities.
In the old days, allowing for cultural differences in
the definition of cleanliness and in methods of house-
keeping, the standards were fairly high. Thus, the gravel
in the fireplace was said to have been changed every
day, and the floor, if not planked, was covered with
clean sand every 3 or 4 days. "It's the ladies' job to
bring in sand in a bucket.. . . They dig the fireplace out
everyday. . . . They dig a trash hole [outdoors] and
put trash in it. When it's full, they cover it with sand."
The archeological evidence suggests that abandoned
cache or house pits were used for this purpose, and that
refuse was also thrown on piles. One informant men-
tioned a "little hill where they dump the ashes . . . in
front, right on the path to the river" (MJ). This was at
her father's hunting camp on the Arhnklin Eiver. At
coastal settlements refuse was probably thrown on the
beach to be carried away by the tide, as is the modern
practice, but it is doubtful that it was ever thrown into
fish streams for fear of offending the salmon.
The area around the houses in the old villages may
well have been cleaner than it is in most modern
settlements, where glass bottles, tin cans and heavy
metal objects present difficult disposal problems.
One informant said that on Khantaak Island in the
1880's her grandfather (chief of Mountain House?),
and the chiefs of Moon House and Fort House would
take turns cleaning the village streets. "It was in the
evening when the kids were through playing, and just
before the older people were ready for bed. They used
bushes for brooms. They used a bush called qitsAn (or
Mtsln). Sweet stuff grows on the leaves. They got that
in bundles, tied up like a broom." They dumped the
dirt down by the low tide. . . . The old men themselves
did the work. They got nothing else to do." (MJ) I also
heard a tradition about the village on Knight Island,
supposed to have been swept clean with eagle wings.
No such cleanly standards applied, however, to
temporary hunting and fishing camps, as is made
clear from the reports of travelers, both in the 18th
century and at the end of the 19th; the Yakutat people
littered the ground as we do our highways.
Dogs undoubtedly acted as scavengers in village and
camp, since there was no taboo against their gnawing
animal bones. On the beach the gulls, crows, and ravens
were waiting, and some of the latter came tamely up
to the houses. Spring, when the snows had melted but
before the grass and bushes were grown, was probably
the time when the ground around the houses was
cleaned of the winter's litter, because it was at this
time that we observed an old-fashioned family raking
their yard and burning the trash. A prospective son-
in-law was particularly assiduous at this task.
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 309
Domestic Life
We get a few glimpses of life in the old houses from
reminiscences of informants.
"They used to get up early in the morning, just
before daylight. They believed that they'd die if they
are in their bed before [i.e., after] that big crow [raven]
calls. That would be 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning in
winter." (SJ) "And in summer?" he was asked. "Well,
July is the only month when it's really light at 2 or 3
o'clock in the morning, and then in summer the ravens
fly around but don't call. I guess they go to bed pretty
early. Even the old people today, they get up early."
"My mother likes to get up at 5 o'clock but then
sometimes she goes to bed at 7," added his wife. "But
they didn't eat when they got up. They were supposed
to be doing things?like chop wood." (SJ) "Without
breakfast!" his wife exclaimed. "Then they'd eat" (SJ).
"Did the slaves have to get up first in the morning?"
I asked an elderly woman. "Not when my grandfather's
alive. Not that I know of. And he's got five slaves. My
grandfather got up first. He used to get up early. I
used to watch my grandmother. That tsma tEyi, that
'[stone] lamp,'?she gets that ready in the morning?
without fire[?]. She'd be weaving baskets before any-
body would get up. . . . My grandfather gets up. He
can't sleep. They got wood, already chopped, and he
started [up ?] a fire. They got a fire going all night.
. . . He always looks after our mukluks [skin boots]
and gets our clothes ready and packs us around."
That is, the old man would help his little grand-
children to dress and would take care of them (MJ).
When the early morning chores were over, and the
young men had returned from wood cutting, bathing
in cold water and other hardening exercises, they had
breakfast. "Dry fish is our breakfast. They soaked it
overnight and boiled it." All persons did not necessarily
eat at the same time, however. "In the community
house, you mind your own business?sleep late and
get your own breakfast." Little girls about 12 years
old and approaching adolescence were fed after the
others, for fear that they might have begun to men-
struate during the night which would mean that any-
thing they had touched would be contaminated.
Apparently there were no regular mealtimes during
the day, but people ate snacks when they were hungry,
as Tlingit children do today when not constrained by
school hours. Some persons, of course, did not eat at
all, if they or their husbands were engaged in occupa-
tions requiring fasting. There was always plenty to
do, and both men and women kept busy, the women
apparently working on baskets when they had no other
tasks, and the able-bodied men going hunting or
fishing as the winter weather permitted. "My father
used to be out hunting all the time, but he didn't
hunt so much in the winter, especially when my older
brother grew up" (MJ). Only old men do not seem to
have had regular occupations, except for playing with
their small grandchildren or supervising the labor of
others. "The old people can watch the grub [in the cache
behind the house]. They have nothing to do. They
don't go hunting. They have slaves to do the work, and
nephews to cut all the wood they want to burn." (MJ)
Late fall and early winter was the time for festivities,
when potlatches, as well as their elaborate preparations,
filled hours and days.
There was, of course, visiting back and forth between
the houses, for families that might have been scattered
at different hunting and fishing camps during the early
fall were now reassembled in the main villages. It was
not etiquette to knock on the door. "You notify the
people you are coming, if they don't know you. . . .
[Some member of the household would introduce the
stranger]. You got to invite them before they go in.
You go in with them. Suppose if I know you, I don't
knock at the door?just walk in to see you. Or, if you
come to my house?'Nelgu, nelgu?Come in!' they
say." The informant went on to tell of her extreme
embarrassment at entering the wrong house in Sitka
when she was looking for her cousin who had invited
her for a meal.
"I never get so embarrassed and ashamed! She count
the houses which I'm going to go in, and I just went to
the wrong house. I went in. Nobody offer a chair.
The house is chock-a-block fall of kids. Nobody offer
me anything to eat. I stand there like a totem pole. . . .
I'm never so ashamed in all my life. The palms of my
hands is just full of water. I'm standing there, so
ashamed?and nobody offer me a chair. . . . So
finally a man got up and said, 'You're quite a stranger
in here?' 'Sure, I'm looking for my cousin.' 'Next door/
he said. She lived next door. Tears almost run out of
my eyes when I left there." (MJ) This episode occurred
about 1900.
When one leaves, one says, "Deqagilt?'I am going'."
(cf. Boas, 1917, p. 75: gfrquagu?, 'I shall walk.') "That's
the proper way to say good-by. You can't just go and
not say anything." And the polite response is "TsuxwAn
hagti'?'again ! come.' "
In the evening, perhaps after the men had taken their
sweat bath, was the time for the main meal of the day.
"At mealtimes each family brought out its own grub.
Sometimes they would share the specially good foods
with each other. My father was a great one for that.
He would nudge my mother and tell her "Give him
some!" or "Give him some! He hasn't got any." My
father didn't like to see anyone go hungry. He always
had lots of food stored up. . . . The slaves have their
own grub. They put up all the grub [put up their own ?
310 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
helped with all ?]. They ate when tbe others did." (MJ)
Sharing of food was customary. "When you open your
winter supply, everybody eats. In 2, 3 days, tbe next
woman opens hers. There are 50 or 60 people in a
community bouse [who share]. The same thing is done
when someone brings in something fresh. They divide
it up with all. . . . Not all the food, but just so every-
body gets a taste. . . . And I'll tell you something:
it's funny but that hit sAti [house owner] eats very
little. His nephews cook. His wife is making clothes.
She is too busy to cook. She never cooks and her husband
never cooks. They take a big plate, all full of food.
[The informant gestured to indicate a long, rather
narrow platter, about 9 by 24 inches.] Each boy comes
with his own little wooden dish and helps himself.
[She again gestured with delicate sensitive hands,
suggesting a dainty picking up of pieces of food.] And
the chief and his wife eat the little that is left. They
wait till the boys get their dishes full, because the
boys have been out working. When they finish eating,
then the boys wash the dishes and put them in the
cupboards, kAyac ['platform'].
"Of course, we got some stingy people?no doubt
about it. We have them today and we had them
then. . . .
"Sometimes they cook the food all at once. They
cook the meat on spits. Then each one takes a spit, and
when very one has one, the house chief gives a signal[?],
and they all eat together."
This woman went on to explain that when people ate
in the old days, they sat on the floor with the dishes
of food in front of them, and helped themselves from
it "like White people." They didn't stuff a big chunk in
their mouths like tbe Eskimo and cut off a bite. (This
had been suggested as a joke.) But another woman said
she bad seen the kids cut off pieces of dried fish this way,
but that it wasn't at a regular mealtime.
[On winter evenings in the big houses,] . . . "they
would build a big fire so it would light up most of the
house. And in the corners they used seal oil lamps.
Some would be sitting in the corner playing Mt6u
[chair dice], and others play checkers. The Wolves and
the Ravens usually played against each other. They
gambled, but it wasn't always Wolves and Ravens.
"The women would sit in groups of two or three,
working spruce roots, holding them in their teeth and
splitting them. You could see all those hands splitting
them, working one after the other. . . .
"Only the old people would sit and tell stories. And
the quiet ones would turn their backs to the fire.
Wonderful! No White people; no stores to run to!" (MJ)
"Lots of people in olden days, they had all kinds of
games?Indian games. As soon as it is getting dark they
make a fire?a big fire?pile them up so high. They call
it 'evening fire/ xana gAni. When the fire started
burning good, that's the time the chief telling a story.
Not only him, sometimes [the one] next to him is smart
as him, sometimes smarter than him. They're telling
the stories." This was when the children were taught
the traditions of their people and the correct rules of
behavior.
One informant wondered if I had heard all the Raven
story. He doubted that there was anyone alive now that
knew it all. His grandfather told him that his father
used to tell it. "It would last 4 days. But he didn't
tell it all day?just in the evenings. When they'd
finished eating at night, they would make a big fire and
all sit around, and then he's telling stories till bedtime.
That was the time he'd tell about their CAgiin [origin
and destiny], and wars, and so on." (SJ) A woman
added that the houses were warm, the fire blazing up 6
or 7 feet high.
CAMPS AND HOUSES IN THE 18th CENTURY
Houses in Lituya Bay, 1786
The early explorers have left some descriptions of
native settlements on Lituya Bay and Yakutat Bay,
yet these were almost entirely camps that were occu-
pied only during the summer fishing season. It is not
until about 100 years later that descriptions of winter
houses are available.
LaPerouse (1799, vol. 1, pp. 399 f.) has given us a
rather vivid description of the summer huts and camp
life in Lituya Bay, although the artist who illustrated
this account redrew the original sketches, so that these
are not completely accurate (pis. 34-39).
"I have given the appelation of village to three or
four sheds of wood, twenty-five feet long, by fifteen
or twenty wide, and closed with planks or bark of
trees only on tbe side exposed to tbe wind. In the
middle was a fire, over which hung salmon and
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 311
halibut drying in the smoke. Eighteen or twenty
persons lodged under each of these sheds, the
women and children on one side, and the men on
the other. It appeared to me, that each hut con-
tained a small tribe unconnected with it's neigh-
bours; for each had it's canoe, and a sort of chief;
each departed, left the bay, and took away it's
fish and it's planks, without the rest of the Tillage
appearing to take the least concern in the business.
"I think I may venture to affirm, that this place
is inhabited only in the summer, and that the Indians
never pass the winter here. I did not see a single
hut, that afforded shelter from the rain; and though
there were never three hundred Indians collected in
the bay at one time, we were visited by seven or
eight hundred others.
"Canoes were coming in and going out continually,
and each brought or carried away it's house, and it's
furniture, which consisted in several little coffers
containing their most valuable effects. These coffers
are placed at the entrance of their huts, which are
so filthy and stinking, that the den of no known
animal can be compared to them. They never go
two steps distant to obey the calls of nature, of which
they make no mystery, and for which they seek no
shade; continuing the conversation in which they
were engaged, as if they had not a moment to lose;
and if it happens at meal-time, they quickly resume
their place, from which they do not retire even a
couple of yards."
That the huts on the shore of the bay were only for
summer occupation is also clearly indicated by the
report made by Ismailov and Bocharov in 1788 (Coxe,
1803, p. 339, 340). The Russians called these "tempo-
rary summer huts," and when they went to what I
believe was Huagin River, saw their "winter habita-
tions . . . and found these dwellings much larger than
the summer huts." There is no further description.
Houses in Yakutat Bay, 1787, 1788
Beresford (1789, pp. 172-173) gives a very similar
description of the native settlements at Port Mulgrave
and the vicinity, which he saw in the summer of 1887.
"Their habitations are the most wretched hovels
that can possibly be conceived; a few poles stuck
in the ground, without order or regularity, enclosed
and covered with loose boards, constitute an Indian
hut, and so little care is taken in their construction,
that they are quite insufficient to keep out the snow
or rain: the numerous chinks and crannies serve,
however, to let out the smoke, no particular aperture
being left for that purpose.
"The inside of these dwellings exhibits a compleat
picture of dirt and filth, indolence and laziness; in
one corner are thrown the bones, and remaining
fragments of victuals left at their meals; in another
are heaps of fish, pieces of stinking flesh, grease,
oil, &c: in short, the whole served to shew us, in
how wretched a state it is possible for human beings
to exist; and yet these people appear contented
with their situation, and probably enjoy a much
greater portion of happiness and tranquillity, than
is to be found under the gilded roofs of the most
despotic monarch.
" 'Tis probable, that the chief reason why these
Indians take no greater pains in the structure of
their habitations is, that their situation is merely
temporary: no sooner does the master of a tribe
find game begin to grow scarce, or fish not so plenti-
ful as he expected, than he takes down his hut,
puts the boards into his canoe, and paddles away
to seek out for a spot better adapted to his various
purposes, which, having found, he presently erects
his dwelling in the same careless manner as before."
Colnett the following year saw only temporary sum-
mer huts in "Foggy Harbour" (quoted p. 131).
Ismailov and Bocharov, however, who also visited
Port Mulgrave in 1788, describe what would appear to
be winter houses (Coxe, 1803, pp. 247-248). These
were presumably on Khantaak Island, but may have
been at the mouth of the Ankau River.
"Their scattered habitations are square, the out-
side made of earth, and the inside of wood; the
top is covered with the bark of firs, and provided
with a square opening in the midst of the roof, which
serves the purpose of a chimney. The wooden part
is made by driving into the ground four poles of
about two arshines in height [58 inches, or less than
5 feet high!], to which cross beams are fixed. The
roof is sloping and formed of planks, resting on the
cross beams, which meet in the square opening. The
entrance is on the side, and instead of a door is
covered with mats twisted from grass and other
materials.
"The greater part of the inhabitants had quitted
their winter huts," [and had gone out in their canoes
to hunt and fish.]
This suggests houses seen by Seton-Karr at Kayak,
in 1886, rather than Tlingit houses (see p. 103).
Houses in Yakutat Bay, 1791
Malaspina found native houses at Yakutat miserable
hovels that let in the wind and the rain (quoted p.
312 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
143). Suria gives a spirited description of these huts
and of domestic life (Wagner, 1936, pp. 253 f.).
"Their dwellings or habitations are very poor.
Here can be seen their disorderly filth, for they are
more like pigsties than the habitations of human
beings. This causes such a fetid and disagreeable
odor on their belongings and persons that you
cannot stand it. The houses are on the bank of the
sea at the point which the channel for leaving the
port forms (i.e., near Point Turner, Khantaak
Island]. They are of boards placed over the trunk
of a tree without any order. This traverses it and
forms the ridge pole on which the boards rest on
one side and the other, the tree trunk being held
up by others, perpendicular ones, sunk in the ground.
On the top of the roof all their belongings can be
seen, canoes made, others in skeleton [frames for
skin canoes?], skins half-cured, wood, and other
various rubbish. Inside you see the same. What
cannot be put outside is put inside. Here you can
see some square wooden boxes. . . . In another
place you can see a great quantity of fish, which
seemed to us like our conger eel, curing at the fire,
and hanging from some sticks. In the same way
they treat their salmon. Many skins are hung about,
bows here, arrows there, knives, cuirasses, bundles
of clothes; many children, all naked, and some men,
other suckling children in their cradles, the women
at their work, so that everything appears in the
greatest confusion. They are always eating and
heating themselves at the fire in the middle of
the hut."
There is evidence, however, that at this period the
Yakutat people were building large winter houses
of traditional Tlingit type. The framework of such
a house stood near the cemetery on the Ankau River.
It had decorated house posts and seems to have been
dedicated by a potlatch which may have involved
human sacrifice, for the chief, June", indicated by
gestures, as I interpret them, that a slave (?) had
been stabbed at each post. There are three descriptions
of this interesting structure.
According to Malaspina (1885, p. 161), Suria,
Espinosa and several other officers had gone to examine
the grave monuments on Ankau Point, where they
found several plebian natives gathering strawberries.
"After first measuring them, D. Tomas Suria drew in
perspective the posts and beams that supported [or
enclosed] a large habitation that seemed to be intended
for the winter." Then he went on to sketch the nearby
sepulchres. Unfortunately, we have no picture of this
house. Malaspina (1849, p. 290) also writes:
"In the same field [as the sepulchres], there was a
piece of squared ground, enclosed (fenced) by some
very heavy timbers, forming what was like a house
without an opening. There were in it some very
robust pillars. On these were painted with red ochre
the faces of men of extraordinary size; we observed
likewise that they had several cracks (splits) from
top to bottom. We expressed to the Ankau who had
accompanied us on this visit our curiosity to know
what was the use of this edifice. With sufficient
efficiency he indicated to us (by signs) that it was
covered on all sides with telas ['cloth' or 'covering/ but
probably planks], as the high roof was also made;
that various men were placed each at the foot of a
pillar, and dancing all to the same beat, each one
drove his knife into it [the pillar]. Yet we were not
able to understand if this rite was a religious cere-
mony in honor of his victories, or a diversion which
was repeated at a determined season. We were
inclined to believe that it had something of the
practice of religion; yet our efforts to find out were
useless." [free translation]
According to Suria (Wagner, 1936, p. 258):
"Farther on along the same beach [from the Ankau
grave monuments] there is a skeleton house which is
reduced to three frames, each one of three sticks
placed parallel to each other at a proportionate
distance, the one in the middle [a single ridgepole]
being higher than the other two [eaves beams].
On the base of the poles which face inside there are
various designs. The chief whom we found there
made various signs to us which nobody could under-
stand, but which we thought was that either before
or after the funeral ceremonies they have a dance
in this place, which must be of some particular
significance, as after pointing out that they covered
these poles with something he took out his knife
and stuck it into the stick and at once began to
dance with a very happy gesture, making various
movements and emitting an " 0 " with his throat.
Some were of the opinion that it might be that
after some important victory against their enemies
they celebrated in this place and they founded this
opinion on his action in sticking in the knife. . . . "
One wonders whether the building had been erected
only for the purpose of celebrating a potlatch in honor
of the dead, or whether the planking had simply been
taken from the framework for constructing summer
shelters and would be returned in the fall. We should
remember that somewhere in this vicinity, the Chatham
observed an Indian village which had been deserted for
the season. This was in July, 1794 (Vancouver, 1801,
vol. 5, p. 396).
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 313
HOUSES AND CAMPS IN THE 19th CENTURY
A brief description of what was perhaps Diyaguna'Et
on Lost River in the 1860's or 1870's has already been
quoted (p. 181), as has Abercrombie's account of the
village on Khantaak Island in 1884 (p. 185). Aside
from these scraps we really know nothing about native
dwellings in the Yakutat area until the end of the 19th
century.
Houses on Khantaak Island, 1886-90
Seton-Karr (1887, p. 156) was apparently inside
Shark House on Khantaak Island (p. 319), to judge
from the following description:
"At Yakatat there were six houses, each forty
feet square and fifteen in height, accomodating sev-
eral families. In front of each house was a platform
from which one entered the building by a small
round door, requiring some considerable squeezing
to accomplish. By a flight of steps one descended to
the floor, which was strewn with gravel and sunk
to increase the space inside. In the very centre was
the fireplace, from which the smoke ascended through
a large square hole in the roof. Round three sides
ran a broad seat, on which one stepped to enter the
low, draughty, sleeping-place behind. Four largo
wooden idols graced the chief's house, like 'totem
poles,' carved in the usual style."
[Another reference to Yakutat houses of this date
is found on page 190.]
[W. Williams (1889, p. 389) described the same
village in 1888, and his observations might be
compared with those of Topham (quoted p. 194):]
"It is exclusively an Indian settlement and con-
sists of just five nouses, each covering an area of
perhaps thirty square feet. They are quite pictur-
esque, a distinctive feature being the oval door,
which is none too large and situated a foot or more
above the outside platform, so that in order to
enter one must reduce one's height at both ends.
The houses are all of a size, and contain a large
central space which serves both as parlor and kit-
chen; opening out on it are several smaller rooms,
which are allotted to the different families."
[Mrs. Shepard also visited the Port Mulgrave
village in September 1889 (1889, p. 220):]
"We landed on the beach in front of half a dozen
solidly built log cabins; constructed after the style
of most of the Indian houses farther to the 'so'thard.'
These were generally about thirty feet square.
Inside was a bench resembling a counter, but lower,
and extending around the four sides of the room,
used to sit and lie on?a species of divan?which
served as chair, sofa and bed, and from this level
opened, though rarely, an extra room or two, not
much larger than a closet. The architecture of the
whole house greatly resembles a huge dog kennel,
even to the door, which is simply around hole large
enough to confortably admit the body. I was sur-
prised at the size of the houses and the small number
of people that occupied them, but still more sur-
prised when I heard that in these half dozen houses
lived about three hundred Indians, then all away
hunting and fishing. Imagine fifty of sixty persons
of all ages and sizes living in one room!
"There were no 'totem poles' about the houses,
though I was told inside the chief's house there were
two or three [ibid., p. 227]." [But it will be remem-
bered that she found the door padlocked (see p. 192).]
[Russell (1891 b, pp. 79-80) described the six
houses on Khantaak Island, and commented that
those at the Old Village were of the same type (see
p. 202):]
"The houses are made of planks, each hewn from a
single log, after the manner of the Thlinkets gen-
erally. They are rectangular, and have openings in
the roofs, with wind guards, for the escape of smoke.
Tne fires, around which the families gather, are built
in the centers of the spaces below. The houses are
entered by means of oval openings, elevated two feet
above the ground on platforms along their fronts. In
the interior of each there is a rectangular space about
twenty feet square surrounded by raised platforms,
the outer portions of which are shut off by partitions
and divided into smaller chambers."
Eyak Houses at Kayak, Controller Bay, 1886
The houses seen by Seton-Karr at Kayak (pi. 68),
probably on Wingham Ialand, apparently resembled
those described by Ismailov and Bocharov for Yakutat
Bay a hundred years previously. Seton-Karr (1887, pp.
156-157) contrasts the houses in the two areas:
"The Kaiak houses were differently constructed.
After much constriction one manages to insinuate
314 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
FIGTJKE 22.?"Primitive bark shelter, Yakutat Bay.J> Sketched from a photograph(?) or sketched by Louise M. Keeler at the sealing
camp just above Point Latouehe in Disenchantment Bay during July of 1899. Note the sealskin bag for holding blubber and the
sealskins drying on frames. (After Grinnell, 1901, p. 159.)
oneself into a windy hovel barely five feet high. It is
necessary to keep crouching to avoid the shelves full
of dried salmon skins. . . . Small rounded holes
eighteen inches in diameter lead to the sleeping
places, built out from the main walls."
The pencil sketch (pi. 68) (ibid., p. 157) shows two
houses built of dovetailed planks, with very low walls
and mansard roof sloping from the central smoke hole.
On each side of the door, and also presumably on the
two rear corners, project small shedlike additions, each
with a little rectangular window. These were the sleeping
rooms. A wooden wind screen, like a flaring square
chimney, shelters one smoke hole. This type of house
was like that built by the neighboring Chugach Eskimo.
Bark Shelters, Disenchantment Bay, 1899
In June, 1899, the Harriman Alaska Expedition
visited the sealing camps north of Point Latouehe in
Disenchantment Bay. Here they found the Indians
living in tents and bark huts (fig. 22; pis. 72-80). "This
was their summer camp; they were laying in a supply of
skins and oil against their winter needs" (Burroughs,
1901, p. 60). The square bark-covered shelters were,
according to Grinnell, like those used for summer huts
in ancient times. He describes them (1901, pp. 158 f.):
"These shelters consist of a square frame of poles,
loosely covered by strips of spruce bark, from a foot
to eighteen inches wide and eight or ten feet long,
laid on the framework, and held in place by slender
poles placed over them. This bark must of course be
brought from a distance, since trees large enough to
furnish such bark do not grow in the neighborhood.
At most of these bark shelters, skins of the hair seal
still on the drying frames, were leaning against the
wall, outside, and in some cases had been thrown up
on the roof.
"In the center of this shelter is the circle of stones
forming the fire place, and over the fire, resting on
the stones, is the pot full of strips of seal blubber,
from which the oil is being tried out. The woman who
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 315
watches the pot from time to time ladles out the oil
into small kegs and old tin cans, or rarely into orna-
mented rectangular boxes of a primitive type. . .
"From the poles which support the roof of the
shelter hang delicacies of various sorts, all from the
hair seal's body," [while outside was a large skin con-
tainer, made of a sealskin hung from a frame set on
posts, in which the blubber was kept] [Ibid., p. 160].
[A general description of this camp has already been
given (pp. 67-68).]
HISTORY OF YAKUTAT HOUSES
From about 1900 to 1918 the Old Village (pis. 82-
84) at Yakutat was an imposing line of great frame-
houses along the shore of the cove north of the mission,
facing the dark forested lowland of Khantaak Island
and, beyond this, the snowy summit of Mount Saint
Elias and her sister peaks. The names of many (of all?)
the houses were old, repeating and preserving the names
of houses which had formerly stood at ancient settle-
ments along the Gulf of Alaska or in southeastern
Alaska, and thus serving to keep alive the histories of
their lineages.
While various informants listed the names of houses
at the former villages, I find it impossible to determine
the exact number of houses at each settlement, for a
single house might have one or more names, either given
simultaneously on construction, or successively as the
house was rebuilt or replaced by a newer structure on
the same spot. Probably none of our information is
accurate for periods prior to 1880, except for the loca-
tion of the sites themselves.
Tcicqedi and Gaiyix-Kagwantan Houses West of
Cape Yakataga
At Katalla there was a Tcicqedi house, called Eagle
House (t6aR hit) and 'On a Platform House' (kA-yackA
hit). The chief was Duwanik-kA-wul-qa, and this house
was probably occupied until 1874 or later, because his
daughter, Mrs. Katy Dixon Isaac, was born here. This
house had two carved interior posts, Eagle Posts
(teak gas), which were described by GJ to Harrington
and illustrated by Barbeau (1950, vol. 2, fig. 376).
These posts were of spruce, 10 feet high and 3 feet wide,
each carved and painted in various colors to represent
Cfrom top to bottom) the Eagle, Beaver, and Beaver
Dam. Harrington's informant did not know who made
them, but believed that they were "more than one
hundred years old." Keithahn (1963, fig. on p. 57) has
published the photograph of a pair of decorated posts
taken from a house near Katalla. The most prominent
figure on both is evidently Eagle standing on the head
of an unidentified animal (Mud Shark?). What appears
to be the same head is represented upside down on the
Eagle's body. These poles were lost in a fire.
The Tcicqedi are said to have had an Eagle House on
Bering Lake, destroyed in a flood together with the
Beaver House of the Gaiyix-Kagwantan. When the
Tcicqedi tried to build a lineage house on Strawberry
Point, they were prevented by the latter sib.
The houses of the Gaiyix-Kagwantan have been con-
sistently named for the Beaver and the Wolf. Aside
from the "original" Beaver House (segddi hit), already
mentioned, there were others of this name at Chilkat
on Bering River, at Kayak on Wingham Island, at
Okalee Spit (abandoned about 1890?), at GalyAx on
Kaliakh River (abandoned but still standing in 1900),
and at Strawberry Point. A Beaver Dam House
(segSdi ?edu hit) was on Strawberry Harbor or Redwood
Bay.
The old-style houses at Strawberry Point and
Kaliakh River have already been described (pp. 298-
300). When the old house at Strawberry Point fell
down in 1908, it was replaced that same year by a
modern structure, built by Chief John, Ldek or Kaliya-
'ic, and his nephew John Bremner II, DalxEnk or
Qatsxa, who was a son of John Bremner (White).
The house was given two names, Eagle House and
Beaver House, and its dedicatory potlatch honored the
memory of Chief John's uncle and father-in-law,
'Axaqudulu, 'Make It Smaller.' This man had been
chief of the Beaver House at Qaxtale, at the base of
Okalee Spit. I know little about that house, except
that it was abandoned about 1890. The chief was the
man who stabbed his little nephews when they were
316 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
afraid to bathe in cold water, but his sister, Cakwe, a
powerful shaman, brought them back to Me (see pp.
714 -^715). As a young girl she had seen the Russians.
Knight Island Houses
While the oldest settlement on Yakutat Bay was
supposed to have been on Knight Island, I have no
consistent or reliable information about it. Fort House
(nu hit) of the Kwackqwan and Bear House (xuts hit)
of the Teqwedi were mentioned by informants, but none
of the house pits at the site of Old Town could be
identified. The village was supposed to have been
abandoned before the Russians established themselves
at Yakutat in 1795. Certainly there were only grave
monuments here when the island was visited by
Malaspina in 1791. Later, the island was used as a
camping place. The Teqwedi Chief Minaman or
Daqusetc (1810-90) is said to have built a Shark House
(tus hit) here, but the report has not been verified,
and if true, the structure was probably erected only
for the sake of the dedicatory potlatch, and was never
occupied, for we found no trace of it.
Nessudat Houses
After 1805 (perhaps before), the main KwacS:qwan
village was Nessudat on the western branch of Lost
River. Prior to this it had been only a summer fishing
camp. Here the leading Kwackqwan chief, Yaxodaqet
(I), was head of Raven's Bones House (yet saqe hit),
also called Big House (hit tlen) because of its size.
The next chief was his nephew, CAlwti (or CtAl'eu),
who was succeeded by Yakutat Chief Yaxodaqet (II),
grandson of the first. This man married QakEnAxkugiS,
the Drum House Teqwedi girl nursed by her uncle (see
pp. 277-279), and was the father of TawAk-'ic or
ieyegAtqin, Skin Canoe George (1855?1900) and his
younger brother, Daknaqin, Ned Dok-na-kane, both
chiefs of Drum House. Yaxodaqet (II) was also the
mother's father of an informant who remembers seeing
him once. He may have built a Raven's Bones House
on Khantaak Island.
At Nessudat there were also the Kwacl:qwan Fort
House (nu hit) and Moon House (dis hit), and other
smaller houses. Mountain (Saint Elias) House (ca hit)
is also mentioned, but this may be simply another
name for one of the above. Emmons reported that there
were three Kwacliqwan houses here, and one of the
Qa-xus-hit-tan from southeastern Alaska in 1884, but
the last was never mentioned by any of our informants.
The last chief of Moon House was Cada (died about
1908 or 1909), who moved to Khantaak Island when
Nessudat was deserted. He was the father of Jim
Kardeetoo (1862-1937) and of Henry Shada (1865?-
1935?), both Teqwedi house chiefs in the Old Village.
His daughter was 'An6su', Mrs. Mary Abraham, who
married ^Ananek, chief of the Tl'uknaxAdi Boulder
House.
Moon House had four decorated house posts, Moon
Posts (dis gas), which Cada took to Moon House on
Khantaak Island, and which still later were moved to a
house of the same name in the Old Village. Emmons
photographed them there in 1901 (pi. 88) and described
them as very different in design, character, and coloring
from any others on the entire coast. They were flat and
each had a finely adzed and slightly depressed cartouche,
in which appeared a figure and a part of the moon's
disk, shown in different phases. On two posts this
design is oval, almost circular, with the moon shown as
a young and as an old crescent. Beside this is a naked
human figure, painted red, with human hair pegged in.
This represents a boy who was blown up into the moon
when going to fetch water during a storm. The other
two designs have a semicircular field on which a nearly
half-full waxing and waning moon is shown, beside
which is an animal figure, painted in red (and other
colors?), which Emmons identifies as a bear. The jaws
are, however, toothless, and the Bear is not a crest of
any Raven sib. How the Kwackqwan should have come
to use a crest normally associated with the Teqwedi I
cannot explain.
From Nessudat and 'Aka, the Kwackqwan moved to
Khantaak Island (see p. 319).
Diyagana'Et Houses
We do not know what houses the L'u^edi may have
had at Diyaguna'Et before this town was taken over
by the Bear House Teqwedi. It was founded in pre-
historic times and abandoned, I believe, before Nessu-
dat. According to informants, the Teqwedi had four
houses here, occupied all the year round, because the
town was on a good salmon stream. Emmons was told
that it had originally contained eight large houses
surrounded by a palisade. The house names given by
my informants were: Bear House (xuts hit); Valley
House (canAx hit), Bear Den House (xuts kudi hit),
Coward House (gAtxan hit), Shark House (tus hit),
and Bear Paw House (xuts djmi hit), all belonging to
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 317
the Bear House Teqwedi. Bear Paw House may have
been the same as Shark House; it should not in any
case be confused with the Bear Paw House built in 1918
at Lost River landing, near Diyaguna'Et. One person
(MJ) also mentioned that a Golden Eagle House
(gidjuk hit) was built here by the Drum House people
after they had abandoned the Ahrnklin River village
and before they moved to Khantaak Island, but this
house was not mentioned by anyone else. Probably a
Mountain (Fairweather) House (ca hit), also called
Sidewise House (tl'ad^n hit), of the Raven Tl'ukna-
xAdi were here.
Bear House (xuts hit) is said to have had the carving
of a Bear with threatening forepaws at the entrance.
Emmons was told that this was a totem pole through
which the doorway was cut. A man belonging to this
lineage, who had heard about but had never seen the
pole, described it as "a big one, like a bear. His hands
like this?" and he bent forward from the waist and
opened his arms as if about to hug something to him.
The doorway was between the legs of the bear, or
through the body, so that one had to pass below the
grasping arms. "When somebody see it, they get scared.
Go back." (NM) From remarks of another informant,
I supposed that there might have been a "painting" of
a Bear (a painted rear screen?) in this house, which was
later taken to Bear House on Khantaak Island, and
still later was put on the grave house of its chief, the
shaman Tek-'ic, who was entombed near Diyaguna'Et.
The information was confused and could not be verified.
It is just as likely that the Bear painting on the grave
house was simply the decoration made for this structure.
Shark House was also known as Bear Paw House
because of its two sets of house posts, and it seems
likely that these originally came from two separate
houses. While all four have a Mud Shark at the bottom
two are surmounted by a Bear that holds the Shark
in his paws while he bites the Shark's tail (pis. 86, 87).
These were apparently called Bear Paw Posts (xuts
djini gas). The other two, known simply as Shark Posts
(tus gas) are not alike. One (no. 3) has an Eagle above
the Shark, while the second (no. 4) represents a man
catching a Shark. According to Emmons, who photo-
graphed them in Yakutat, they were carved "five
generations back, early in the 19th century by Sha ke ish
and Koon tisch." The artists were presumably Ravens.
Is the first Caka- 'ic, 'Caka's Father,' Caka being the
name of the Teqwedi son of the Tl'uknaxAdi chief at
Gusex, Dexudu'u? In other words, was the carver
Dexudu 'u himself? Both posts were of red cedar, painted
red and black. After a varied history, they were
reputedly sold to some New York museum.
A Teqwedi man, Lusxox or Kuxtsma- 'ic, husband
of the Ti'uknaxAdi woman KAnyegeltsin or Kuxtsma-
tla, and grandfather of my informants (Minnie Johnson
and Charley White), is associated with the names of
both Bear Paw House and Shark House at Diyaguna !Et.
At the potlatch dedicating Shark House he had a baby
girl slave killed. This probably happened about 1855.
Later, as an old man, he was head of Coward House at
Situk. Another chief associated with the building of
Shark House was his "brother," Kax-da-xetl, apparently
the uncle of Chief Minaman (1810-90) who eventually
assumed his name.
Nothing is known about the other houses at this
village.
From Diyaguna'Et the Bear House Teqwedi ap-
parently moved to Khantaak Island and to Situk.
Ahrklin River Houses
Still farther east, at 'An-tlen, there are said to have
been Drum House (gau hit), Golden Eagle House
(gidjuk hit), Thunder or Thunderbird House (xetl hit),
and one other, all belonging to the Drum House
Teqwedi. This village was abandoned before the middle
of the 19th century, and we have already noted that
the only surviving girl married the Kwackqwan chief
Yaxodaqet (II), and reestablished this lineage through
her children.
Tl'uknaxAdi Houses on Johnson Slough
Meanwhile, the Tt'uknaxAdi had been moving north-
west from the Akwe-Dry Bay area, towards Yakutat.
The most important of the older houses to be reestab-
lished was Boulder House ('itc hit), said to have been
originally located in Dry Bay. " Ttc hit and Dekina
hit?Far Away House?go together" (HB). " 'Itc
hit is the same as Ta hit [Sleep House]. We call it that
because Raven is our head, and Raven is made of
'itc [a hard stone]." (MJ) The members of this Lineage
were not as numerous as those of Whale House, who
apparently moved from Gusex to Sitka.
I am uncertain of the correct meaning of the house
name, Dekina. It would logically seem to be 'Far Out
People,' i.e., Haida or Tlingit of Dall Island (Henya
or Klawak, see p. 216). Yet such an interpretation was
rejected by some of my informants. The ending -na
could mean 'side,' and I have therefore left the trans-
lation simply as 'far out.'
One Boulder House was built at GAniyac on John-
son Slough by Natskik. He married a Teqwedi
woman, Kayistan, while the latter's brother married
318 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
NatskiFs sister. Natskik and Kayistan were the
parents of Situk Jim (died 1912) who built Bear Den
House at Situk (see p. 321). After Natskit committed
suicide, he was succeeded by his nephew, ]Xjuiane-&, bap-
tized Abraham. The latter was said to have been the first,
or at least one of the first, to be baptized at the Yakutat
mission. Abraham married Mary, 'Anesii', the Teqwedi
daughter of Yaxodaqet (II) and QakEnAxkuge from
Ahrnklin; they were the parents of the Abraham
brothers, chiefs of Drum House in the Old Village.
When Abraham became old, his younger half-brother
Ckman became chief of Boulder House and for a time
lived at Johnson Slough. But this house was aban-
doned before 1884. I do not know where the occupants
lived after that, for there does not seem to have been
any house of their sib on Khantaak Island. Later, both
Abraham and Ckinan lived in Mountain (Fairweather)
House in the Old Village, and Abraham occupied a small
house of his own near the mission. He died before 1900,
and Ckman died about 1910 or a little later. Their
successor as head of the Tl'uknaxAdi in this area was
Jim Nikita, who eventually built a Boulder House at
Situk (seep. 321).
Dry Bay Houses
The houses which supposedly stood at Gusex have
been mentioned (pp. 272-273). Of these, Frog House
(xrxtc hit), with four Frog Posts and a Frog Screen,
is the only one specifically reported to have been dec-
orated. Houses in this town belonged to the Tl'uknaxAdi
and the TlukwaxAdi. It is doubtful that the CAnkuqedi
or the Kagwantan had any named houses here. After
the abandonment of Gusex, the Tl'uknaxAdi chief at
Dry Bay seems to have been the leader of that branch
of his sib which did not emigrate to Hoonah or Sitka.
In the early 20th century, this man was Dry Bay
Chief George, Qawusa or Qusun, who died in 1916 and
is buried at Situk. Both of his names had belonged earlier
to his father's father, a TlukwaxAdi shaman who was
entombed on the Akwe River below Gusex. Dry Bay
Chief George was also named for his mother's brother,
a Tl'uknaxAdi man who was said to have been shot to
death in the war with the GanAXAdi of Chilkat (see pp.
273-275). Qawusa of Dry Bay was in fact believed to
be this slain warrior's spirit reborn as a son to his
own sister. If Dry Bay Chief George were born about
1840 or 1850, and if his uncle had been killed in the
war, this could date the war to the early part of the 19th
century, and not to pre-Russian days.
In Dry Bay there were houses belonging to the
Tl'uknaxAdi, TlukwaxAdi, CAnkuqedi, and Kagwantan,
but only the names of those standing in 1900 or built
after that date are known, and even the locations of
some are uncertain. When the missionary, Albin John-
son, took the census at Dry Bay in 1900, he counted
167 persons in 3 large, old-fashioned houses on a
tributary of the Alsek (1924, p. 132).
One of the earlier houses was Far Out House (dekina
hit), already occupied in 1902 and 1903, and probably
belonging to the noted TlukwaxAdi shaman, Gutcda,
'Wolf-Weasel.' An earlier house of the same name had
been reported from Gusex. Somewhere on the eastern
shore of Dry Bay, a Kagwantan man, Qatan, 'Man
Sea Lion,' one of whose wives, QAtsuqE (KatsukE ?),
was Gutcda's sister, built Box House (qukw hit) about
1903. This house has already been described (p. 300).
The son-in-law of Qatan, a TlukwaxAdi man named
Yelkida, Qedu'axtc, and GAx-tlen, 'Big Rabbit' (1879-
1907), and who was also a nephew of Gutcda, was said
to have belonged to Canoe Prow House (cAka hit).
This may have been another name for his uncle's
Far Out House, or may have been another house of
that lineage.
There was also built at Dry Bay. prior to 1900(?), a
Frog House. In this was the "original" Frog Screen from
Gusex. The "builders" of the house were said to have
been Lituya Bay George, Qestin or Ciylkw (1854-1926),
and John Williams, senior (1887-1943). The latter
would have been too young to have built the house,
but may well have been considered one of the owners.
Lituya Bay George was a XafkA'ayi man, born in Sitka
of a Kagwantan father, who acquired his English name
because he used to live in Lituya Bay, although he was
finally buried at Situk. His wife was a CAnkuqedi
woman, Mary Qatuwatiqm or Qakwate. Two of her
daughters, born 1900 and 1903, are now living at
Yakutat. An older daughter was the wife of John
Williams, Sr. The latter was a TlukwaxAdi man, son
of the Kagwantan Yandu'En (brother of Qatan, chief
of Box House), and of titkwe, a daughter's daughter of
Gutcda the shaman. John was named &u-xwatc and
also Slstln, after a long-dead shaman, an uncle of
Gutcda.
In 1909, after the Tl'uknaxAdi in Sitka had tried to
dedicate a Frog House there (some time between 1900
and 1904), but had been prevented by the local KiksAdi,
who claimed exclusive rights to that crest, the Frog
Screen was taken to Douglas near Juneau. It was put
into a house belonging to Charley Benson, Da-tlen.
'Big Road' (1857-1933). The latter was a Tl'uknaxAdi
man from the Yakutat area, the son of NatskiFs
sister, Qu'uxsan, and of Lkutke-'uxwixtc, 'Never Gets
Lost,' the brother of Natskik's Teqwedi wife. Although
he was nephew to the chief of Boulder House at John-
son Slough, it is not clear why Charley Benson was
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 319
entrusted with the Frog Screen. The motive for its
removal to Douglas was, of course, to establish Tl'uk-
naxAdi rights to the Frog. The screen was destroyed
in the fire which, burned a large part of Douglas.
On the west side of Dry Bay near the cannery,
Blind David Dick, QaldJAqe or DaxquwAdEn, the
CAnkuqedi son of Gutcda, built Thunder or Thunder-
bird House (xetl hit). It seems to have contained a
"totem pole," that is, a crest representation of some
kind, probably a screen. This house was dedicated with
a potlatch in 1909.
Nearby, and slightly later that same year, Dick's
brother-in-law, Dry Bay Chief George, Qawusa, built
a house which he named both Far Out House and Frog
House. Situk Jim (chief of the Teqwedi Bear Den House
at Situk) painted a new Frog Screen for this house, in
honor of which Qawusa composed a song. This was
recorded by his son, Frank Italio, and by his daughter,
Maggie (Mrs Frank Dick) (1954, 2-1-G, 2-2-A; p.
1164). Somewhat later, Qawusa wanted to take his
screen to Sitka, in order to demonstrate the claims of
the Tl'uknaxAdi to use the Frog, but he was dissuaded
or prevented by John Williams, senior. Instead, the
painted boards were taken down and moved into Canoe
Prow House. This was an ordinary frame building,
erected about 1915 (?, the date 1925 was also given),
by John Williams and his father-in-law, Lituya Bay
George. This house was near the cannery, and was
probably the last to be built at Dry Bay, for the
cannery was abandoned in 1912 and most of the Dry
Bay people had died off or moved to Yakutat. John
Williams and his family apparently continued to live
a good deal of the time in Dry Bay up until his death,
although they also had a house in the Old Village.
The painted boards of the Frog Screen were reported
in the summer of 1952 to be still in Canoe Prow House,
but when Francis Riddell and Kenneth Lane visited
the abandoned house in 1953 they could not find them.
Khantaak Island Houses
We should now return to the Yakutat area, to follow
the fortunes of the lineages that settled there. On the
shores of Port Mulgrave, just inside the southeast
point of Khantaak Island, people began to build
permanent houses about 1880, or possibly earlier, for
this was becoming a regular port of call for trading
schooners. This village was called S'uskA. In 1883 (or
1884?), when Emmons first visited this village,
"there were six large houses of the old type, built
of heavy hewn spruce timbers, with the low oval
doorway, the central open fireplace, and the cor-
responding smoke hole in the roof, and in the chief's
house ornamentally carved and painted interior
posts supported the roof. These were as follows:
Toose hit (Shark house) Ta qway di
Hootz hit (Brown-bear house) "
Gau hit (Drum house) "
Dis hit (Moon house) Qwash qwa Kwan
Nu hit (Fort house) " " "
Goutc kaulye[?, koudye?] hit (Wolf Den house)
Ka gwan tan."
The last must have been Galyix-Kagwantan, but was
not mentioned by my informants, and I suspect that
Emmons was confusing a Kwacls:qwan house on Khan-
taak Island with the Galyix-Kagwantan Wolf Bath
House which was later built at the Old Village.
According to my informants, who are probably
remembering the village on Port Mulgrave as it was in
1888, there was there a Bear Paw House (xuts djmi
hit), whose chief was Kax-da-xetl from Diyaguna'Et.
This house was replaced by or renamed Shark House
(tus hit), whose chief was Daqusetc, Billy Merry-man,
etc. (pi. 62), and who eventually took his uncle's name,
and is buried as "Chief Minaman, Kawh-da-whealh,
1810-1890," on the hill above the mission. Daqusetc,
whom we have previously met as "Yen-at-set'l" and
"Yanatcho," had himself come from Diyaguna'Et.
His house, which Mrs. Shephard found locked up in
1889, contained the four Shark Poles from the original
Shark House and Bear Paw House on Lost River
(pi. 87). When the house on Khantaak Island was given
up, these poles were taken to the Old Village.
The second Teqwedi house on Khantaak was Bear
House (xuts hit), also known as Valley House (canAx
hit). The house head was the shaman, Lxagusa or
Tek-'ic (pi. 65). The latter died about 1890, or shortly
after, despondent at the death of Daqusetc. He was
succeeded by his brother, Sisdjakw, usually known as
Ca-kuwakan, 'Mountain Deer [Peace Dancer],' or
Jack Shaw-coo-kawn (1831-99). Inside and above the
door of Bear House, was a post, 5 feet high and 29
inches wide, carved to represent the figure of a Bear,
holding a small human figure under its forepaws
(pi. 89). Both figures are painted red, with dark blue
faces, the features accented in black and red, and
both have eyes of silver metal. The small anthro-
pomorphic figure also has teeth of the same metal,
and pegged-in human hair. The background of the pole
is light blue. The small human figure was identified as
Kats, the Teqwedi man who married a female bear
(see Swanton, 1909, Tale 19). According to one in-
formant, however, this figure symbolized a little
female bear cub. This post was carved for Bear House
by a Tl'uknaxAdi man, YAndus-'ic (died about 1887),
mother's brother to the two wives of Johnstone, a
younger brother of Tek-'ic, who for a time lived in
320 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Bear House. The post was taken to a Bear House at
the Old Village, then to a Shark House, and was
finally sold to the Alaska Historical Museum in Juneau.
Bad feeling, especially between Johnstone and Ca-
kuwakan, perhaps prompted the former to move to
Situk with his father-in-law, tusxox. This house ha9
been described (p. 301).
The last Teqwedi house was Drum House (gau hit),
built by Skin Canoe George, ^eyegatqin, (1855-
1900), and his younger brother, Ned Dok-na-kane,
Daknaqin. It will be remembered that they were sons
of Yakutat Chief Yaxodaqet (II) and his wife from
Ahrnklin. This house apparently marks the establish-
ment of the Drum House lineage in the Yakutat area
and its growth after virtual extinction. (The name of the
house chief was recorded in 1949 as Kuniq; this may be
an error, or may be the name of an older brother, or
possibly of Skin Canoe George).
The Kwac&qwan from Nessudat were reported to
have had three houses on Khantaak Island. The prin-
cipal one was Raven's Bones House (yel saqe hit), not
mentioned by Emmons, and possibly built after 1883
or 1884. On the death of the chief, Yaxodaqet (II), he
was succeeded by his nephew, Yakutat Chief George,
Qakoqetc (pi. 64), also known as "Naa-kaa-nee," who
took his uncle's name, Yaxodaqet. He died in 1903. The
successor of Chief George as leader of the Kwackqwan
was Cada (1827-1908, or 1909). The latter was said to
have been head of Moon House at Nessudat and was
later the builder of Fort House on Khantaak Island.
Since Fort House was also called Raven's Bones
House, it is possible that there was never a separate
building of that name on Khantaak Island.
The only Kwac?qwan House known to have been
decorated was Moon House (dis hit), also known as
Mountain House (ca hit) for Mount Saint Elias. It
contained the four Moon Posts brought from Nessudat.
The house was built by John Nishka (died 1896). He
was called Nicka, or Nicga, and Cagau-'ic, and was
probably the composer, TanXxAci (1952,3-1-B; p. 1257).
He was the Kwackqwan 'deer' chosen as the opposite
of ^adanek Johnstone in the peace ceremonies settling
the killing of the latter's uncle on the Situk (see p. 603).
Nishka married YuxwakAndu*Aq, Shra-gun-ta-ack,
(1869-1904), the Teqwedi sister of Sitka Ned. After
Nishka drowned sea-otter hunting, his uncle Stagwan
took over the house. This succession is very unusual. I
cannot explain it, and wonder if I have not misunder-
stood my informants. Stagwan was, of course, KwacR-
qwan, though he had been given this Russian name of
his Tl'uknaxAdi grandfather. Stagwan was succeeded
by his son's son, Kayak Tom, also known as Tom
Ellis, De-tten ('Big Road.'), and Kactan-'ic. His wife,
Nora, Dayiiquwa'ek, was the daughter of Tom Coxe,
only child of the shaman, Tefr- 'ic. Kayak Tom took the
Moon Posts to the Old Village when he built Moon
House there.
Situk Houses
The village S'uskA on Khantaak Island was being
abandoned after 1888 in favor of the cove on the main-
land, now known as the Old Village. Before this, how-
ever, some families had settled on the Situk River,
between the present railroad bridge and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Station. Some of the settlers we know
came from Khantaak Island, and perhaps others had
come from Lost River. A number of persons from Dry
Bay were eventually buried between or behind the
houses at Situk village. Eventually the inhabitants of
this settlement, like those of Khantaak Island, all moved
to Yakutat. Before discussing the houses at Old and
New Yakutat, therefore, those at Situk and the vicinity
should be mentioned.
Situk had apparently been a fishing camp when
Diyaguna'Et was occupied, but in 1886, Emmons re-
ports that there were some 40-odd persons living here
in 4 houses, which he unfortunately does not name.
Here, Lusxox from Bear Paw House at Diyaguna'Et
and his son-in-law, !&adanek Johnstone from Khantaak
Bear House built Coward House (gAtxan hit) about
1882. This was said to have been the first named house
at Situk. The name, Coward, was chosen because an
uncle of Johnstone, QadJAxdAqina, a shaman, had been
killed farther up the river, and had never been avenged.
This was because, according to one informant, the
murderer was another Teqwedi, and obviously no legal
satisfaction could come from the further killing of a sib
"brother". According to another informant, the mur-
derer was a Kwackqwan. At least, the latter sib was in
some manner held responsible, for iadanek Johnstone
was seized as a 'deer' and so prevented from taking any
revenge. (Nishka of the Khantaak Island Moon House
was his "opposite." I wonder whether Johnstone's
older brother, Sisdjakw, acquired his name Ca-kuwakan
in the same ceremony.) The body of the murdered
shaman was put in a grave house near Diyaguna'Et,
where that of Tek-'ic, his nephew, was later placed.
Another intralineage murder which may have had some
bearing on the dispersal of the Teqwedi, was that of the
maternal uncle of 'Andes-tla, Mrs. Bessey, who died in
1916, at the reputed age of 100. Her uncle was also a
shaman and belonged to Bear Paw House. His grave
house was built on the point just north of the mouth of
Ankau Creek, and when his niece was buried nearby,
this started the modern cemetery at that place. Mrs.
Bessey was the mother of Sitka Ned, who became chief
of Coward House in the Old Village.
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 321
Coward House at Situk has been described (p. 301),
and since there are conflicting descriptions of it, the
building may have been made by remodeling an older
smokehouse. After Johnstone's death in 1888, the house
was abandoned. His "nephew," Sitka Ned, took two
of the four carved Coward Posts to the new Coward
House at the Old Village, where they were displayed
at a potlatch honoring the memory of iadaneL
Then they are believed to have been put on the latter's
grave on Khantaak Island. The other two posts are
supposed to have been so rotted that they were left
behind in the old house at Situk. No trace of these
posts now remains at either place.
Meanwhile, Johnstone had persuaded his son-in-law,
Situk Jim, Kats, to build Bear Den House (xuts kudi
hit) next to Coward House at Situk. Kats was married
to Xosal-tla, the Kwackqwan daughter of Johnstone
by his first wife whom he had long since left in favor
of the two Tl'uknaxAdi daughters of iusxox. In Bear
Den House besides Kats and his wife and children,
there lived the owner's two married younger brothers,
a married sister, and their families, as well as the
mother of Kats, the aged widow of Natskik of Boulder
House on Johnson Slough. Bear Den House was
rebuilt and rededicated as Bear House in 1905. It was
described as a new building again in 1910, made of
commercial lumber, and having only one room. An
informant who visited it that year called it "Coward
House," suggesting a second rebuilding and renaming.
When Situk Jim died in 1912, his younger brother,
Situk Harry, Kusat"kw, (died 1945) became the house
head. The latter, about 1910(?), had taken advantage
of the railroad from Yakutat to Johnson Slough to
haul out commercial lumber for a house on Black Sand
Island, near the mouth of the Situk. He had intended
to name this Valley House, but since he failed to give
the necessary potlatch, he used the building only as a
summer fish camp. The house washed away the year
after his death. A Valley House (canAx hit) was also
mentioned at Situk, and may possibly refer to Bear
Den House after Situk Harry's succession as house
chief.
About 1910, a Tl'trknaxAdi man born about 1850>
brought commercial lumber out on his hand car on
the railroad to build a Boulder House at Situk, in
memory of the older one at Johnson Slough. Jim
Nikita, YacnAlxu? (or YacnAlxAq), '[Silver Salmon]
Skimming the Surface,' was probably a nephew (or
cousin) of Dry Bay Chief George and of the latter's
older brother, Dry Bay George, Qankida-'ic, Lingit-
'ani-kina, 'On Top of the World,' for Jim Nikita as-
sumed Dry Bay George's grandiose title after the
latter's death about 1887 or 1888. He also married
Dry Bay George's Garyix-Kagwantan daughter, Susie,
Guc-tlen-tla ('Big [Killerwhale] Fin's Mother'?] (1875-
1908), and in 1910 married Susie's young niece. Jim
Nikita had perhaps been living with his relatives at
Dry Bay, and it was possibly his building of Boulder
House at Situk that brought Dry Bay Chief George
and Lituya Bay George to Situk where they were
buried. Nikita's house at Situk was built primarily as
a place in which to hold a potlatch, rather than as a
dwelling, and there was already a Boulder House in
the Old Village at Yakutat.
The last house to be built in this area was Bear Paw
House (xuts djmi hit), with an adjoining smokehouse
at the railroad landing on Lost River (fig. 10). This
was erected in 1918 by Jim Kardeetoo, and his nephew,
Sitka Ned, by that time both prominent Teqwedi men
at Yakutat. These buildings are of commercial lumber
and were apparently used only as a fishing camp. The
house commemorates the earlier one of the same name
at the near-by site of Diyaguna'Et. It is interesting in
that the lower floor consists of a single large room,
with a bench about 30 inches high that runs across the
back, along the two sides, and partially across the front.
It is 4 feet wide at the back, about 3 feet wide at the
sides, and very much narrower at the front of the
house. There are lockers under the bench, and from
one side of it a ladder leads to an attic above. A small
sleeping room, about 7 feet long, is built on the middle
of the rear bench. The house has ordinary door, stove,
and windows, one window illuminating the sleeping
room. Above the level of the door, and below the attic
windows in front, were two large wooden Bear Paws,
measuring 12 to 14 inches in width, and about 16
inches in length, and painted red at the wrist, green
at the middle, and black at the claws. These were
stolen by White men in August, 1952.
Houses in the Old Village
The biggest and most impressive settlement was
the Old Village, or "Village," which grew up on the
mainland cove between the store to the north (built
by W. C. Mills of Sitka), and the graveyard hill above
the mission to the south (pis. 82-84). The move-
ment from Khantaak Island to this site began in 1888
or 1889 and was completed by 1899. Emmons reports
that the natives at first ferried over materials from
the old houses on the island in order to build new ones,
but my informant states that they did not build on
the mainland until they acquired lumber from the
sawmill on the lagoon, operated by the Reverend
Hendrickson. According to information secured by
Harrington from the Reverend Axelson, the sawmill did
not begin to operate until 1890, and oxen were used
322 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
to haul the logs. Some of the wealthier natives used
lumber imported from Seattle. By 1899, there were
about 100 persons living in the Old Village in some 8
to 10 framehouses (Burroughs, 1902, p. 34). Gradually,
as the older settlements east of Yakutat were aban-
doned, more and more people came here.
At the head of Monti Bay, about half a mile south
of the Old Village, a saltery was built, converted into
a cannery in 1905, and also a dock (1902), at which
steamers called regularly. Already by 1906, tourists on
these ships looked forward to the chance to buy Yaku-
tat baskets, and also by this date the railroad had
been built from the dock to the landings at Lost River
and Johnson Slough on which salmon were hauled to
the cannery. A number of natives owned handcars on
the railroad.
In addition to the trader's residence, store, and
warehouse, and a few small private homes of more
acculturated natives who had been educated at the
mission or at Sitka, the Old Village consisted of a line
of large framehouses. In all, 17 "tribal" houses were
built, although they were not all standing at the same
time. Some of the later houses had to be erected behind
the front row because there was not enough room along
the waterfront. Behind the houses were smokehouses
and bathhouses, and in front were flagpoles on which the
American flag was hoisted for holidays and potlatches.
On the beach beyond were drawn up the owner's canoes,
for which special 'boat ways,' (yakw deyi) had been
prepared by rolling aside the boulders. These houses
were named and dedicated at potlatches; the earliest of
which we have any record was given in 1905, and the
last in 1916, but there were undoubtedly earlier ones as
well as others during this period about which we heard
nothing. This was a time of prosperity when many could
afford to build and dedicate houses and to furnish them
in the White man's style, for the natives were fishing
and working for the cannery, and the salmon runs were
then still abundant.
To judge from photographs taken in 1912 and 1916
(pis. 82-84), from descriptions, and from the few
houses which still survive (pi. 26), these modern
"tribal houses," while outwardly like the white man's in
appearance, still retained a few of the earlier interior
arrangements. There was one large room, occupying
the front two-thirds of the house, in which there might
be one stove for warmth and another for cooking. In
the rear were perhaps two small bedrooms, but extra
beds were set around the walls of the main room. There
was also a second story under the high, steep roof,
presumably partitioned into additional rooms for
other families in the household. The houses, of course,
had ordinary doors and windows. There was a porch
across the front. These buildings were set up on short
heavy posts, above the ground, and had high ceilings,
so that they were not nearly as warm as the old-
fashioned houses on Khantaak Island. The walls were
finished inside with boards, sometimes covered with
wallpaper. Kerosine lamps, some hung from the ceilings
in chandeliers with glass pendants, furnished light.
Outdoors, kerosine lanterns were hung up for street
lights.
According to Emmons, there were in 1901, 10 large
houses and an equal number of smaller ones. He gives a
census for that year of 130 inhabitants: 54 Kwackqwan;
43 Teqwedi; 22 Tl'trknaxAdi; and 11 Kagwantan
(presumably of the Garyix branch). He also gives the
following 13 house names, but we cannot be sure to
what year he refers: Kagwantan?-Wolf Den [Bath?]
House; Teqwedi?-Bear House, Shark House, Thunder
Bird House, Hawk [i.e., Golden Eagle] House; Tl'ukna-
xAdi?Rock [Boulder] House, Mountain House, named
for "a volcano back of Dry Bay" [i.e., Mount Fair-
weather]; and Kwackqwan?Mountain [Saint Elias]
House, Moon House, Fort House, Play House, Raven's
Bones House, and Owl House.
When Hardy Trefzger (1963, pp. 21, 28-29) arrived
in Yakutat in 1911 (where he was later to become United
States Commissioner), there were about 300 natives,
7 White men, 2 White women, and a few White children.
One of the White men was Steve Gee, a prospector;
another was Beasley, the storekeeper. Trefzger men-
tions three named houses in the Old Village: "Kuuch
Hit or Wolf House" (probably Wolf Bath House, No. 1,
below); "Seek Hit or Black Bear House," obviously a
Teqwedi house although we did not hear that name
(sik hit); it may have been one of the many names of
Shark House (No. 13), or of Brown Bear House (No.
17); the last is "Chaad Hit, the Salmon House," (xat
hit), which was almost certainly Kwac?qwan, and was
perhaps another name for Moon House (No. 5), or
Raven's Bones House (No. 7). In two of these houses,
according to Trefzger, were totemic paintings made by
D. S. Benson, a hunchback who had been educated at
Sitka and served as court interpreter there from 1878
to 1885, and later as interpreter to the missionaries at
Yakutat. He is known to have painted the screens in
Wolf Bath House and Moon House.
The 17 native houses about which I was told are
numbered below according to then* location from north
to south, not in the order in which they were built.
1.?Wolf Bath House (gutc xa hit), also known as
Beaver House, (segMi hit), was originally built in
the 189O's(?) by a Tt'uknaxAdi man, Ckman, for his
Galyrx-Kagwantan wife, Mary Skinan, (^uyi, after
their son had been accidentally shot by Ckinan's
"nephew," Ldaxin, the oldest son of ^adanek
Johnstone. Ckinan was the son of a Galyix-Kagwantan
man, and was perhaps living in Shark House on Khan-
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 323
taak Island at the time, since his sister, Gauyu-tla
(pi. 80), was the wife of the Shark House chief, Da-
qusetc, and the peace ceremony to settle case was held
on Khan taak Island. Ckinan was nephew to Natskik
of Boulder House on Johnson Slough, and successor
to his older brother Abraham, XAnanek. He was a
parallel cousin, and so a "brother," to the wives of
^adanek Johnstone. His wife, Mary, was the daughter
of a brother of Yakutat Chief Yaxodaqet (II).
We do not know who was the first chief of Wolf
Bath House, but Yakategy John rebuilt it and gave
a potlatch here in 1905. This man, S'A'AI, Tl'atke,
WanisE', was the husband of Sisgexw-tta, the Kwac?wan
daughter of XEnk, a brother of Tek-'ic of Bear House.
Yakategy John had lived with his wife in Bear House
on Khantaak Island, along with his father-in-law,
XEnk. At the potlatch in Wolf Bath House in 1905
a painted screen was installed (fig. 85). This had been
painted by Daniel S. Benson (born 1869), Ceq-'ic,
Daqusetc, in return for permission to marry Annie,
Daxodzu, the adopted daughter of Yakategy John.
The painter, a Teqwedi man, was crippled and deaf
when Harrington saw him in 1940. I gathered that the
financial arrangements permitted Yakategy John to
return part (all?) of the bride price to Benson at the
potlatch as payment for the screen. Since Benson and
John belonged to the same moiety, the money was
actually paid to Annie, Benson's wife. The screen
represents Lqayakw, the youngest of eight Galyix-
Kagwantan brothers who went into the sky. He is
standing on showshoes at one end of the Milky Way
(his tracks), while he shoots at a muskrat with bow and
arrow. Below is a large Beaver, sitting on a beaver dam
and eating a willow branch, and below this again are
two crouching Wolves. This painting is executed with
commercial oil paints on what Harrington described as
looking like an old barn door, measuring 8 feet square.
At first a good many people lived in Wolf Bath House,
but by 1910, when another potlatch was beld here,
there were so few members of the lineage that one
woman had to take a man's role as one of the principal
speakers. By 1921, Yakategy John had sold the house
to Hardy Trefzger, a White man, who remodeled it
and moved the screen to the ceiling of the living room.
The house was again resold, and while occupied today,
it no longer belongs to a member of the original sib.
2.?Owl House (tiskw hit), also called Raven's Nest
House (yel kudi hit), was built next door to Wolf Bath
House by the brother-in-law of Yakategy John. The
builder and house head was B. A. Jack, Qadalek, Wasix
(1860-1948 pi. 90), the Kwackqwan son of XEnk of
Bear House on Khantaak Island. This was probably one
of the later houses to be built at the Old Village. It was
undecorated. Finally, the owner tore it down and used
the lumber for a new house in the present town of
Yakutat.
3.?Boulder House ('itc hit), was built by the
Tl'uknaxAdi man, Charley White, YaniM (born about
1879), son of ^adanek Johnstone of Situk Coward
House. This house was built early in the present cen-
tury, before Jim Nikita had built Boulder House at
Situk. By this tune, his "uncle" Ckinan was already
dead, but the latter's widow, Mary, who is said to have
died shortly after the earthquake of 1899, freed her
husband's slave at the dedicatory potlatch for this
house. This act was to honor the builders, her dead
husband's "nephews and niece." Charley White's wife
at that time was Jenny, QakulsikM (or Kaqulsute),
(1874-1918). She was Drum House Teqwedi, and the
fourth child of Abraham XAnan6k of the earlier Boulder
House.
This house was probably not occupied for very long,
for Charley White moved into a house given him by the
superintendent of the cannery, and Boulder House was
bought by his sister, Minnie, then Mrs. Gray, for the
lumber.
4.?Mountain House (ca hit), named for Mount
Saint Elias, a crest of the Kwackqwan, was said to
have been built by three men. The first was known as
QAqw!i-'ic; the second was Yakutat Charley, S'isdJAkw-
'ic or WAtsdAl (1862-1920), who mairied the widow of
the first, Si4awulqEn, a Kagwantan woman. The third
was Shorty, Nanut or Txak-'ic (see p. 284). They were
assisted by Mrs. Sitka Ned, 'Atckwe, KwacSqwan
daughter of Ca-kuwakan of Bear House on Khantaak
Island. Mrs. Sitka Ned (died 1926) inherited the house.
It was sold to a White man for a store, and finally
burned down.
5.?Moon House (dis hit) of the Kwackqwan, was
perhaps built by Cada, although his successor, Kayak
Tom (Tom Ellis) and the latter's brother, Sticklew
Hansen, CtAtl'eu, are usually named. This house was
evidently already standing in 1901 when Emmons
noted the house posts which had come originally from
Nessudat on Lost River. Obviously in this house of
modern construction they could only be set up for orna-
mentation. A potlatch was given in this house in 1905.
My informants did not describe the posts which
Emmons photographed but mentioned only one pole,
about 5 feet high, carved with a round face and ivory
teeth that represented the Moon. Possibly a song
leader's baton was meant, not a house decoration.
However, I was also told that the house had a Raven
Screen, called t'a yAna ku-li-<Jul Yel, 'Raven Made the
King Salmon Come Ashore,' illustrating the story of
how Raven lured a king salmon ashore by pretending
that a greenstone boulder had insulted it (see Swanton,
1909, p. 5). This screen was painted by Daniel S.
Benson, the same Teqwedi artist who made that in
324 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Wolf Bath House. It was paid for by Cada, perhaps
at a potlatch given in 1905 for Chief George. Another
potlatch was held in this house in 1909 when it was
"new" (renovated?). A photograph taken about that
time shows wallpaper and chandeliers. In 1916 or 1917,
fearing that the Moon Posts and Raven Screen might
be sold, Kayak Tom and Sticklew Hansen chopped
them up and burned them. The lumber from this
house was used to build a new Moon House in Yakutat.
6.?-Fort House (nu hit), Kwacl:qwan, was probably
built at the same time as Moon House, and was also
used for the big potlatch in 1905. It was built by
Bear Bit Billy, QanMK-'ic, (1862-1902), who had
formerly lived on Khantaak Island. He was assisted
by Young George, or George Young, Yanukt-lAtsin
(1870-1915), and by Billy's son-in-law, George (or
Frank) Martin, Tankw (1892-1915), who had married
Lily, Kinigi (Kmigi) Billy's Teqwedi daughter. Jack
Shakokon, Nukwane" (or NAg6ne") (1884-1912), who
married B. B. Billy's Teqwedi widow, Qestl'eq, and who
was the only son of Ca-kuwakan of Bear House on
Khantaak Island, is also associated with this house.
The grave markers of these men, plus that of Robert
Funton (1901-15) stand on the hilly point north of
the Old Village (pi. 30). Young, Martin, and Funton
all drowned in 1915. The house is still standing, although
it was sold and is now used as a boarding house.
7.?-Raven's Bones House (yel saqe hit), the principal
house of the Kwackqwan, was said to have been the
first house built in the Old Village. It was built by
Yakutat Chief George, Qakoqetc, Yaxodaqet (III) who
died in 1903, and by his three younger brothers.
These were Yakutat Charley (who later became chief
of Mountain House), Qa'A, and Old Moses, Djinuk-'ic.
The latter gave an elaborate potlatch in 1905 for his
dead brother Chief George, and on that occasion as-
sumed the name or title of Yaxodaqet. He was at one
time married to Kaxgawultin, sister to Tek-'ic of
Bear House on Khantaak, and was succeeded by his
nephew, Tom Coxe, T'aw-ka?, 'Chicken Feathers,'
Q'atsiti (pi. 90), the only son of the shaman Tek-'ic.
Tom Coxe had many Teqwedi daughters, of whom one
was Nora, wife of Kayak Tom of Moon House. Tom
Coxe sold Raven's Bones House to a White man for a
store. It burned about 1945.
8.? Coward House (gAtxan hit) was built by the
Teqwedi Jack Shaw-coo-kawn, Ca-kuwakan (1831?
1899), at that time chief of Bear House on Khantaak,
and by his nephew and son-in-law, Sitka Ned, Qactan
(Kactan?), who assumed the title of Kaxdaxel (pi.
214/). He was the son of Mrs. Bessey, 'AndEs-tla, and of
the Tl'uknaxAdi man, YAndus-'ic, who had carved the
Bear Post for Bear House on Khantaak. Sitka Ned is
said to have been a boy at Diyaguna'Et. He and his
wife were drowned in 1926, by which time he must have
been quite elderly. To this new Coward House in the
Old Village, Sitka Ned brought two of the house posts
from his uncle's Coward House at Situk, but only to
display at the mortuary potlatch for the latter. Ca-
kuwakan brought over the Bear Post from Bear
House on Khantaak, so that the house acquired a
second name, Bear Den House. At the death of Ca-
kuwakan, this post was supposed to have gone to
Peter Milton, Qudenaha, and his brothers, nephews of
Ca-kuwakan, but the latter's widow tried to keep it.
Eventually the Milton brothers obtained it and in-
stalled it in a new Bear House (no. 17). Frank Brown,
son of Nicqa of Moon House and of Sitka Ned's sister,
YuxwakAndu'Aq, inherited Coward House, but sold it
to a White man. It is now remodeled and, though
occupied, has passed out of the lineage.
9.?-Foggy House (kAgwas hit) was a Kwackqwan
house built by Mrs. Sitka Ned behind the house of her
husband. She gave a potlatch for this building, but used
it only for storing property. After her death in 1926,
Naxca-'ic Peter Frank (1897? ), the son of Peter
Lawrence and Mrs. Sitka Ned's sister, GAltel, inher-
ited the house, and moved it to the new village of
Yakutat, where it is now occupied by a young man of
the Kwackqwan sib and his family.
10.? Golden Eagle House (gidjuk hit) of the Drum
House Teqwedi was built by Jim Itinisku, also known
as Old Jacob, or Jim Tanuk, Tanu?, Nacawu-'ic (pi.
2 lik). He was a nephew of Sitka Ned, apparently acted
as a chief in the potlatching of 1905, and died before
1925. He was assisted in the building and succeeded
as house head by his nephew, B. B. Williams, Jr.
(born about 1889). The latter was named Yanatcuk,
and also ^adanek, since he was believed to be the rein-
carnation of Johnstone. Golden Eagle House was built
before Drum House (No. 11), but both were used for a
potlatch in 1905. The house had a Golden Eagle
Screen (gidjuk xin), said to have been painted by Tom
Coxe. When Williams sold the house to a White man,
the screen was removed, and although I obtained a
photograph of it, no one knows where it is now (pi.
93). The house, remodeled, is now occupied, but not by
a member of the original lineage.
11.?Drum House (gau hit) of the Drum House
Teqwedi was built by Skin Canoe George, also known
as George Ki-ye-quat-kene, Xeyegatqin, Taguq"'ic
(1855-1900), and his brother Ned Dok-na-kane,
Daknaqin (pi. 214 j), previous builders of Drum House on
Khantaak. The latter rebuilt the house, apparently
after Golden Eagle House had been built, and gave a
potlatch in memory of his dead brother. He also rebuilt
the house again in 1910. The house had a storm entry
in front, as shown in photographs taken about 1911 or
1912, but this has since been removed. There was also
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 325
a bell (gau, 'drum, bell') that hung before the door, taken
from a Japanese schooner that drifted ashore, perhaps
the one that came to Dry Bay in 1909. This bell was
later taken to the schoolhouse at Yakutat.
The house also had a Golden Eagle Screen (pi. 213),
painted at Sitka by a Tl'uknaxAdi man, Yel nawu,
'Dead Raven'. This screen, about 8% feet square, is now
in the Alaska Historical Museum in Juneau. It rep-
resents the Golden Eagle with a broken wing, standing
on a rock, and holding two baby groundhogs in its
claws. The two wolflike figures on each side represent the
spirits of the mountains, showing that the scene is in a
valley. Above the bird's head are faces symbolizing the
spirit of daylight. When I was in Sitka I obtained a
photograph of the artist painting the screen although no
further information was available (pi. 92).
After Daknaqin's death, the next house chief was
his nephew, Henry Shada, Cxa'e (18657-1935?) (pi.
214i), son of the Kwackqwan Cada of Fort House on
Khantaak. He sold the screen to the museum and took
the inside lumber from the house to build a house at
Yakutat. The outer shell was sold to a White man who
remodeled it, and it was eventually bought by a man of
the Bear House branch of the Teqwedi, who lives in it
today.
12.?Thunder or Thunderbird House (xetlhit) of the
Drum House Teqwedi was built behind Drum House
by nephews of Ned Daknaqin who had lived in Drum
House when they were younger. These were Joseph
(pi. 140), also known as Yaqwan, Tsune, and !&eyegatqm
(1867-1917), Martin (pi. 214e) also named Qetdjakw or
NusnE (now deceased), and Olaf Abraham (pi. 218),
known as Yanan-'ic, Qaxuxgu, and ^leyegatqfn (born
1886). These were the sons of Abraham from the
Tl'uknaxAdi Boulder House on Johnson Slough, and
of Mary, daughter of Yakutat Chief Yaxodaqet (II),
by his wife from Ahrnklin River. The house was
eventually torn down, and Olaf Abraham, youngest of
the three brothers, used part of the lumber to build
his present home in Yakutat.
13.?Shark House (tus hit), also known by other
names, was one of the most important Teqwedi houses
in the Old Village, although not the first. It is uncertain
when this house was built. Thus, there is evidence that
a house of this name was standing near Drum House in
1895, and that it was occupied by Sitka Ned, his
mother, Jim Kardeetoo, and Situk Harry. However,
this information is unclear, for the same informant also
stated that Shark House was built (about 1905?) by
Teet Milton, and Jim Kardeetoo, after the death of
Peter Milton and the collapse of the latter's Bear
House (No. 17). Teet Milton, Ka'u or Detxun (1878-
1920), and Jim Kardeetoo, Kayidutu or Xatgawet
(1862-1937), were considered "nephews" of Ca-kuwakan
of Bear House on Khantaak Island. Kardeetoo (pi. 86)
was son of Cada, the Kwackqwan chief. When Teet
Milton died, Kardeetoo inherited the house. It was
built and rebuilt several times, and it contained the
Shark Posts that had come from Diyaguna'Et, as well
as the smaller Bear Post from Bear House on Khantaak
Island. The latter had been transferred to Coward
House (8) at the Old Village, and from there to Bear
House (17). There was apparently a series of houses
built on the same site by Jim Kardeetoo: Bear Den
House, Shark House (when the Shark Posts were
installed ?), Bear House (when the Bear Post was put
in ?), and Bear Paw House. There were probably two
other rebuildings, for Kardeetoo is said to have built
seven houses in all. The last was the Bear Paw House
at Lost River landing in 1918.
Of the two Bear Paw-Shark Posts (numbers 1 and 2),
the first was inside the house, the other in a shedlike
shelter under the eaves on the left front corner of the
house (pi. 87). Number 3, representing the Eagle above
the Shark, was in a similar shed on the right front corner
of the house. The fourth pole, representing a man
catching a Shark, was also indoors. The inside posts
were said to have flanked the door. Above the door,
inside, was the Bear Post.
As already reported, Kardeetoo sold the four Shark
Posts to the missionary, Axelson, for some museum
reportedly in New York.
Eventually he tore the house down, taking some of
the lumber to build a house in Yakutat. He also took
the small Bear Post with him. After his death in 1937,
his widow reluctantly surrendered it to the younger
brothers of Teet Milton, that is to William Milton,
Nequt (1888-1950?), and Nick, ^adanek or WAnga-'ic
(1896-1966). They sold the Bear Post to the Alaska
Historical Museum in 1950, shortly before William's
death.
14.-?Mountain (Fairweather) House (ca hit) of the
Tl'uknaxAdi was occupied by Abraham and his brother,
Ckinan, and for a time by his nephew, Charley White,
before the latter built Boulder House. At that time
Charley White was married to Jenny (1874-1918),
daughter of Abraham, and widow of a Tl'uknaxAdi
man, Ned James or Stagwan. Also living in the house
was Clarence Peterson (pi. 141), Skinya (1890-1942), a
TKuknaxAdi man who was married to Violet, Teqwedi
daughter of Jenny and Ned James, and thus step-
daughter of Charley White. Another "nephew" of
Abraham was T. Max Italio, K'wAni (1874-1940), the
son of Mrs. Abraham's brother, Qacde'udaqa, the
Teqwedi son of Yaxodaqet (II). T. Max Italio's
mother, TleqwAtsi, who was buried as "Mrs Jenny
Paddy, 1854-1926," also lived in this house. In fact
it was she who forced her son and his wife, Jane or
Jean, to give up their own little house and move into
326 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Mountain House. This large house no longer exists.
15.?In 1916, Max Italio (pi. 216) built a large house
on the site of his small private house. The new building
was called Sidewise House (tl'adin hit), and also
Lullaby House ('Anku hit), and sometimes Mountain
House, after the earlier Tl'uknaxAdi house which it
replaced. This was probably the last house to be built
in the Old Village. Downstairs, there was a large
front room, in one corner of which was a store, and in
the rear were two bedrooms for the owner and his
family. His wife, Naya", Jean or Jane Mary, later Mrs.
Benson (1871-1945), was the daughter of Dry Bay
George, Lmgit-'ani-kina. Upstairs were rooms for
the owner's daughter and her husband, and also for
the owner's "nephew," Jack Ellis, Tcanki or Qadjakw
(1892-1952) and his wife. The house burned down in
1951-52.
16.?Play House (qusAkw hidi) was build by the
Kwacliqwan man, Jimmy Jackson, YAygllE or
KusAxkw-'ic (1861-1948), and his nephew, Dick Harry,
Cada (died about 1919 or 1920), the son of Situk
Harry (Teqwedi). The name of the house refers to
some children who were playing potlatch at Kaliakh
River, but whose game was transformed into a serious
affair. The house was sold to a White man, but after
resale is now occupied by a woman of the original sib.
17.?Bear House (xuts hit) of the Teqwedi was
built in front of the present site of Play House, on
what is now the beach. The builders were the Milton
brothers, Peter, Teet, Johnny, and William. The
lumber for the house was brought from Seattle and the
house was built in order to house the Bear Post which
had come to the brothers after the death of their uncle,
Ca-kuwakan, in 1899. I believe the house was built
about 1900 or 1901 when Emmons listed it. After
Peter's death, Teet Milton became the head, but the
heavy surf in winter undercut the foundations, so part
of the lumber was used to build, or rather rebuild
Jim Kardeetoo's Shark House, to which Teet Milton
transferred the Bear Post.
Yakutat: the Present Town
By 1905 or 1906, a community was already growing
up at the head of the bay near the dock. The steamer
called regularly, and a visit to Yakutat was advertised
as a tourist attraction, especially because of the ex-
cellent baskets which could be bought here (p. 430).
A popular article describes the new settlement:
"There are two towns of Yakutat. Steamers land
at the new town, but passengers have time to walk
through the forests to the old village, if they desire.
The new town is the western terminus of the Yakutat
and Southern Railway, a line recently built to move
the vast amount of timber in this vicinity [and to
carry fish to the cannery from Lost River and
Situk]. Here is a store, a cannery, a saw mill, and a
number of houses. The many tents and cabins of
the Indian Village nestling among the trees and the
stumps at the left of the town add a picturesque
touch to the place." [Higginson, 1906, p. 18.]
To refer to Yakutat as "behind the breakers" or
"among the stumps," as is done sometimes by the
Tlingit of southeastern Alaska, is interpreted at Yaku-
tat as an insult.
About 1919, people had begun to move from the
Old Village to settle permanently at the present town
of Yakutat in order to be near the cannery (pi. 22).
They already had summer houses here, and the younger
people, especially, were anxious to build small houses
of their own. The move was bitterly opposed by some
of their elders. A few "community houses" were built
in the new village. However, in 1921 the Yakutat
Camp of the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded,
and this organization was opposed to potlatches and
other manifestations of sib organization. Instead, for a
time the people devoted themselves to building the
large ANB Hall next to the church; native dances were
given in it to raise money for the new organization.
The first of the "tribal" houses built at Yakutat was
probably the CAnkuqedi Thunder or Thunderbird
House (xetl hit). This was erected by Jack Peterson
(pi. 215e), Gunakw or GAnakw (1870-1938), son of the
shaman Gutcda, and younger brother of David Dick
who had built Thunderbird House in Dry Bay in 1909.
At the dedicatory potlatch for the house, Jack Peterson
is said to have worn a blanket decorated with the
enormous buttons that had been given to his father as
part of a fee for professional services. In the house was
a screen, xetl xin, painted by a Tl'uknaxAdi man of
Douglas, named Wucdjixo-'ic, 'In Everybody's Arms-
Father,' The paint is commercial, but Frank Italio
said in 1949 that the screen -was then 52 years old,
suggesting that it had been simply repainted for the
Yakutat house. He may, however, have been referring
to an "original" screen of which this was the copy.
The house was said by one informant to have been
dedicated at a potlatch in 1916; others said it was not
built until 1921. In painting the screen, the artist used
a paintbrush to which were bound the fingernail parings
of a Yakutat boy, in order to transfer to the child some
of his artistic skill. Since the boy was born in 1914 and
a practice of this kind usually takes place when a child
is very small, it suggests that the screen, but not neces-
sarily the house, was made in 1916.
IN THREE PARTS YAKUTAT HOUSES 327
The screen, 10 feet square, has a large Thunder bird
in the middle, carved in the round from separate pieces
of wood (pi. 91). On the screen itself, below the wings,
are two representations of the CAnkuqedi boy who was
found by the Thunderbird on the Alsek River (pp.
249-251). Four stylized raindrops (like double petals)
fall down the sides of the screen. Two long black clouds
are above the wings. The faces all around represent
either hailstones or the faces on the walls of the
Thunderbird's home in the mountains. The various faces
on the body of the Thunderbird represent its bones and
joints. A wolf's head is shown on each wing, because
when the Thunderbird makes a noise the wolves always
stop. The colors employed are gray, tan, black, yellow,
white, blue green, and red (see Grovesnor, 1956, p. 741).
Outside above the door of the house, was a carved
figure of a Thunderbird, also on a board, but smaDer.
The bird was about 4% feet high, with wings bent for-
ward and downward.
After the death of the first owner, his nephew, Frank
Italio, KwutcEn (1870-1956), the son of Dry Bay Chief
George, became owner of the house (p. 215a). He first
sold the outside Thunderbird "to someone in the
States," and in 1950 sold the inside screen to the Alaska
Historical Museum in Juneau. The house collapsed
shortly after that.
Far Out House was built by Dry Bay Jack,
Qadjaq-'ic, a Tl'uknaxAdi or TlukwaxAdi man, who was
married to a daughter, ^uqawudu'u or Maggie, of Dry
Bay Chief George who had built Far Out House in
Dry Bay in 1909. Dry Bay Jack died about 1923, and
the house is now occupied by his great niece(?) and her
husband. The house is not decorated.
Moon House of the Kwackqwan was built by Billy
Jackson, Ginneq, Watsuq (1883-1951). He is reported
to have been born in Cordova, the son of a Galyix-
Kagwantan father, and to have previously owned a
house (named?) at Kaliakh River. In building his
Yakutat house, he was assisted by his nephew, Dick
Harry (see Moon House in the Old Village). The new
Moon House was erected on the site of a small house in
which a venerable and respected KwacK:qwan woman,
'Itisi, Mrs. Atsezy Jack, had burned to death in 1919
at the reported age of 98. This house served as a me-
morial to her. The house was finally torn apart after
the owner's death.
Play House was built by Jimmy Jackson, Billy's
older brother, to replace his house of the same name in
the Old Village. This was built beside his brother's
Moon House. It burned to the ground in 1948, and
Jimmy Jackson perished in the fire.
The house built by Henry Shada, Teqwedi, with
lumber taken from his Drum House in the Old Village
was called Baby Drum House (gau hit yAdi), although
I doubt that it was dedicated in a potlatch. Since 1952
it has served as a chapel for the Church of God, a
revivalistic sect with Alaskan headquarters in Sitka.
The last named house in Yakutat is Eagle House
(t6ak hit), built by George Johnson, LucwAq or
CithvAk (1892-), a Tcicqedi man from Katalla. He is
the only representative of his sib in Yakutat. The
house contains a painting of an American Eagle, made
by Harry K. Bremner, Kwackqwan (1893-), in lieu of
an old-style screen.
The Future
The old houses and even their large modern successors
are thus virtually gone, rotted away, torn down,
burned, sold, or remodeled into modern buildings. The
older totemic house decorations have with one excep-
tion been destroyed, stolen, or sold to museums or
private collectors. But the memory of past glories still
remains, at least for the older people. They speak with
pride and affection of the houses in which they once
lived or had built, and mourn the loss of the old build-
ings and screens. It is sad that some of the more influen-
tial older people, who only a few years ago supported
the Alaska Native Brotherhood in its condemnation of
all ceremonies and customs that emphasized sib solidar-
ity and thereby intersib rivalry, now would like to
revive old ways. The old ceremonies, centering around
the dedication of sib houses, symbolized Tlingit values
and gave a meaning to the lives of the people which is
now lost. Thus, Jack Ellis who in 1949 talked against
the folly of potlatches, had, just before his death in
1952, saved money toward a potlatch, and had sunk
the foundations for what was to have been a new Frog
House. In the late summer of 1952, when a visitor to
Dry Bay reported seeing the boards of the Frog Screen
still piled up in John Williams' Canoe Prow House, a
number of Tl'uknaxAdi elders wished bitterly that they
had the funds to fetch the screen to Yakutat and install
it in a proper building.
Now it is too late to turn back the clock. Many of the
men who could have been sib leaders have died recently
and their successors are too young to know how to
conduct ceremonies, indeed have not seen real potlatches
since they were little children. The salmon runs upon
which the entire community depends for its livelihood
have been failing for a number of years, and the people
lack sufficient wealth to build houses and to dedicate
them at potlatches. The younger people, whose support
would be necessary, are either discouraged or de-
moralized. Lacking interest in or comprehension of the
past traditions, they have turned their hopes to the
White man's world beyond Yakutat.

Travel and Trade
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 23
330 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
CANOES
Introduction
Within relatively recent historic times the Yakutat
Indians made several different kinds of canoes (yakw).
These dugouts (fig. 26) were the small forked-prow
sea-otter hunting canoe (tcAyac), the small thick-
prowed canoe with ram for sealing in the ice (gudiyii or
gudiyi), the so-called "village canoe" ('ande yagu) with
rounded prow and stern, the large canoe with plain
slanting prow, called 'spruce' (sit) from its material, and
the large "war" canoe, called ironically 'canoe's child'
(yakw yAdi). Most of the last were imported from the
Haida, and there were also a few examples of the im-
ported Nootka canoe, with straight stern and the high
narrow prow like a bird's head which gave it the name
'goose canoe' (t'awAq yakw). At Dry Bay a river canoe
was made of cottonwood (duq) and was named for this
material. These types are described in more detail
below.
There is also the tradition that at a still earlier period
skin canoes were made, some like umiaks, others like
kayaks and baidarkas, and comparable to those of the
Chugach Eskimo. As we shall see, reports of 18th-
century explorers confirm the existence of such skin
boats on the Gulf of Alaska. However, the wooden
canoes which they saw at Lituya Bay and at Yakutat
Bay cannot easily be identified, especially since the
terms used to describe them are often unclear to us
today.72 While some of these old canoes were probably
similar to those made 100 years later, others clearly
were not. The material in the following sections has
been revised and expanded from an earlier description
of Yakutat canoes (de Laguna, 1963).
Skin Boats
In prehistoric times skin canoes (dugu yakw) were
in use at Yakutat and along the Gulf Coast of Alaska.
Some of these were large open boats, said to have been
nearly as large as the big wooden "war" canoes (pp.
340-341). These skin boats were compared to the Eskimo
umiaks and were called djakux (Boas, 1917 from Swan-
ton, p. 126, djaq6x). They were covered with sealskin,
721 am indebted to Professor Donald Baird of Princeton
University (letter of February 27, 1965) and to Howard I.
Chapelle, Curator, Division of Transportation, U.S. National
Museum (letter of September 2, 1965) for explanations of some
of the terms used by Captain Colnett.
according to an informant who believed that sea lion
hide would be too heavy. In Swanton's version of the
Kwac?qwan migration story (pp. 241-242), both these
Athabaskans who had come from the Copper River
and the [Garyix-] Kagwantan who joined them from
the west used skin boats, presumably of this type, to
reach Yakutat. Most of my informants, however, said
that they crossed the ice on foot or used dugouts, and
only two believed that the ancestors of the Kwackqwan
came in skin boats to Yakutat. One of these said that
when the people came over the mountains from the
Copper River to Icy Bay, they were unable to proceed
further because the glacier stuck out so far. "So the
Aleuts loaned them the skin canoe." This statement
must be interpreted in the light of this informant's
belief that the original inhabitants of the Yakutat area
were "Aleuts." The Copper River people had tried to
build a skin boat, but lacked the materials. With their
borrowed canoe they went as far as Point Manby,
where they knocked a hole in the bottom, and had
to return to Icy Bay. Apparently they then succeeded
in making another boat, and eventually reached the
the eastern shore of Yakutat Bay. The account is,
however, unclear at this point (MJ). Another inform-
ant believed that skin boats must have been used
for this trip because "not very long ago they [began
to] use that tree canoe [dugout]." Of skin canoes,
she said: "They just dry it when they're going to go
again, and they pack it" (SW). There is also a story
that the inhabitants of the prehistoric or protohistoric
site on Knight Island used "a big skin war canoe,"
carrying 20 men, in a race with Tlingit from south-
eastern Alaska who had a Haida dugout.
That skin canoes may be very ancient in the Yakutat
area is also suggested by the Wrangell myth about the
cannibal Aya'yi (Swanton, 1909, Tale 31, pp. 89-91),
which begins with the statment that Raven went to
LAxayl'k (Yakutat country), "and told the people that
they were to make canoes out of skins." Here, the sons
of the cannibal make a large canoe out of the skins of
his victims, sewn with human hair, and go in this to
avenge their mother's uncles whom their father has
slain. "It was the first of the skin canoes. . . . Now-
adays these canoes are made of all kinds of skins, but
the hair used is always human hair and they sing in the
same manner when they put them into the water"
(ibid., p. 90).
The Copper River Eyak also made large canoes of
sealskin or mountain goatskin. These canoes were
called yaxAqfi' or ya"XAqi;', and differed from the
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 331
Chugach umiaks in having pointed bows instead of the
usual Eskimo "horns" (Birket-Smith and de Laguna,
1938, pp. 45, 550). Presumably the Yakutat skin
boats were similar, as were the mooseskin boats made
on the Copper River. The Chilkat Tlingit formerly
made large canoes of moose or caribou hide, with
pointed, curved bow and stern. These were paddled, not
rowed like an umiak. They were made and used chiefly
on trading trips in the interior, although Chilkat
traditions report that this was once their only type of
craft (Drucker, 1950, p. 254, Item 390). Such skin boats
were probably known also to the Southern Tutchone,
and may conceivably have been used on the Alsek
River, although my informants knew nothing to this
effect.
In view of this wide distribution of skin canoes among
these northwestern Indian groups, it would be rash to
conclude with LaPerouse that the skin boats in Lituya
Bay must have been Eskimo or Aleut. It will be re-
membered (p. 123) that the frame of a large skin boat,
the only one of eight that had escaped the perils of the
entrance, was found at one of the native cemeteries
or moral. Seven others had been wrecked at the mouth
of the bay, and this canoe, LaP6rouse was given to
understand, had been dedicated by the survivors to the
memory of their lost companions.
"This canoe did not resemble those of the
country. . . . [It] had timbers and wales like our
boats; and the frame, which was well made, had a
covering of seal-skins, which served instead of planks,
sewed together with such nicety, that the best work-
men in Europe would find it difficult to imitate" [La-
Perouse, 1799, vol. 1, pp. 390-391]. "These canoes, a
draught of which was taken from the only one saved,
were thirty-four feet long, four broad, and six deep.
Dimensions so considerable rendered them fit for
long voyages. They were covered with seal-skins,
after the manner of those of the Esquimaux. . . ."
[Ibid., p. 407.]
The illustration (pi. 36) shows that the skin cover
was composed of hexagonal pieces stitched together.
However, we cannot tell whether the frame resembles
more that of the typical Eskimo umiak, or one of the
Indian canoes with more pointed prows. Unfortunately
we have no examples of skin boats from Yakutat with
which to compare it. Since the Yakutat people are
known to have visited Lituya Bay, it is more reasonable
to suppose that the eight skin boats were theirs, rather
than belonging to Chugach who had come all the way
from Prince William Sound. The latter, as enemies or
at best aliens, would hardly have been permitted to
deposit then- dead or a memorial to them in a local
Indian cemetery, since the Indians grouped their
dead according to sib. Still, detailed information about
the construction of all these skin covered craft would be
necessary to solve this puzzle.
The Yakutat people report that their ancestors
formerly made one-hole kayaks and two-hole baidarkas
(dugu qayakw 'skin kayak;' or gayex guk, the latter
term possibly referring to the prow as an 'ear,' gukw).
The type with one man-hole was called 'one hole'
(tlex kAwul). Another word, deyaguwulet (dex yagu
wulet ?),may possibly refer to the two-man baidarka,
(cf. dex 'two'), but my informants were very uncertain
of the words.
These boats were covered with sealskins and were
said to have been like Chugach Eskimo kayaks and
baidarkas (fig. 24). With the one-man craft a double-
bladed paddle was used hi ordinary Eskimo style.
Although one informant said that this type of paddle
was also used with the two-man baidarka (MJ), it
would appear from Suria's description (see below) that
the occupants used single-bladed paddles, dipping
them two or three times on one side and then shifting
to the other. This is the Chugach manner of paddling
the baidarka, and also the Yakutat way of paddling
the two-man sea-otter hunting canoe of wood. Since
the constant shifting of paddle from side to side would
result in dripping a good deal of water into an open
dugout, it is probable that this style of paddling
originated with the baidarka, since the skin deck of
the latter would shed the drip. We should note, how-
ever, that on clear days, when a dugout was likely to
check hi the sunshine, the Tlingit were accustomed to
splash a little spray on the canoe with their paddles,
so perhaps the drip into the hunting canoe was not a
great disadvantage, even though the style of paddling
was quite unlike that employed for other dugouts.
Most of my informants, it should be noted, denied
that skin boats were made at Yakutat, and thought
that they were used only by their enemies, the Chugach
and Aleut. I believe, however, that they were really
thinking of a later period when dugouts had supplanted
the skin umiak and kayak, and when the only kayaks
or baidarkas seen were those of the Chugach, Koniag,
or Aleut hunters employed by the Russians. My in-
formants described how their grandfathers used to
watch the "Aleut play around in the breakers," skill-
fully capsizing and righting their watertight craft.
Such maneuvers were evidently to prevent the waves
from smashing the thin frames of the kayaks.
The last kayak was made at Yakutat by the Teqwedi
head of Drum House on Khantaak Island, George
Ki-ye-quat-kene (ieyegatqin, 1855-1900), which
earned him the nickname "Skin Canoe George." This
was a two-man craft, copied from one that he had
seen among the Chugach or Eyak. It had wooden ribs
about 2 inches thick and was covered with dehaired
sealskins, "as smooth and classy as can be. . . . He
332 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
cured the skins himself, but a woman sewed it for him.
It was sewed with porpoise sinew." He used double-
bladed paddles with it (MJ).
In the 1880's the Eyak had two- and three-hole
baidarkas for hunting sea otter. While we believed
that these had been purchased from the Chugach
(Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 52 f.), it now
seems probable that the Eyak also made them. (The
three-hole form was an innovation introduced by the
Russians who wanted to be able to ride as a passenger
in the middle, but was also adopted by the natives.)
We are indebted to Suria for descriptions and
sketches of small canoes seen at Port Mulgrave in
1791 (pis. 40^3). Of these, the skin kayak or bai-
darka, used by the Ankau, seems to have excited the
most interest and is more fully described.
"They use canoes of different sizes. The ordinary
ones are of wood shaped like a weaver's shuttle and
of this figure." (fig. 23.) The picture in his journal
shows a small canoe with two men paddling on the
same side. [For a further description, see p. 334.]
"Others are of skin sewed to a framework of poles
well constructed and tied, and are like this [fig.
23]. . . ." [The sketch is of a two-hole baidarka
with forked prow, somewhat like those of the
Chugach.] "The two holes in the center are for
entering. Half the body from the waist down is
inside and they seat themselves on their heels as is
their ordinary custom, and thus they manage the
canoe with the oars [single-bladed paddles]. They
use no rudder and in order to keep going straight
they paddle the same number of times first on one
side and then on the other with great speed. Their
oars are very curious and are painted like the canoes
with various marks and masks. They have some
leather thongs which pass through the entire deck of
the canoe and are tied on the sides. They are like
stay rods where they put their lances and arrows
and their oars when they are moving along."
Then follow some undecipherable notes, and seven
sketches, which Wagner has not attempted to reproduce
(Wagner, 1936, p. 259).
The decorated paddles would appear to have been
used for both skin and wooden canoes, One would
assume that the painted canoes would have been the
large named canoes (see "war" canoes, p. 340), since
they evidently bore sib crests, yet the context suggests
that they were the small baidarkas. The thongs across
the deck of the latter, under which the hunter's gear
is tucked, are similar to those on Chugach hunting
craft.
Suria describes the two-hole baidarka (pi. 40) in
another passage:
"The king or chief went about directing his
canoes in one made of skin, shaped like a weaver's
shuttle [referring to the graceful bifurcated prow of
the Chugach type] with a deck of the same material
in which there were two perfectly round holes by
which they enter and leave, and which reach to their
waist, where they tie them [evidently referring to
the waterproof jacket which is tied around the
manhole coaming]. In these canoes they pass from
one island to the other, and when there are bad
storms and heavy seas they get inside them and
leave them to the force of the waves, and are very
secure as water does not enter anywhere." [Wagner,
1936, p. 248.]
That Chugach kayaks and baidarkas had the same
shape in the 18th as in the 20th century is established
by comparing the excellent sketch made by Captain
Colnett in 1788 (fig. 25) with photographs taken in
1933 (Birket-Smith, 1953, figs. 18 and 19).
Dugouts of the 18th Century
Before attempting a description of more modern
craft, we may review the observations made of wooden
canoes seen at Lituya Bay and Port Mulgrave in the
latter part of the 18th century.
Aside from the illustrations (pis. 35, 37) LaPerouse's
report gives little information about wooden canoes
at Lituya Bay in 1786. The explorer was much more
interested in the remains of the single skin covered
boat which he found there. The latter "did not re-
semble those of the country, which are formed only
of the trunk of a tree, hollowed out, and heightened
on each side by a plank, sewed to the bottom of the
canoe" (LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 390). These canoes
were evidently large, for each hut or household of
18 to 20 persons had such a canoe, in which they came
and went through the dangerous entrance to the bay,
transporting not simply the members of the house-
hold but their stores of dried fish, household effects,
and even the planks which formed the summer shelter
(cf. p. 311). These canoes must have been seaworthy,
yet LaPerouse writes that the Indians ". . . are very
unskilful in the construction of their canoes, which
are formed of a trunk of a tree hollowed out, and
heightened on each side by a plank" (ibid., p. 406).
Plate 37, "Pirogue du Port des Francais," shows
such a dugout with eight paddlers (four men to a side),
three men in the stern and three women in the bow.
The occupants appear to be sitting on seats, probably
several thwarts in the middle; the man aft is certainly
sitting on a raised seat set into the angle of the stern,
like the triangular seats described for modern canoes.
The planking forming the raised sides of the canoe
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 333
is carried beyond the ends to form the long, narrow
protruding bow and still longer stern, each pierced
with two holes and decorated with painted faces,
evidently crest designs. The same type of canoe, prob-
ably exaggerated as to beam, is shown in the illustra-
tion of the Indian camp, "Vue d'un e"tablissement,
etc." (pi. 35).
This is the only type of dugout described or pictured;
if there were smaller canoes used for fishing in Lituya
Bay, they are not mentioned.
These dugouts seen by LaPerouse at Lituya Bay
can almost certainly be matched by at least one of
the varities of wooden canoe encountered at Port
Mulgrave and in the vicinity during the next few
years.
The canoes that met Dixon's Queen Charlotte in
Monte Bay were described by Beresford as made
"altogether of wood, neatly finished, and in shape
not very much unlike our whaleboats" (Beresford,
1789, p. 167, quoted p. 125).
There were evidently two kinds of canoe here, for
Beresford also writes:
"I before took notice, that their small canoes were
neatly finished; the very reverse is the case with their
large ones; they are made entirely of one large tree,
rudely excavated and reduced to no particular shape,
but each end has the resemblance of a butcher's tray,
and generally are large enough to hold twelve or
fourteen people" (ibid., p. 173). A footnote informs us
that one of the small canoes was brought back by
Captain Dixon and given to Sir Joseph Banks. If the
specimen has not disappeared, how valuable it would
be to compare it with Yakutat craft of a later period!
These larger canoes evidently did not have the sides
raised by additional planking, and were apparently
alike at each end. Although I do not know the shape
of an 18th-century English butcher's tray, I would
hazard that it resembles the long oval wooden "chop-
ping bowl" of contemporary Maine. If so, the ends of
the Yakutat canoe would have been simply rounded
off and rounded up, rising only a little above the
level of the gunwales, and the canoe would have resem-
bled shovel-nosed craft used on rivers.
The Yakutat canoes did not compare favorably with
Tlingit examples seen farther south: "The canoes here
[Sitka area] are constructed in much the same manner
as those at Port Mulgrave; but the large ones are
finished in a more compleat and workman-like manner,
and hold from sixteen to twenty people" (ibid., p. 190).
When Captain Colnett came to Yakutat the following
year, 1788, he saw "three or four kinds" of wooden
canoes (p. 130). Two of these varieties were small;
two were larger. A small canoe which would carry
only three or four men was like a "neat-built ship,
Galley-fashion," and probably corresponded to Beres-
ford's small, neatly finished canoe. Colnett's phrase
"galley-fashion" Professor Baird thinks means "sharp
at both ends." Howard I. Chapelle, to whom at Pro-
fessor Baird's suggestion I submitted a draft of this
section, has written (letter of February 9, 1965): "I
would think this describes a long, low and rather
straight top hull having fine ends and, perhaps, sides
raised by plank from the stern to a few feet short of
the bow?so the canoe looked like a galley."
The other small(?) craft was described by Colnett
as like "a half Moses dug out of a Log." Again I am
indebted to Professor Baird (letter of February 27,
1965) for the following information. "Chapelle (1960,
p. 16) says: 'The moses boat was a square-sterned
rowing boat having marked rocker in the keel and
great sheer, used originally in the West Indian trade
as a ship's lighter to handle casks. These boats were
also used in the Maryland and Virginia tobacco trade.'
Other sources add that the moses was broad and flat and
very seaworthy." Although none of the Northwest
Coast canoes has a rocker in the keel or is really broad
of beam all have considerable sheer (i.e. are high-
ended), but only the Nootka canoe suggests a square
stern. However the only canoe to which Colnett's
description might apply is the type pictured by
LaP&rouse in Lituya Bay, for this had the gunwales
raised and widened by the extra plank on each side,
and these planks made an angle with the bottom
log at the stern, which may have suggested the rocker.
Dr. Baird concludes: "I can only speculate that Capt.
Colnett merely means to say that the dugout canoe
had the marked sheer of a moses boat but was only
half as wide."
One of the two larger types of canoe seen by Colnett
at Yakutat was evidently an imported Haida canoe,
described as "Queen Charlotte Isles built." The other
reminded Colnett, as it had Beresford, of "a Butcher's
tray cut out of a solid piece of timber," yet could
carry 20 to 30 persons, plus their baggage.
Although Colnett thought the natives of Port
Mulgrave were rather timid navigators, still they did
not hesitate to go some distance out into the open
ocean to follow or intercept his ship. One of these
canoes carried 30 men, women, and children (p. 131).
It had three poles set up like masts with bird tails
and a piece of fur hanging from them, evidently signals
that the occupants wanted to trade.
A few weeks after his departure, Ismailov and
Bocharov were met at the entrance to Yakutat Bay
by "two large wooden baidars. The sterns were much
lower than the prows, which were high and pointed,
and perforated with large round openings, and three
smaller holes. In the middle of the baidars a pole
334 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
? stib%& -Lo7 7ix%yxi
FIGURE 23.?Yakutat dug-out canoe and two-hole baidarka as sketched by Suria in 1791.
(MS. sketch, courtesy Yale University Library.)
was fixed, to the top of which sea-otter skins were
fastened. Each baidar contained fifteen men. . . ."
(Coxe, 1803, p. 322; see p. 133.)
Evidently this was the same type of canoe which
the illustrator for LaPeYouse was attempting to depict,
and this must also have been one of the kinds seen by
Colnett, even though I may have been mistaken in
the particular identification attempted.
There were also small canoes at Yakutat, for the
natives visited the Russian ship "in large and small
baidars with their wives and children" (Coxe, 1803,
p. 328).
Although no Tlingit canoes at that time were
equipped with sails, one wonders from the descriptions
of the poles set up to display skins whether the canoes
may not already have had a perforated thwart and
bottom cleats to secure these poles, arrangements
which could later have been adapted for stepping a
mast with a sail.
From the narratives of Malaspina and Suria, and
from the latter's sketches (pis. 40-43), we learn that the
inhabitants of Yakutat Bay in 1791 had wooden canoes
of several different sizes, although these are not well
described. One kind pictured has a low prow and stern.
These wooden canoes were apparently well made and
cared for, in contrast to the natives' summer huts
(cf. p. 143). I also gather that some were small enough
to be handled by a single woman or man; others, like
the two that came out to meet the Spanish ships, car-
ried many persons. Likewise, the visitors who came to
Port Mulgrave in two canoes must have been numerous
enough to have impressed the Spaniards as presenting a
possible threat to the local inhabitants. This also argues
for the existence of large, seagoing canoes, if not at
Yakutat itself, then among their neighbors. Such in-
formation, however, only confirms what we already
know.
I have already quoted the brief remarks of Suria
that the Yakutat canoes were of different sizes, and
that the "ordinary ones are of wood shaped like a
weaver's shuttle. . . . " This expression, which is also
applied to the baidarka with bifurcated prow, suggests
that the Yakutat people were using the split-prow hunt-
ing canoe. However, the illustration (fig. 23) shows a
little canoe with an outline similar to that seen in Lituya
Bay. The long projecting stern is pierced by three holes,
the somewhat shorter prow by a single hole. Conceiv-
ably this is the prototype of the hunting canoe, for the
two occupants are both paddling on the same side, just
as this is paddled. Unfortunately the sketch is not very
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 335
N
FIGURE 24.?Boats at Nuchek, Prince William Sound, illustrating the types used by the Copper River Eyak and Yakutat. Top to
bottom, White man's dory, three-hole Chugach baidarka, two-hole Chugach baidarka, forked-prow sea-otter hunting canoe.
(After Seton-Karr, 1887, p. 185.)
clear, yet one imagines that if the prow had been be-
furcated Surla would not have failed to indicate this
unusual feature. This small canoe may correspond to
Colnett's "half Moses," and be simply a smaller version
of the big Lituya Bay canoes.
FIGTJKE 25.?Yakutat canoe and paddles, 1788, as sketched by
Captain James Colnett. (Courtesy, Public Record Office,
London.)
Unfortunately Suria says nothing specific about the
larger craft, nor about which canoes were painted
"with various marks and masks."
Modern Yakutat Dugouts
VILLAGE CANOES
The simplest type of dugout made at Yakutat in
recent years was the "village boat" (fig. 26a). It had
a rounded bottom and rounded bow and stern, both
ends shaped alike and neither raised much above the
level of the gunwales amidships. It was believed by
?my informants that this type was postcontact in origin
and had been copied from the boats carried by sailing
vessels. These ships were so large that they were called
'villages' ('an); hence the name "village" canoe
('and^yagu), or more properly 'ship's boat.' These
canoes were used for hunting and racing.
A native made a canoe of this type in the spring of
1953. It was 14 feet 8 inches long, with a maximum
beam of 24% inches, and a maximum inside depth of
J4 inches. It was carved from a drift log of yellow
336 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
foot scale
FIGURE 26.?Yakutat canoes, a, 'Village canoe,' made in 1953. 6, 'Spruce' canoe, c, Forked-prow hunting canoe, d, Heavy prow sealing
canoe, e, Haida-type "war" canoe or 'canoe's child.' /, Nootka canoe. All prows are to the right. (After de Laguna, 1963, p. 223.)
cedar, and was all of one piece, except for three thwarts
and a strip of wood, 1% by 1 inch, nailed along each
gunwale. The canoe was never properly finished, since
the maker had intended to steam out the sides to give
a greater beam. However, his sons had played with it
and cracked it. I do not know whether all canoes of
this type were as small.
Although the shape may well be modern, the canoe
probably represents a modification of one or another
type made earlier.
C0TTONW00D CANOES
The cottonwood dugout (duq, 'cottonwood'), for-
merly made at Dry Bay, had perhaps much the same
shape as the "village" canoe, to judge from an inform-
ant's sketch and description. "My father used to make
them. . . . Some of them are big. Lots of people go
in them. The front end is just like the back. It can go
both ways. He steamed it to make it; put hot rocks in
the fire and put water inside the boat. Then he put
the rocks in, and then he put boards across. He push
them in. Then he put bigger and bigger ones in. He
steam it. . . . The duq was a little wider than the
canoes they use here [referring the Yakutat hunting
canoe with a beam of about 3 feet]?a little bit bigger.
To paddle, my father kneeled sometimes, and some-
times he sat on a box [hollow log stool]. Sometimes he
made a piece called yeq [shelf-like seat] to sit on way
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 337
in the back. The Haines people [Chilkat Tlingit] used
to use cottonwood canoes, the same kind we call duq."
Such canoes were intended primarily for river
travel. This northern river type was sketched by
Drucker (1950, p. 253). The small boats were undoubt-
edly the "cranky little dugouts having only a few inches
of freeboard" (Robson, 1910, p. 169) used by the Dry
Bay people on the Alsek (p. 85) and made in the
interior to descend the river, as Glave and Dalton did,
(p. 90). The larger cottonwood dugouts must have
been very similar to the boats with each end "like a
butcher's tray" seen in Port Mulgrave in 1787 and 1788.
Perhaps these furnished the prototype from which the
small ''village" canoe was developed.
TLINGIT 'SPRUCE' CANOE
Another rather plain type of canoe, but somewhat
larger than either of these round-ended craft, wss the
'spruce' dugout (sit) (fig. 26&). This had a prow that
slanted up in a straight line from the water, as did the
stern, but these were apparently not made of separate
pieces of wood(?) according to one informant. Some
canoes of this kind were "4 fathoms" or 24 feet long,
and could carry "lots of people." Normally, there were
six paddlers, two men sitting side by side on a thwart,
and each paddling on his own side. Presumably there
was a steersman in the stern. Emmons describes this
form as the typical canoe, used for hunting, fishing and
traveling. He specifies that the bow and stern were
alike in shape, both slanting up above the level of the
sides, and both fitted inside with removable triangular
seats. The canoe was painted black outside, sometimes
with a red stripe across the bow and stern, and it might
carry a mast and sail. All of my informants identified
a Hoonah canoe, photographed by the Harriman expedi-
tion in Glacier Bay in 1899, as a dugout of this type.
A few of the same kind were photographed that same
year at the sealing camp in Disenchantment Bay (pis.
72-74).
That this type of canoe was being made at Yakutat
in 1874 is indicated by the model of one acquired by
W. H. Dall at Port Mulgrave, presumably on the sur-
veying expedition of 1874 (pp. 181-182). This specimen
(pi. 105) originally had four thwarts pegged in; one is
now missing. It is stained black with red at the point
of the bow and stern. These are indeed alike, and the
contour of the gunwales which steps down rather
abruptly from bow and stern to the sides resembles
the contour on both the large Lituya Bay canoe and
the small Yakutat canoe sketched by Suria. This out-
line certainly suggests extra pieces at bow and stern,
and it is difficult to imagine making a large 'spruce'
dugout without adding something to the ends or sides.
This type of canoe would appear to be the Yakutat
canoe "of medium size," described by Abercrombie
(1900, p. 396), and which definitely had added "square
and high stern and stem pieces. Such a canoe is valued
at from $40 to $60. . . . " These observations were
made in 1884.
Schwatka (1886, New York Times, October 3, p. 2)
and Albin Johnson (1924, p. 102) both mention three
sizes of canoe at Yakutat; the small hunting canoe
(telyac), the "family canoe" which I assume is the
'spruce' dugout, and the large Haida "war" canoe. Of
the medium sized canoe, Schwatka writes:
"The next sized canoe is what may be called the
common Thlinket canoe . . . used throughout all
Southeastern Alaska. It is larger and coarser looking
than the true Yakutat canoe [tcAyac], and will hold
one or two more persons [i.e, 5 or 6] and their effects
before being equivalently loaded. They are planned
fore and aft nearly on the same lines; as is usual with
most Indian canoes, the prow piece projecting prob-
ably a little the furthest. The means of locomotion
with the Yakutat and Thlinket canoes is always with
the common paddle or with a light sail made of white
sheeting, which is used whenever they can run before
the wind, for they make no headway against it."
YAKUTAT SEA OTTEE HUNTING CANOES
Two very unusual canoes were made at Yakutat. Of
these, the best known was the forked-prow hunting
canoe (t6Ayac) (figs. 26c, 27). The name is evidently
Eyak, although it does not correspond to any word
recorded at Cordova, even though this type of canoe was
made by the Eyak of the Copper River delta (Birket-
Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 45-53, 550). This
canoe was sometimes called the "sea otter canoe," even
though it was used for hunting any sea mammal in open
water. It had an elegantly undercut stern which looked
so much like a prow that it has confused many ethno-
graphers. The bow, on the other hand, was carved with
a V-shaped notch which left a keel-like foot projecting
along the waterline below the prow. All Whites and
natives who were acquainted with this type of canoe
have testified to its swiftness and seaworthiness. The
foot or keel on the bow held the canoe steady in rough
seas or swift currents, turned aside small cakes of ice,
and served to moor the canoe when pushed into a soft
mud bank.
These canoes were carved from a single log, usually of
spruce but preferably of yellow cedar (if a suitable drift
log were found). While both bow and stern were slightly
raised above the gunwales they were not made of sep-
arate pieces. The ordinary canoe was said to have been
usually "three fathoms" or 16 to 18 feet long, and about
3 feet wide. It was intended for tw-o hunters, although
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1- -24
338 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
one man alone could manage it easily, or an extra pas-
senger could be taken. Occasionally a "four fathom"
one was built in which a whole family could travel. It
was light enough to be carried across the short portages
between the streams and lakes east of Yakutat.
The t6Ayac normally had three thwarts, two set
rather close together near the bow, and a third, slightly
curved, midway between the second thwart and the
stern. (However, this arrangement was not seen on
most models.) In addition, there were detachable shelf-
like seats in the angles of the bow and stern. Normally
the two paddlers knelt or rather squatted on two low
hollow log stools, under which they kept their hunting
gear. They paddled bidarka-fashion, first both on one
side for two or three strokes, then on the other. No
steering paddle was used?one of our informants ex-
plained that the forked prow prevented the canoe
from sheering off when it was paddled on one side.
The outlines of individual canoes are said to have
varied from maker to maker, and there were also
supposed to be minor differences between canoes made
at Yakutat and at the Copper River delta. However,
there is little difference to be seen between models
collected at Yakutat in 1874 (pi. 105), in 1880 (pi.
105), 1899 (pi. 105), and 1954 (pi. 106), and those
obtained from the Copper River Eyak in 1884 (Birket-
Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pi. 11, 8), from Cape
Yakataga in 1899 (LMA 2-19117), at Sitka in 1882
(PU J-410) and in 1899 (LMA 2-10869), and at
Juneau in 1950. There is no evidence that the Sitka
Indians made such canoes, although they were un-
doubtedly familiar with them. The specimens at
Princeton University that were collected in 1882 look
as if they had been made by children?from Yaku-
tat??at the Sheldon Jackson School; and the model
from Juneau (pi. 106) was made by a Yakutat man.
All of these models closely resemble photographs
taken by Abercrombie of Eyak canoes in 1884 (Birket-
Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pi. 10), a sketch made
by Emmons at Yakutat about that time, and photo-
graphs and sketches made by the Harriman expedition
at a Yakutat sealing camp in 1899 (fig. 27; pi. 74)
(cf. Grinnell, 1901, vol. 1, pp. 60, 140, 162).
Although no canoes of this kind are still in existence,
I saw one being made at Cordova in 1933 (Birket-
Smith and de Laguna, 1938, pi. 9, 1), and several
Yakutat informants have made them. Especially
speedy models were formerly built for the Fourth of
July races at Yakutat (see p. 559), the secret apparently
being the shape of the bottom, particularly toward the
stern. In the last canoe race a tcAyac was defeated by an
'andeyagu. In earlier times when the t6Ayac was used
for hunting, its main virtues were that it "sneaks
around?just slip by on the water?don't make a
noise," and that it was "fast and steady."
Small models (ku?wAts) of such canoes were made for
little boys in which they could learn to paddle.
Aside from Abercrombie's description of forked-prow
canoes among the Eyak, the first account of these
hunting canoes at Yakutat is that of Lieutenant
Schwatka {New York Times, October 3, 1886, p. 2):
"Among the Yakutat Indians, numbering probably
some 200 souls, there are three kinds of canoes, quite
marked and distinct in size and design from each
other. First in order of their size, commencing with
the smallest, is the Yakutat canoe proper, holding
comfortably about two persons and their usual
travelling effects, and especially the usual travelling
effects of a Yakutat Indian?a blanket, and a dried
salmon for each day's absence. Some of them are
large enough to accommodate three or four persons
well, but these are rare compared with the others.
They are very light and graceful and go anywhere
that a spoonful of water runs, as the two occupants
jump out and with one each at bow and stern they
almost bodily carry it over any obstacle. They are
shaped in different designs at bow and stern, and at
first sight seem to be paddled backward until one
gets used to seeing them, when it appears the natural
method. The bow has a sort of ram projecting forward
into the water, which is represented by the lower
hah0 of the letter S, the top half, above water, being,
of course, the part of the bow visible. The stern of the
canoe is shaped the same as the bows of other wooden
canoes, which, with the bow I have described, looking
like the stern of an ocean steamer, gives the singular
appearance of running backward to which I have
alluded. Among the Yakutat Indians this kind of
canoe outnumbers all the other kinds put together
two to one, and, in fact, is the only native canoe, the
others being importations from neighboring or
distant tribes."
Professor Libbey purchased one of these small
canoes, which was used by the expedition, but unfor-
tunately was not brought back to Princeton. The skill
of the natives hi handling this and other canoes is dis-
cussed on pages 343-344.
Albin Johnson (1924, p. 102) indicates that the "two-
man canoes" were only 12 to 14 feet long; and Russell
(1891 b, p. 80) reports that the smallest could hardly
hold one man. While recognizing the excellence of
Yakutat canoes, Cantwell (1890, p. 389) erroneously
illustrates an elaborately painted tclyac as a "Yakutat
war canoe." The decorations on the side are supposed
to represent an eagle, and an eagle's head is on the
paddle. As far as I know, however, these canoes were
only painted black outside, with a red stripe around the
gunwale, and sometimes red stripes down the sides.
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 339
FIGURE 27.?"Yakutat sealing canoe," sketched among the iceflows of Disenchantment Bay, near the sealing camp above Point
Latouche, during July of 1899. (After Grinnell, 1901, vol. 1, p. 161.)
HEAVY PROW SEALING CANOES
Even more distinctive was the special sealing canoe
(gudiy^ or gudiyi), designed for hunting among the ice
floes at the heads of Yakutat and Icy Bays, and appar-
ently made nowhere else in Alaska (fig. 2M). (The name
may be Eyak.) It was already obsolescent when Lieu-
tenant Emmons visited Yakutat in 1883, for be saw
only small models. Informants born within the next
decade said that they had seen them in use, and drew
sketches (MJ and friends). I obtained a model made in
1954 by a man born in 1906, who said that he had based
it on descriptions and on recollections of a wrecked
canoe he had seen as a youngster. A very reliable and
much older man said he had seen one used by Yakutat
Chief George who died about 1902, and approved this
model. It is, in fact, quite similar to a model obtained
by Dall (in 1874?) as well as two others in the National
Museum, both(?) obtained by the Harriman Expedition
in 1899 (pis. 106, 107).
This sealing canoe was described as a small dugout,
"two or two and half fathoms" or 12 to 15 feet long,
and "six spans" or 3% to 4 feet wide, and was intended
for one or two hunters. The stern had the same elegant
shape as that of the tcAyac, while the bow was broad,
"low in front, like a spoon," and very thick, to with-
stand floating ice. Projecting from it was a short round
post like a bowsprit, carved in one piece with the body
of the canoe, the function of which was to fend off
icebergs. On the inside of the prow was carved a small
shelf, not made of a separate piece as in other canoes.
There were two thwarts. (It should be noted that onr
of the models lacks thwarts, although these and the
seats are suggested by red paint [pi. 1076]. Another
has lost the forward thwart, and has a lashed-in rear
seat [pi. 107a]. None of those in the National Museum
has the prow shelf.)
In open water the canoe was paddled stern first
since the sharp end made for speed, but as soon as
floating ice was reached, the canoe was burned around.
340 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
It was at this point that the hunter (ya'nAsnalcft)
became bowman (ya'AdJEnEskux). He put down his
ordinary paddle, slipped from the shelf on which he
had been sitting, lay down in the bottom of the canoe,
and took up a little paddle, so small that he could
wield it with one hand, moving it silently through the
water without lifting it between strokes. Meanwhile
his companion ('A figs), if he had one, squatted on a
stool and steered with an ordinary paddle. The hunter
in the bow often rested his chin on the shelf in front so
that only the upper half of his face was exposed.
Sometimes a cake of ice was placed on the bow shelf,
or pieces of ice were piled around the hunter to conceal
him. Both men wore sealskin clothing, including caps
and long "ice gloves." Sometimes the bowman pushed
floating ice away or even paddled the canoe with his
mittened hands, imitating the movements of a seal
until he was close enough to harpoon or club the un-
suspecting quarry.
According to the tradition reported by one informant,
the sealing canoe was first built only by the original
inhabitants of Icy Bay, who kept their canoes hidden in
"Tabooed Lake" because they did not want others to
learn about them. The ancestors of the Kwackqwan,
however, coming to the coast, eventually discovered
the secret, although the local people fought them
(pp. 97, 241). No other informant mentioned this
tradition or could explain the origin of the sealing canoe.
"WAR" CANOES
The other canoes at Yakutat were usually imported
from the south. The largest was the "war" canoe,
used during the memory of older informants for trans-
porting family parties, or for trading expeditions to
Prince William Sound, or to southeastern Alaska and
British Columbia. On long voyages it was equipped
with a sail. At an earlier period it was used for war
parties, hence its common designation in English.
The Tlingit name, 'canoe's child' or 'baby canoe'
(yak? yAdi), puzzled informants, since this was the
largest type of canoe. I did not learn the exact size,
but Russell (1891 b, p. 80) describes them as "graceful
boats forty or fifty feet in length and capable of carrying
a ton of merchandise with a dozen or more men. They
have high, over-reaching stems and sterns, which give
them a picturesque, gondola-like appearance." This
description fits the sketches made by Emmons and
by one of my informants, and also a model obtained at
Cape Yakataga in 1899 (LMA 2-19116) which my
informants identified from photographs as a "war"
canoe. The prow was high and undercut, and the curved
stern was also elevated; both were built up of separate
pieces (fig. 26e).
These large canoes were owned only by house chiefs
and were therefore sometimes designated as "tribal
canoes." They were also called 'named canoes,' (h-sayi
yakw), since they had individual names, as did lineage
houses. Like the latter, the names often referred to sib
crests. Examples of these were Seagull Canoe (ketlyAdi
yakw) of the Kwackqwan, Crane Canoe (dul yakw)
disputed by them and by the Tl'uknaxAdi, Backwards
Canoe (kuxtagigi yakw) which belonged to a Galyix-
Kagwantan chief at Strawberry Point on Controller
Bay, and Halibut Canoe (teal yakw) of the Sitka
Kagwantan. In recent times the custom of giving
such names was applied to motorboats, for one owned
by a Kwackqwan chief was named for Mount Saint
Elias (wase-ta-cA yakw), and a Tl'uknaxAdi man has
named his newly acquired gas boat "Mount Fair-
weather," both of these mountains being sib crests.
There was disagreement as to whether "war" canoes
at Yakutat were decorated; some said that they had
painted designs at the bow, probably sib crests, al-
though others claimed that this was done only in
southeastern Alaska.
Such large canoes were used for races (see p. 559).
It is difficult to determine whether any "war" canoes
were actually made at Yakutat, certainly the best were
of red cedar and were purchased from the Haida. No
red cedar grows at Yakutat, and this area is almost at
the western limit for yellow cedar (p. 31). Neverthe-
less, it is possible that some canoes patterned after
those of the Haida were made at Yakutat, perhaps of
yellow cedar or spruce, to judge from Abercrombie's
observations made in 1884 (1900, p. 396):
"Although few of their canoes are equal in size or
finish to those made by their congeners of the southern
archipelago, the Yukutats have some excellent craft, in
whose management they are remarkably proficient.
Their largest canoe will carry fifty men. Very little
ornamentation is noticed on them." These large canoes
were valued at several hundred dollars, while the
medium-sized ones, which I have assumed were the
'spruce' canoes, were worth from $40 to $60.
Alb in Johnson writes of the "war" canoes as if they
were made at Yakutat, even though the only red cedar
available would have been drift logs. After explaining
how the Yakutat Indians made canoes (pp. 36-37), he
adds: "The large canoes are usually made from larger
red cedars and they are big enough to carry 25 men.
They travel in them for great distances along the coast"
(1924, pp. 102 f.).
On the other hand, Schwatka, who had such trouble
trying to get a "war" canoe for his expedition (pp. 188-
189), states that there were only two or three of these
craft at Yakutat in 1886, and that these bad been ac-
quired from native Sitkan traders. He writes as follows:
"The third and largest canoe is foreign to the whole
Thlinket tribe, being imported from the Hydahs, or
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 341
Haida Indians, living in Northwestern British Col-
umbia, and a few of them in Southeastern Alaska.
From them they take their name, the Hyda canoe,
although sometimes called the Thlinket war canoe,
(from their capacity to hold so many warriors on a
raid against another tribe), and more often spoken
of among the white men as the 'big canoes.' Their
huge prows project far to the front and high in the
air, and are ornamented in black and red paint, with
many barbaric and fanciful designs that would have
to be illustrated by an artist to be thoroughly under-
stood. They will hold from 20 to 50 persons, and I
understand that in rare cases they have been known
to exceed the latter number in capacity by half as
many more. They used to be paddled altogether
except when the wind was favorable for a sail to be
spread, and a goodly lot of canvas they could carry
but since the advent of the white man among them
with the system of rowing small boats with oars this
feature of civilization has been attached to the huge
Hyda canoe, or at least to many of them, and prob-
ably adding to their swiftness of propulsion, but
seriously detracting from their looks and aspects as
viewed in the light of primitive and savage pictur-
esqueness." [New York Times, Oct. 3, 1886, p. 2.]
OTHER CRAFT
The other type of imported canoe was the red cedar
'goose canoe' (tiawAq yakw) so called because the long,
narrow, beaklike prow resembled the head and neck
of a goose. These Nootka-type canoes were made
by the "West Coast Indians" of British Columbia
(fig. 26/). "The people down in Southeast of Alaska,
around Washington?that's where they come from.
They call them "Flatheads," T'owyat? that's their
canoe. They used to come up here, sea-otter hunters,
in the schooners. I saw some of their canoes." This
remark was made with reference to a photograph of a
canoe model (LMA 2-19115). Another informant
(MJ), shown a photograph taken in 1899 of the sealing
camp above Point Latouche, explained: "That's my
aunty's camp. I recognize this canoe?West Coast
Indian canoe, fawAq yakw. She's the only one got that
kind of canoe, bought off a West Coast Indian. It's
called that name because it looks like a goose." (Cf.
pi. 74.) The informant's aunt, Langusek, her mother's
older sister, was married to Ned Doknakeen (Dok-na-
kene, or Daknaqin) of Drum House, an important
Teqwedi man. Apparently such Nootka canoes were
always something of a novelty at Yakutat.
Bark canoes (lun yakw) were known to the Yakutat
people?"just for across a small little creek, I think."
Probably such canoes were made only by the interior
Athabaskans. In one version of the story of tqayakw,
who visited Sky Land (kiwa'a), he made a bark canoe
in order to descend a river back to earth (see p. 877).
It may be significant that this land above is conceived
as very much like the interior.
Rafts (xanXs) were made in emergency for crossing
streams, especially on trips which had been made on
foot into the interior. Rafts and fish racks were called
by the same word, since both were 'tied together'
(cf. Boas, 1917, p. 129).
A canoe roughly finished, "made in a hurry to go
someplace," or an old cracked canoe that had been
patched, was called qilxAs, implying that it was
stitched with roots. Possibly this term might also be
applied to a bark canoe.
CANOE APPURTENANCES
The large canoes were equipped with sails (SISA),
but this was only after contact with Whites. Such
sails were said to have been of mooseskin, not matting
(MJ), although they were later made of canvas. The
sail was square, the inner edge fastened to the mast
and the outer peak held up by a diagonal boom (or
sprit). Lines from the outer corners were tied to the
canoe. Presumably sails could be used only when the
wind was astern, since the canoes lacked keels. The
sail was easily dropped by unseating the mast. Emmons
(MS.) reports that the mast was stepped through holes
in two cross pieces, one above the other, the foot set
into a chock in the bottom. Although he saw small
canoes with one sail, and large canoes with two masts
and two sails in southeastern Alaska, none of my
informants mentioned two sails at Yakutat.
In 1888 Topham's expedition sailed from Yakutat
to Icy Bay, a distance of 57 miles, in 9% hours. Two
large Haida canoes and a small Yakutat canoe (tcly&c)
carried 24 men and 16,000 pounds of goods. Williams
(1889, p. 30) writes of this trip:
"Sailing hi a large canoe is a most delightful
experience; the craft seems to glide over the surface
of the water without cutting it; this is owing to its
very light draught; its great width, on the other hand,
gives it considerable stability up to a certain point.
If the Indians were taught the use of the folding
centre-board, they could probably make their canoes
go fairly well to windward; the best they can do
now is to avail themselves of a beam-wind."
The canoe paddle was called 'Axa. They were all
made with a crutch handle or grip, usually carved in
one piece with the blade. The paddles for the sea-otter
hunting canoe (t61yac yukixayi) had the grip scooped
out only on one side, while those for larger canoes
(sit yukixayi) had a wider grip hollowed out alike on
both sides. Emmons specified that the paddles used for
342 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
the t6Ayac should be of yellow cedar, that they were
longer and had narrower and sharper blades than those
for other canoes. They were usually painted black with
a diagonal red stripe across the blade. Such a paddle,
made of spruce, and 60 % inches long, was collected by
Emmons at Yakutat (pi. 105). My informants said that
paddles for "war" canoes were sometimes decorated
with sib crests, but possibly those for smaller craft may
have had similar decorations. Thus, the model of a
paddle for a t6Ayac which I obtained in Juneau was
decorated with a carved eye on the blade, a design also
used by the Eyak (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938,
p. 50). A beautiful paddle, 60 inches long, and pre-
sumably for a tcAyac, was obtained by Thomas Kiggs
of the U.S.-Canadian Boundary Survey when he was at
Yakutat in 1903. This is incised with a wolf design on
both sides (pi. 105). For "war" canoes, a large paddle,
"one fathom" long, or from 5 to 6 feet long, was used
for steering. The small one-hand paddle for the sealing
canoe in the ice was only 18 inches long and 6 inches
wide at the blade. It was called 'tiny paddle' CAxa
&Atskux), or gudiyB 'Axayi.
In the smaller canoes, especially those used for
hunting hi the ice or pursuing the sea otter in open
water, the paddlers did not sit on thwarts, but crouched
in the bottom, half-kneeling, half-sitting on wooden
boxlike stools (xusiyit, 'place for the feet') and leaned
back against the thwarts (yixagawu). A woman com-
mented that: "They can't sit on cross piece when it's
rough or when they shoot. They sit on a box. They
make it like that toolbox. They got carving knives,
guns, shells, and everything they used to make in there."
"If you don't use it [the stool], it's rocky," said her
husband. These stools were made of half sections of
log, hollowed out on the underside, and were straddled
by the paddler. They were less than 12 inches high and
about 24 inches long.
All or most canoes also had removable triangular
shelves (yeq), set into the bow and stern, except for
the sealing canoe in which, according to our informant,
the bow shelf was carved from the canoe log itself
and was therefore fixed. These shelves served as seat
and as places under which small gear could be stowed.
The "captain" who steered a large canoe sat on the
rear shelf (SJ). To judge by a photograph taken by
the Harriman Expedition in 1899 (pi. 72), such shelves
were sometimes heart shaped, and made of two boards
fastened together with a cross piece.
The stern of the canoe was called 'on its top' ('Akik),
presumably because this is "where the captain sits."
The bow is 'on its head' ('ACAkA), and the prow or
cut-water 'its shin' ('AXIS).
Bottom boards (takA tia, 'bottom-surface planks')
or branches were laid in the bottoms of the canoes.
Emmons' notes indicate that these were often split
trunks, rounded on one side, which could be used as
skids when the canoe was beached.
The bailer (cln) was sometimes made of a hard
curved piece of hemlock, shaped "just like a big
wooden spoon," or it might be a small spruce root
basket.
On swift shallow streams like the upper Situk River,
paddles were discarded, and the men stood up to punt
with long poles (tslqA) (CW). To ascend the Alsek
River the canoes were often hauled up with long lines,
or portaged over the worst places. The small canoes
used on the streams of the Ankau lagoon system and
the rivers east of Yakutat were so light that they
could be carried over portages without much difficulty,
or slid along over the wet mud of the tide flats.
An anchor (cryenA), probably only a convenient
boulder fastened to a rope, was sometimes used.
Usually, however, the canoe was hauled up on the
shore, because the great tidal range would make it
difficult to moor a canoe so that it would not pound
on the shingle. Perhaps the anchor was used only when
fishing.
MAKING A CANOE
When making a canoe, the size was measured in
"fathoms," (xwAt, xwat), that is, the distance between
the fingers of a man's two outstretched arms, or about
6 feet. "Half a human," or one yard, is the length of
one outstretched arm. Another measure was the length
of one outstretched arm to the bent elbow (fiy) of
the other. Shorter lengths were measured by spans,
that is, the distance between a man's spread thumb and
middle finger. It was estimated that about 6 spans
would make 4 feet.
My informant who had made the 'andeyagu (p. 335)
said that a man, with steel tools, could make a small
canoe in a single day, from felling the tree to the
finishing touches, short of steaming the sides. This
estimate is fantastically short. He also said that he
planned to make another dugout, and that he could
do it in 3 days, which seems more reasonable. He
would do most of the shaping in the woods, and drag
the half-finished hull to the beach.
The implements used to make canoes were the small
planing adz and the crooked knife, the latter being
especially useful for the difficult job of carving the
ends. In order to gauge how thin to adze the sides of the
canoe, the carpenter would drill a series of holes
through the half-finished walls and drive in pegs of
the proper lengths. He would then adz down the walls
from the inside until he came to the ends of the pegs.
Drilled holes were also made in the sides and through
the ends of the thwarts for lashing these in place
securely. Water was boiled hi the canoe by means
of hot rocks in order to soften the walls so that the
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 343
sides could be spread before the thwarts were inserted.
When the dugout was finished, it was rubbed inside
and out with hot seal oil, applied with rags, but even
this did not prevent canoes from cracking. A black
color was common on the outside, made by mixing
powdered charcoal with the seal oil. Eyak canoes were
similarly painted black outside (Birket-Smith and de
Laguna, 1938, p. 49).
Abercrombie described the making of canoes at
Yakutat in 1884 which confirms the above account:
"The felled tree, when barked and raised into
convenient position has marked upon it the outlines
of its intended shape. The rough work is done with
the ax. After the one side has been given its proper
form, at intervals of every few feet, a row of very
small awl holes indicates the extent to which cutting
can be carried upon the inside. This is completed
with a peculiar shipping tool something like the adze,
but much narrower, with a slight hollowed blade
set on a short handle at an acute angle. The finishing
of the outside and the gunwales is done with a short,
double-edged knife curved on the flat. By the aid of
hot water the canoe is then spread and the stretchers
placed in position. The addition of square and high
stern and stem pieces completes the work." [1900,
p, 396]. [The photograph to which he referred was not
included in the publication.]
Albin Johnson wrote (1924, p. 102):
"The Yakutat Indians make very good and prac-
tical canoes. They are known all over Alaska for
their elasticity and their lightness in rowing . . .
The canoes were of three kinds: war canoes, family
canoes, and two-man canoes. In Alaska large, slender
trees grow: spruce, cottonwood, and cedar. Most
canoes, and the smaller ones, were made of spruce.
The Indians make then1 own tools with which to
make canoes, namely an adz, a crooked knife and a
regular ax. A larger spruce tree free of branches is
felled, and the canoe is formed and carved out with
the adz from a 12-foot or 14-foot log. When the
canoe is almost finished, it must go through a
steaming process in this way: The canoe is filled with
water, a number of stones are heated and thrown into
the water, until it boils and steams and makes the
canoe soft, after which it is easily widened and
shaped. It takes an Indian a month to make a smaller
canoe and it will last three years if it is cared for.
One can see how they cover their canoes with
blankets on sunny days in order to keep them from
cracking."
SEAMANSHIP AND CARE OF CANOES
If some of the 18th-century explorers were not very
much impressed with the skill or courage of the Yakutat
Indians in handling their canoes, this was not the case
with Schwatka, Seton-Karr, Topham, Williams, and
Russell, who came to Yakutat Bay 100 years later.
Perhaps the difference was in part caused by the per-
fection of the sea otter canoe during this intervening
period, and by profits from the fur trade which had
enabled the Yakutat people to purchase superior
Haida craft.
For example, the U.S.S. Pinta had taken Schwatka's
party to Icy Bay, but it was difficult to land because
of the surf. Lieutenant Emmons succeeded in landing
them with the ship's boat, but Professor Libbey's little
t61yac was left on board. This was brought ashore by
" 'Bear Hunter,' our best Yakutat, who died a few
days after from poison" (Seton-Karr, 1887, p. 66.)
(cf. p. 193). His handling of the canoe is described by
Schwatka (1891, pp. 867-868).
"His feat of landing the little canoe through the
heavy surf was the prize act of that day's perform-
ance, and was witnessed both by those on land and
those on shipboard. Many of the latter were old
sailors who had 'surfed it' on almost every coast of
the world where the surf beats and breaks, and they
too pronounced it the 'slickest' piece of nautical
work a mortal could do. . . . Approaching the first
white-cap on the breaker, he steadied his little craft
carefully until what must have appeared to him to
be a favorable opportunity, though it was the very-
reverse of the large boat's choice, for he selected
the biggest breaker, and, mounting its crest as it
broke into suds around him, he maintained this
position by lightning-like strokes of his paddle, the
great breaker throwing him as if from a catapult,
and landing his canoe in the seething foam that
spread up the shallow, sandy shore. Half a dozen
sturdy fellows seized the craft, and actually pulled
it up to the dry sand beyond, while the Indian still
sat laughing in the canoe, the inside of it as dry
as dust."
When Topham and Williams landed at Icy Bay in
1888, it will be remembered that they came in two large
Haida canoes and a small Yakutat t6iyac (p. 195).
The surf was not very heavy. The small canoe landed
first because it was easiest to handle, and its crew
(number not specified) stood ready to help the larger
canoes. Then one of the heavily-laden Haida canoes
came in on the crest of a big wave. Then men on shore
rushed into the sea to seize its bow; the men on board
jumped into the water up to their waists. The canoe
had to be lightened of part of its load, however, before
they could run it up on the beach, high and dry. The
same procedure was used for the third, and although
the stores did not become wet, they were piled hi con-
fusion all over the beach (Topham, 1889 b, p. 349).
344 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 1
In his expedition of 1890, Russell also used what I
take to have been a "war" canoe, and also hired some
Indians and then- canoes. "Our large canoe behaved
well, although heavily loaded. Sometimes the wind
was favorable, when an extemporized sail lessened the
fatigue of the trip" (Russell, 1891 b, p. 85). They
landed on the west shore of Disenchantment Bay, where
there was a surf running, and ice. To land their freight,
they unloaded this, a few pieces at a time, into the
small canoes, each manned by a single Indian, before
taking the big canoes ashore. "The landing was effected
by the aid of Indians in small canoes, with such skill as
to prove them experienced surfmen. All of our baggage
was carried through the fringe of floating ice and placed
above the white line of breakers without serious
damage." (Russell, 1891 a, p. 873.)
On the trip through the Ankau lagoons and Lost
River which Schwatka took with the Indian "Yeet"
after his return from Icy Bay, he had an opportunity to
experience the skill of the Indians in handling the small
canoe on streams. In coming into Russian Lake, they
shot through the rapids at full speed. When going
through sea grass the paddles were used as poles
". . . quite often scraping the canoe's bottom on
that of the shallow salt-water creek [T'awal] and its
sides on those of the projecting stones. I never knew
a canoe would stand so much. . . ." [New York
Times, October 26, 1886, p. 2.]
[They came to the "stone fish dam" across the
creek (cf. p. 75)], "but in a break through the dam
in the centre of it was a shallow cascade pouring over,
probably enough to float a soup plate comfortably,
and for this we made a rush, the impetus raising the
bow high in the air and carrying us beyond the centre
of our craft, which slowly fell forward, and with two
or three vigorous digs of the paddles and each man as
he passed the dam putting out both hands on the
two sides on the stone and raising the canoe we
glided into the water beyond, a sort of leap frog over
it, so to speak."
Farther upstream, when they came to a small shallow
area (p. 75), instead of taking out all their belongings
for portage, they left everything in the canoe.
"The canoe was dragged directly up the bottom of
the rill, its own bottom covering hardly more than
that of the canoe. It may be said to have been taken
up by a series of pulls or 'heavings' of the crew, two
of us being on either side and at each end. No sooner
did the canoe settle than it completely dammed the
little stream, whose waters filled up ahead and,
flowing around it, partially floated it once more, and
it was then that we were able to run it forward from
5 to 10 feet before the water ran out from under it
and allowed it to sink once more on the bottom of the
rill. This operation repeated quite often?for the
stream, though small and shallow, was very swift,
and thus ran more water than one would believe?
allowed us to make about 75 yards in 10 minutes,
making the first, the hardest, and most interesting
of the many portages made on the trip." [Schwatka
compared the performance of the small canoe to that
of the light-draught Mississippi River steamers]
"crossing on the dew and following street sprinklers"
[ibid.].
One of my informants remembers coming from Situk
River to Yakutat along the sloughs, when the falling
tide made it necessary for everyone, even the small
children, to get out of the canoe and scramble over the
mud while the men pulled the boat along (MJ).
Russell was impressed by the care which the Indians
took of their canoes. "Not only were they drawn high
up on the beach, out of the reach of all possible tides,
but each canoe was swathed in wet cloths, especially at
the prow and stern, to prevent them from drying and
cracking. The canoes, being fashioned from a single
spruce log, are especially liable to split if allowed to dry
thoroughly" (Russell, 1891 b, p. 85).
The care of canoes can be seen in the several pictures
taken by the Harriman Expedition at the sealing camp
in Disenchantment Bay in 1899. Here, canvas, blankets,
or sealskins in their stretching frames are thrown over
the canoes (pis. 72-74).
If the landing places hi front of the villages were
rocky, the boulders were rolled aside to make paths or
'canoe roads' (yakw deyi), up which the dugouts could
be dragged. Such a landing place can still be seen at
the south end of the beach at the Old Village. Because
there was not sufficient shelter on this beach, as there
had been at the older site on Khantaak Island opposite,
large canoes when not in frequent use were hauled up
on a small island in the lagoon north of the Old Village.
This island was called 'Canoe Island' (yakw ?ati) or
'that on which the canoes stay all the time.' (yakw
'AkA yAxtEna). "After they get through traveling from
here to Southeast of Alaska, they haul the big war
canoe up on that. Chief George's boat the same thing.
They used to go over there, my mother and my aunts,
and pick blueberries. It was a blueberry island. We run
across those big war canoes, turned upside down. They
haul it over there." "They covered them with skunk
cabbage leaves, with moss on top, or chopped branch
off the tree" (MJ).
PRESENT-DAY CEAFT
Instead of dugouts the Yakutat people now use
ordinary skin's with outboard motors. Some men are
skilled in making the large skiffs used for lifting gill
nets. These have to be rowed because the stern is
equipped with a roller for hauling in the net (pi. 102).
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 345
FIGURE 28.?Modern Yakutat "canoe." The boat wa3 approximately 12-14 feet long and 3 feet wide. The bow was pointed and the
stern was shaped to take a light outboard motor. It held two men paddling, and two others sat amidship. (Sketch by Edward
Malin in 1949 after a photograph.)
In 1949 there were a few "canoes" used on the narrow
sloughs and streams. These were small, narrow, flat-
bottomed boats made of planks and were paddled like
canoes (fig. 28). They could carry three, or possibly
four persons; William Irving, Edward Malin and I
were loaned one to explore Diyaguna 'Et on Lost River.
With the silting up of the streams between the Ankau
lagoons and Lost River, even these modern imitations
of the old canoes have since been abandoned. The favor-
ite type of craft today is, of course, a larger boat with
in inboard engine, although few men can afford a gas
boat with a cabin. Such motorboats are used to take
parties seal hunting, to gather birds' eggs, and to seine
salmon.
SNOWSHOES AND SLEDS
For travel and transportation in wintertime, snow-
shoes and sleds were used, perhaps more by the people
at Dry Bay than at Yakutat.
At Yakutat, two types of snowshoes were made:
a large type with rounded, up-turned toe, which was
used for hunting, and was called djadji, and a smaller
kind with pointed toe used in breaking trail. The native
name for the latter (isalulMn) is said to refer to the
fact that the two sides of the frame are brought
together and tied side by side at the toe to form a
point, not overlapped in a curve as on the other type.
The larger type of snowshoe appears in a photograph
of Thunderbird House at Yakutat, taken in 1918 or
1921 (pi. 215). Both of these varieties of snowshoes
were made by the interior Athabaskans. I did not learn
the details of snowshoe manufacture, except that men
made the frames, and that either men or women
might fill in the netting. This last was regarded as
a very skilled job. The holes for the reeving line did
not go all the way through to the outside of the frame.
This line was put in, on the toe and heel spaces, when
wet and was drawn tight, so that a "hook"(?) was
needed to pass the webbing around it. It tightened
still further when it dried. The fine webbing was prob-
ably made of babiche, and the coarse thongs under
the foot of sealskin.
At Katalla and Dry Bay, the Eyak type of snow-
shoe was made. This had a two-part frame, with
rounded bent-up toe, pointed heel, and two cross-bars,
like the ordinary djadji. However, there was no webb-
ing at all in the foreward or rear spaces, only thongs
across the central part under the foot (cf. Birket-Smith
and de Laguna, 1938, pi. 8, 2). At Yakutat, also,
"some people who didn't know how to put the filling
in, just had the foot part filled. The filling was made
of sealskins" (MJ). This primitive type was probably
the original form all along the Gulf Coast of Alaska
until superior Athabaskan types were introduced from
the interior.
My informants had never heard of solid plank
snowshoes which the Copper River Eyak used for
setting snares in order to prevent leaving the hunter's
scent (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, p. 56). Such
snowshoes would be useful in the spring when wet
snow would clog ordinary netting.
Sleds (xAtayit) were hand-drawn in former days.
They were made with two wooden runners and with
crossbars, but were not built up, and they were different
from the so-called Yukon sled. Both the Yukon and
Kutchin types were described by the Copper River
Eyak, although their descriptions were not clear
(Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, p. 55). I learned
little about the former sleds at Yakutat except that
they had "poles or handles" for pulling or steering
(JR). I am not, however, sure that this pole is aborig-
inal; it is found on modern sleds. A few built-up sleds
346 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
are still used at Yakutat. These are very long and
narrow, with a rope over the shoulder for pulling and
a gee-pole for steering. They are used for hauling
firewood to the village, for fetching sacks of coal or
cans of drinking water from the cannery, and for
taking bedding and provisions to and from winter
camps on the rivers east of Yakutat.
In former days people used to travel with sleds
between Yakutat, Situk, and Dry Bay. Thus, when a
potlatch was given by the Teqwedi for Bear House
(or Bear Den House) at Situk about 1905, "the Dry
Bay people walk all the way from Dry Bay. They
pulled sleds and walked on djadji." (MJ) "I remember
just before Christmas the women all come and they
pack their packs on their back in front of Aunty's
house in the Old Village. The Dry Bay people all got
snowshoes on. The women were with their babies.
Some carry the babies in their arms. Of course, they
got sleds and djadji. I seen them tight as a kite on
snowshoes?with babies, too! . . . The men pull the
sled." (MJ)
Sled dogs were first seen when prospectors began
to come into the country about 1890, or shortly after.
About "20 years ago" [sic, as of 1954] an Indian at
Dry Bay acquired two sled dogs, and two other men
at Yakutat each obtained one. At present only one of
these men still uses a dog to pull his sled when he
goes to his hunting camp on the Situk River.
One man, who had lived on Controller Bay between
1900 and 1910, described how he obtained sled dogs:
"I was the only boy there. No one to play with.
I got so lonely. Some White men, prospectors, would
come through from Yakataga. They had dog teams
with big dogs, bigger than huskies. One of them gave
me two little dogs. They were just so big that summer,
and next year they were big. They were smart. I made
a little sled and I trained them. I raised them in English
and Eyak and Tlingit. They would go to the right or
to the left when I told them. When I cut wood I would
tell them to take it in the house and pile it up. They
would take it in their mouths and pile it up just like
a person. And I could tell them to fetch a bucket of
water.
"The surveyors would come through and 1 would
rent my dogs to them for $5 a day. I would tell them:
'You're going to work for this man, make money for
me. You stay with him till he's through.' But I didn't
get the money, my mother got it. One dog was a brown
dog. I called him Sport. The other one was Spotty.
"They took my dogs to the San Francisco World's
Fair, and they brought them back again. That was
because they would pile wood and fetch water, I guess."
When the youth returned to Yakutat in 1910 he left
his dogs with his uncle. Two years later he was badly
injured and believed dying, so his uncle shot his favorite
dog, perhaps so that latter's spirit could accompany
his master's soul.
Even though the Athabaskans on the Copper River
and the upper Alsek used dogs to carry packs, I heard
nothing at Yakutat about such employment, and dogs
were never so used by the Eyak (Birket-Smith and
de Laguna, 1938, p. 57). Unfortunately, I was given
no information about the type of packs that men
carried at Yakutat and Dry Bay.
TRADE
Introduction
The Yakutat people have been great travelers, ac-
customed to long journeys by canoe or on foot for
purposes of hunting and fishing, trading, visiting rela-
tives and attending potlatches, or warring on their
enemies. Most trips combined several objectives. The
natives of Yakutat and Dry Bay also received visits
from others and acted as middlemen in many transac-
tions. Although not as well equipped as the Aleuts with
their skin baidarkas, Yakutat natives in the 19th cen-
tury were noted among the Tlingit for their fearless
and expert hunting of sea otter almost out of sight of
land, and they seem to have been equally skilled as
bikers and hunters in the high mountains. With their
large seaworthy Haida canoes they also undertook long
voyages, using certain high mountains "like a compass"
by which to steer.
Even though their canoes in the 18th century were
probably not as excellent as those used later, we never-
theless have evidence that they could cross the Gulf of
Alaska. Thus, in June 1792, Indians from Yakutat with
some Eyak allies made an attack on the Chugach, in
which Baranov and his party became involved (pp. 158,
163, 164). Again, in the fall of 1805, after destroying
the Russian fort, "eight large war-canoes" went from
Yakutat to the mouth of the Copper River, and from
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 347
there a war party went on to Prince William Sound,
planning the destruction of the Russian post at Nuchek,
under guise of trading with the Chugach (p. 175). At
some undetermined date, perhaps in the middle 18th
century, Tt'uknaxAdi canoes from Gusex on the Akwe
River went southeast across the Gulf of Alaska, and
all the way up Cross Sound, Icy Strait, and Lynn Canal,
joining with their Hoonah relatives in a war with the
GanAxtedi of Chilkat (pp. 273-275), even though tra-
dition also records how one fleet of canoes was lost in
Lituya Bay.
The extent of intertribal trade in the 18 th century is
also attested, not so much by the presence of iron at
Lituya Bay and Port Mulgrave, since iron could be
and was, I believe, obtained from drift timber, but by
the objects of brass and the glass beads seen by La
Perouse and Dixon (pp. 116, 125). I have already
suggested the possibility that the Chugach and Yakutat
natives were seeking each other's furs, via middlemen,
resulting in competition between Portlock and Dixon
in 1787 (p. 126). Quite explicit is the report by Ismailov
and Bocharov, the next year, that the Yakutat traded
with the Chugach, Eyak, and Tlingit of Sitka or
Chilkat. A Koniag and a Tlingit slave boy were among
the goods so procured (pp. 133, 134). From their report,
also, we are given the first clear evidence about the
extent of Tlingit voyages, since the Russians encoun-
tered the Chilkat GanAxtedi chief, Yelxak, who had
come by boat with 150 persons, not counting their
children, all the way from Lynn Canal to Yakutat.
This is a longer voyage than that presumably under-
taken by the Hoonah (and Dry Bay?) natives whom
LaPerouse encountered in Lituya Bay, although it
would not have required as expert a knowledge of local
tides.
We should also note that by 1794 the copper shield
which had been given by the Russians to a Yakutat
chief in 1788 had already been given to a Tlingit chief
(Sitka or Chilkat), and the Chugach captives seized on
the raid of 1792 had also been traded south (p. 164).
This same year, Vancouver noted that the Yakutat
natives had already acquired "6 excellent muskets,"
which may have come to them through intertribal
trade (p. 156), or perhaps direct from Yankee(?) ships,
since the Indians of Lituya Bay who had plenty of guns
and ammunition said that a ship called there every
year to purchase their sea otter furs (p. 164).
LaPerouse had felt that Lituya Bay was a "station
for trade" (p. 122), as well as a center to which natives
from various regions, probably Cross Sound to Yakutat,
gathered to put up fish, to trade, and to gamble. Col-
nett also estimated that Port Mulgrave was not a
place of residence but one to which the natives came
from the south and east to trade (p. 130), which is just
what they did when Malaspina's ships were anchored
there (pp. 146-147). Although no Europeans explored
the area, Dry Bay and the Akwe River must also have
been an important trade center, for the story of
QakexwtE deals with the opening up of this area to
Tlingit traders from Hoonah country, presumably
initiating trade connections with the unsophisticated
natives of the entire region (pp. 81, 90-91, 270-272).
Even the first Europeans to encounter Indians on the
Gulf of Alaska found them accomplished traders,
skilled in the tantalizing delaying tactics designed to
stimulate the greed of the Europeans and also to pro-
long their stay, while it gave the Indians the pleasures
of visiting the strange vessels and picking up what they
could. These methods of barter and bargaining have
been quoted from reports of Dixon's and Malaspina's
expeditions (pp. 127, 143), and we have also noted the
furs or bird tails hoisted on poles in the canoe, as a
sign of peace and of a desire to trade, with which the
natives signalled to Colnett and to Ismailov and
Bocharov. Perhaps something of the same kind is
held in the hand of the "captain" in the canoe sketched
in Lituya Bay (pi. 37). The ceremonious approach of
the native trading and welcoming parties, led by the
chief and singing songs like guests coming to a potlatch,
has been described (pp. 116, 141), as well as the cere-
moniously "hostile" reception of native visitors (pp.
146-147). Whereas dancing and singing preceded the
more formal type of trade?perhaps that conducted be-
tween personages of equal distinction?seizure of what
was desired seems to have been Tlingit custom in
dealing with inferiors, especially Gtrnana. This, taken
with other factors, must be considered in connection
with native pilfering of European vessels (pp. 119-120).
The readiness of the Yakutat people to manufacture
goods especially for trade was noted by Malaspina, who
was thus able to secure an extensive ethnological col-
lection (pp. 143-144). This same characteristic resulted
in the important trade in "curios" for tourists, carried
to Sitka by native entrepreneurs, 1880-1900, (pp. 183-
184, 191-192), and later sold at Yakutat in the early
decades of the 20th century, as soon as steamers began
to call at the new dock (built 1902). As described by
Ella Higginson (1906, pp. 18-19):
"After Dundas [B.C.], this is the favorite point
for the purchase of Indian baskets. The instant the
gang-plank is out the squaws swarm silently aboard
and squat along the decks, displaying their baskets,
bracelets, rings, carved horn spoons, totem-poles,
inlaid lamps, moccasins and other curios.
"The baskets are cheaper and the weaving?
usually the 'twined Tlingit'?far superior to those
at Sitka. Two or three men accompany the women
to make sure that they are not cheated (Selah!) and
all offers are submitted to these lordly and lazy
creatures."
348 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
The Yakutat people themselves seem to have been
equally avid to acquire foreign goods, a fact known to
other tribes or a trait generally characteristic of the
Northwest, for the Koniag sea otter hunters with Purtov
in 1794 traded off the articles of their own manufacture
which they had brought to Port Mulgrave expressly
for that purpose (p. 155). We are not surprised that the
Yakutat natives, like so many others, wanted steel
knives and axes, or iron they could shape into adz blades
and weapon points, but what they desired next, as was
noted by Malaspina, were articles of European clothing
(pp. 143, 144, 147). Uniforms, above all else, were
prized by their chiefs, and we have seen these dignitaries
at Yakutat donning naval uniforms to weleome Captain
Belcher in 1837, and Captain Nichols of the U.S.S.
Pinta in 1886 (see pp. 178, 190). This interest in
acquiring foreign costumes seems to antedate White
contact, for LaP6rouse's artist sketched Indians at
Lituya Bay who seemed to be wearing the fringed
tanned skin garments of the interior (pi. 38).
It is difficult to know exactly what items were traded
in aboriginal times, although I believe that the Yakutat
area was always noted for its seals, sea otters, straw-
berries, and seaweed, and that sealskins, seal oil, dried
seaweed, and cakes of dried strawberries were exported.
From the interior via the Copper River, and perhaps
also via the Alsek, native copper was procured, as well
as tanned moose and caribou skins, furs, porcupine
quillwork, and such delicacies as spruce gum and soap-
berries. Some of the interior products, especially copper,
were traded southward, in exchange for slaves, red
cedar canoes, cedar bark mats, and fine carved cere-
monial paraphernalia, such as dancing headdresses
decorated with flicker feathers and haliotis (abalone)
shell inlays. These shells, and also dentalia, obviously
came from the south. Of local manufacture, Yakutat
baskets, finely woven, were evidently in demand.
Other important items of trade were songs and
dances, for all were eager to learn such foreign novel-
ties. Sometimes instead of being sold, they were cere-
monial given or simply taught to one another.
Intertribal trade remained important throughout the
19th century, especially since the destruction of the
Russian fort, and perhaps other incidents, gave the
Yakutat people a bad reputation which discouraged
traders. While a few undoubtedly did venture to Port
Mulgrave, we know nothing about them and can only
speculate on the frequency of these voyages before
1880 (pp. 180, 181, 187). We do know, however, that
in the middle of the century, certain Tlingit from
southeastern Alaska, at the invitation or with the
permission of the local chiefs, did come to Lituya and
Yakutat Bays to hunt sea otter, and that these afforded
opportunities for trade. No doubt the Yakutat them-
selves also made return visits to Hoonah, Sitka and
other areas where they had relatives, and where they
could dispose of their furs and other goods. The extent
and character of this trade has already been summarized
from information published by Tikhmenev (p. 177). It
was probably this fur trade which brought to Yakutat
the "Flathead" slaves whom Abercrombie was told
had been acquired from the Kaigani (p. 185), and
whom my own informants also mentioned (p. 216).
Abercrombie also reports, as of 1884, that the
Yakutat people were accustomed to make "periodical
trips" to Nuchek in Prince William Sound (p. 187).
Here, of course, they came in contact with then-
ancient enemies, the Chugach. They evidently some-
times went still farther, for one of my informants
reports that while the Russians still had a post on
Kodiak Island, some Yakutat men traveled there and
"got along fine with the Aleuts."
For trade and travel in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, informants' memories can supply many de-
tails. It is not always possible to assign dates to what
they report, for some statements refer to conditions
in late prehistoric and early historic times.
Travel and Trade With the West
From personal reminiscences and other accounts, I
gather that there had always been considerable travel
back and forth between Yakutat, the villages of Cape
Yakataga and Kaliakh River, Controller Bay, and the
Copper River delta. All of these Eyak, or formerly
Eyak-speaking communities were linked through inter-
marriages, which meant, of course, that visitors from
one would be welcomed at homes in another village, and
would also be permitted to hunt, fish and gather berries,
because they were related to the owners of the terri-
tories. In this fashion, as well as through trade and gift
exchanges, visitors might secure varieties of furs and
food not available at home.
After the Russian post at Yakutat was destroyed in
1805 and before trading schooners made regular stops at
Port Mulgrave or before the first store was established
in the Old Village in 1886 (after an unprofitable ven-
ture in 1884), the nearest White trading posts were at
Sitka, and at Nuchek in Port Etches in Prince William
Sound. Fort Constantine and Helen had been establishd
at Port Etches by the Russians in 1793, and after the
purchase of Alaska the store was taken over by the
Alaska Commercial Company. The last inhabitant of
Nuchek died in 1930 but, some time before that,
Cordova on the mainland had become the principal
town and trading center hi the area. This White town
was adjacent to an Eyak village. At one tune the Alaska
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 349
Commercial Company had a post at the Eyak settle-
ment on Cape Martin, but this was already abandoned
at the time of Seton-Karr's visit in 1886. About then,
and later, there were short-lived posts or White estab-
lishments at "Kayak" on Wingham Island, at Katalla
just west of Controller Bay, and at the Eyak town of
Alaganik on the Copper River.
To all of these places, the people from Yakutat made
regular trading trips. Here they not only visited their
Eyak relatives, but met the Atna Athabaskans who
came down the Copper River from Taral and Chitina to
trade at Alaganik, Nuchek, and Cordova. I have already
noted that these people were regarded by the Yakutat
as relatives, because the ancestors of the K'aclqwan
had come from Chitina. A similar relationship was felt
to link the Dry Bay people with the Southern Tutchone
of the upper Alsek River, although the actual con-
nections between the two last groups were closer and
more regularly renewed. Still, the attitude of the
Yakutat and Dry Bay people toward the Athabaskans
was (and is) in contrast to that of the southeastern
Alaskan Tlingit (pp. 213-214). Direct relations with the
Atna were established, or restored, when some men from
Yakutat went to work in building the Copper River and
Northwestern Railroad, which formerly linked Cordova,
Chitina, and the Kennecott copper mines (1907-33).
According to Atna informants at Chitina and Copper
Center (1954, 1958, 1960), these coastal peoples were
received as honored relatives from the more sophisti-
cated outside world, since some Atna could boast
Tlingit ancestry. The railroad also facilitated Atna
visits to Cordova, where friendly intercourse between
Atna, Eyak, and Yakutat was continued. It may be
significant that in 1958, Tlingit emissaries from the
ANB visited Copper Center, claiming relationship by
calculating moiety or sib equivalence, and it is here
that the first (?) interior branch of the ANB was
established.
Yakutat trade with the Chugach and with the Atna
was usually carried on through the Eyak as middlemen,
and seems to have been prehistoric in origin. What was
obtained from the Chugach is uncertain, for our inform-
ants speak of them only as enemies. However, we do
know from the walrus ivory objects which Lieutenant
Emmons and Professor Libbey secured from shamans'
grave caches at Yakutat and Dry Bay, that these items
must have originated north of the Alaska Peninsula,
where the walrus is found, and would therefore have
passed through several hands, including those of the
Koniag or Tanaina and the Chugach. Some of the ivory
beads, pendants, charms, and wands were undoubtedly
carved by the Tlingit from raw ivory; others are incised
with typical Eskimo designs (pis. 170, 171, 172, 173,
182, and 183).
We have more information about what was obtained
from the Atna.
"We meet at the mouth of the Copper River every
summer," said an informant. "We go in canoes to
Alaganik, or sometimes to Eyak [not far from the
modern town of Cordova]. The Chitina people didn't
own Alaganik, but they came to meet us. They bring
down furs, and copper, and chewing gum?from interior
spruce, I think. . . . They sell it to us."
Objects made of native copper, probably obtained in
this way, were found in the late prehistoric site on
Knight Island in Yakutat Bay (de Laguna et. al., 1964,
pp. 87-88). Other products from the Copper River
country were tanned mooseskins and beaver pelts. The
chewing gum, said to be pinkish or purplish in color,
was sold in balls as big as a man's two fists held together.
Another informant said of these trips to meet the
Atna:
"At this time of year [June] they used to go up to
Copper River, then come back in August. They used to
fish for ivory worms [dentalia] at Copper River. A cape
decorated with these is worth five slaves.
"They get them from the Copper River. They got
places where they grow, in the lakes. The Copper River
people got them, trim their clothes with them. . . .
They are different sizes, but all come matched. In 1901,
no, in 1902, I see the capes, trimmed with sea otter
skins." A woman (MJ) listening to her, muttered,
"Cost slaves, slaves, slaves" referring to the dentalia.
The informant is obviously mistaken as to the source
of dentalia, for they are known to grow only much
farther south, in salt water, where the Nootka used to
fish them for export. However, it is quite possible that
dentalia did reach the mouth of the Copper River, after
having been traded into the interior from the south,
perhaps passing along the trade routes linking the upper
Taku with the Tanana and Copper Rivers. Certainly
the Athabaskans of the Tanana, Yukon, and Copper
Rivers had ornaments of dentalia.
The mouth of the Kaliakh River, where the Galyrx-
Kagwantan had their principal village, was also an
early trading center. By the route from the Chitina
River, over the mountains and across the icefields, and
down the Duktoth River (pp. 100-101), native copper
in the form of rough bars was reportedly brought to the
coast. My informants believed that it was the purchasers
who beat it into "coppers" (see p. 353), bracelets, rings
and other ornaments, knife blades, arrowheads, and
barbed points for sea-otter harpoon arrows (JR et al.).
During the 19th century, trips to the westward
offered the Yakutat people opportunities to acquire
beaver skins through trade or hunting. The territory
of the Garyix-Kagwantan was said to have been
especially rich in beaver, whereas these animals were
either lacking or very rare in Kwackqwan territory
350 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
around Yakutat and Icy Bays. On these trips, the
Yakutat also hunter sea otter, of course, for both sea
otter and beaver pelts were standard articles of trade.
On voyages to the post at Nuchek, the Yakutat Indians
not only bought beaver skins but Russian trade goods,
part of which they sold to the Tlingit in southeastern
Alaska. On their trips to the west the Yakutat people
also carried trade goods obtained from the south to
exchange for furs. Such trips were made every summer,
and some would stay all winter with their relatives at
Kaliakh River. Parties from Yakutat usually set out
for these western settlements after the return of expedi-
tions from Dry Bay to the interior, and probably
carried Athabaskan articles obtained from the Dry Bay
traders.
Travel and Trade With the Interior
Expeditions from Dry Bay up the Alsek River to
Southern Tutchone country were made chiefly by the
ThikwaxActi and their CAnkuqedi spouses. The diffi-
culties of this trip, lining up the canoes, and portaging
them to avoid the Alsek Glacier which formerly blocked
the river, have already been described (pp. 85-90).
This journey is said to have been made every fall. On
the way up, the people would hunt and fish, hanging
their fish to dry over winter. After spending the winter
in the interior, they came back in the spring before the
summer melt floods. The journey up the Alsek was also
made in winter on foot, when the river was frozen.
The journey downstream was by canoe, and cotton-
wood dugouts were made or procured in the interior by
those who had come on foot. We have followed the
exciting descent made by Glave and Dalton in an
Indian canoe in 1890 (pp. 203-204), but how much
more perilous it must have been when the glacier
spanned the river, and the people donned their best
clothes for fear they would drown, remaining silent as
they passed under the bridge of ice! Safely below,
everyone sang and the ice behind them broke in response
to their happiness.
From the head of navigation, trails led to Nuqwa-'ik,
to Weskatahin (near Old Dalton Post), and to Klukshu,
a summer fishing camp on the headwaters of the Alsek.
From here, there were trails running northwest to
villages on Kluane Lake and White River, and north to
Fort Selkirk on the Yukon itself. Other routes led
eastward to Teslin and Tagish country (see also pp.
88, 90). People from Dry Bay sometimes walked all
the way to Dawson. To cross the Yukon, and presuma-
bly other large streams, rafts were used (cf. pp.
248-249).
The famous Chilkat "grease trail" led southwest-
ward from the villages of the upper Alsek over the
pass and down the Klehini and Chilkat Rivers to
Klukwan and Haines on Lynn Canal. It was over this
route that the first CAnkuqedi were supposed to have
migrated from Chilkat country into the interior, and
thence to Dry Bay (p. 224). This same route was fol-
lowed by the slave sent by the Chilkat chief, Yelxak,
with gifts of food and tobacco to his father-in-law at
Dry Bay (p. 274). The original trail from Dry Bay to
the Chilkat country was said to have been pioneered
by a TlukwaxAdi Dry Bay man, YelEida, who went to
Chilkat for a CAnkuqedi wife. This was both long and
dangerous for it passed over a glacier. Later, the
children of this couple found the new and better trail
between the Chilkat villages and the upper Alsek.
This went past GUUAS a locality on the present Haines
Cut-Off Highway. Later, the Drum House Teqwedi
from southeastern Alaska are said to have come over
this route (p. 226).
Before Jack Dalton and the Klondike prospectors
opened this trail to White travel, it was used by the
Dry Bay people. "Gutcda used always to go up inside
and go to Chilkat. He would walk to Chilkat and
paddle back to Dry Bay [via Lynn Canal, Icy Straits,
etc.]. Those Gunana walk fast."
There is some indication that native copper, pre-
sumably from deposits on the White River, was
brought down to the coast at Dry Bay. At any event, it
was sufficiently common at Nuqwa-'ik on the upper
Alsek for one chief to have been reputed able to equip
his house with a copper door, hence the name 'Master of
Copper' (Tmna sati) (cf. p. 89; field notes with
Catharine McClellan, Klukshu, 1954).
Other interior goods brought down the Alsek River
included white marble for dolls' heads, beautifully
tanned skin garments decorated with porcupine quills,
groundsquirrel robes and other furs, perhaps rare
feathers, and soapberries in birchbark boxes. It was
these goods that made trade with the Dry Bay people
so profitable for QakeiwtE and for the Hoonah who
followed him. Athabaskan tanned skin is still valued
on the coast, and our Yakutat friends were delighted
to take advantage of Dr. McClellan's connections with
the Southern Tutchone to exchange sealskins for
tanned moose hides; the Athabaskan women were
equally pleased with the trade.
These interior peoples also visited Dry Bay, and
there were many intermarriages between them and the
coastal people, as well as trade partnerships. One
interior woman who married a Ti'uknaxAdi man at
Dry Bay was Diihan, from Nuqwa-'ik. She was evidently
an aristocrat, for her name is still (1954) remembered
by the Southern Tutchone at Klukshu. Another Dry
Bay man obtained a wife from Whitehorse. One high-
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 351
class TlukwaxAdi woman from the interior, named
YAxqasawuxix, was the great-great^grandmother of the
father of one of my informants from Dry Bay.
Like the Chilkat Tlingit, who also went regularly
into the interior, the Dry Bay people, and especially
the TtukwaxAdi, were noted as hikers. "The Qunana
taught them how to travel. They're great travelers.
Nothing to do but walk around." (MJ) Whereas
Yakutat people usually went to Dry Bay by canoe
along the inland chain of lakes, lagoons, and sloughs
(cf. pp. 71-72), the Dry Bay people regularly walked
to Yakutat, f ollowing along the beaches in summer, and
in winter going farther inland over the frozen lakes,
covering a distance of 50 miles in 2 days (MJ). Parties
including women also walked to Lituya Bay, an equal
distance from Dry Bay.
Jack Reed (1880-1953), born at Sitka but married to
a Yakutat woman, had traveled in the interior, over
the old trail from Haines to Klukshu, apparently with
Chilkat trading parties, and also over the Chilcoot Pass
from Skagway as a packer for White men during the
Dawson Gold Rush. He told me:
"The Chilkat people get ready to trade. That's when
they take pack trips?in the spring, when the snow is
still high in the woods. There are lots of mountain goats
in the woods. The young men go ahead on snowshoes.
'What's that make a hole in there?' [they wonder].
It's a stone house. . . . There is a big flat stone [set
up on three others], just like a post, about 5 feet high.
It looks as if it had been built. [It was apparently a
boundary marker set up when the Russians and
Canadians were negotiating over territorial rights.]
The [mountain] sheep stay there in winter. The djmuwu
[mountain goats] are just the same as people. If they
get tired, or it rains, they sleep inside. . . . There are
lots of goats, five or ten in there. They kill them all."
He called this place "Stone House" or "Sheep
Mountain" (or in Tlingit, ketluk or wAdAtsikani
tatukw), and said that it was "one day's travel from
Skagway."
The prospectors who were building boats on Lake
Bennett would pay $40 for the transportation of two
100-pound sacks of flour from Dyea near Skagway over
the Chilcoot Pass. Most natives were strong enough to
carry both sacks at one time, but my informant could
not do this. Somethimes he packed a 50-pound sack
to Whitehorse. I do not know whether any other men
from Yakutat did such work.
Travel and Trade With the South
Aside from overland journeys to Klukwan and
Haines in Chilkat country, all other trips to south-
eastern Alaska were made by big "war" canoes. Since
it was apparently the Tlingit who initiated trade be-
tween southeastern Alaska and the Dry Bay-Yakutat
Bay country, and who were carrying it on in the latter
part of the 18th century?witness the Chilkat chief,
Yelxak, at Yakutat in 1788?it is not perhaps surprising
that the Tl'uknaxAdi of southeastern Alaskan origin
were reputed to be the best seamen, addressing the
breakers as their friend. "Tl'uknaxAdi used to go way
down to Vancouver and way up to 'Iq hini [Copper
River]. Those people always go like that." They were
the slave traders.
The Tl'uknaxAdi uncle and older brother of one
woman used to go down to southeastern Alaska, to trade
seal and sea otter skins and preserved berries for trade
goods and objects of native manufacture. She spoke as if
these voyages were common. Presumably at an earlier
period they would have carried down native copper.
"They have a westerly wind going down?got sails.
Young husky men and big paddles" (MJ). As a young
woman in 1900 or 1901 she went with a party to Sitka to
attend a potlatch. "We travel in a big canoe. That's
what we got war canoes for. They got sails and all the
provisions?one sail. I see it when I was a young girl.
When there is a westerly wind, they pitch up the sails
and come in quick. We go up to Tlaxayik, and hoist
the sails, and we don't have to paddle. The boys get so
played out." (MJ)
Yakutat was, of course, also visited by canoes from
southeastern Alaska, especially those of the Tl'uknaxAdi
from Hoonah or Sitka. The latter used to "come up
this way in a big war canoe . . . in summer time, in
June. . . . Maybe they stay here for one year and then
they go down again." Sometimes they brought along
members of other sibs as passengers "because their
canoes are too big." It was in this way that the Tl'uk-
naxAdi and their relatives, the Koskedi, were said to
have become established in the Dry Bay area.
The trade relationships of the 18th century were
preserved a hundred years later, for an informant re-
ported that her Teqwedi grandfather, Lusxox, used to
trade with a QanAxtedi chief, Yelxak, from Whale
House at Klukwan. Of this same grandfather she also
said: "My grandfather used to go to Southeast of
Alaska by canoe?in a big canoe?to trade where the
big slaves, the Tsimshian and Haida, used to come
from" (MJ).
Not infrequently voyages were made to Port Simp-
son, Old Metlakatla and Prince Rupert on the northern
coast of British Columbia. "People from Yakutat used
to go in canoes to Fort Rupert to trade furs. It took 2
months for the trip. There were 10, 12 men in a canoe.
They didn't sleep for 2 days off Cape Spencer." (JR)
It will be remembered that this is the dangerous head-
352 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
land at the entrance to Cross Sound, near which there
are no safe landing places (cf. p. 16). Still longer canoe
voyages were made to Vancouver, Victoria, or even to
the United States.
I do not know exactly what was secured in the south,
although "Canadian-made" articles, that is, Hudson's
Bay Company goods were especially prized. These
included chests, blankets, large porcelain dishes (ac-
tually washbowls) and other dishes, large pearl buttons,
cloth, silk kerchiefs, and dyed chicken-feather cockades
to wear on the head at dances. Glass beads, silk dresses,
guns and ammunition were also mentioned.
From the Tsimshian at Metlakatla who were evi-
dently middlemen and well as craftsmen the Yakutat
people secured red face paint, (Iexw) flicker feathers (kun
fewu), and dentalia (taxxe), as well as handsome
boxes, rattles, masks, headdresses, and so on of Tsims-
hian manufacture, and also Haida war canoes of red
cedar (MJ). On these trips, too, the Yakutat purchased
slaves: "Flatheads," Haida, Tsimshian, and southern
Tlingit in origin.
"The Haidas were the ones who captured slaves.
The Tlingit merely bought slaves, at least for the
most part. The ones who brought the slaves up here
[Yakutat] on such a long journey were the ones who
made money. They bought the slaves cheap in the
southernmost Tlingit area, and when they reached
Yakutat sold the slaves for a high price. The ones
who got slaves were the Haida and the Tsimshians.
. . . Some of the slaves were brought from the
Columbia River, were flatheads, and talked a lan-
guage related to Tlingit [sic]." [Jack Ellis to Har-
rington.]
The Yakutat traders appear to have learned some
Chinook jargon, as well as a few words of Tsimshian.
Tsimshian and Haida songs were also brought back to
Yakutat.
I have noted (p. 348) that southeastern Alaskan
Tlingit used to come to Yakutat and Lituya Bays to
hunt sea otter. A little later in the 19th century,
Tsimshian Indians in their canoes came to participate
in the sea otter hunts at Icy Bay and off Cape Yakataga
(cf. pp. 284-2S6). Schooners also brought "West
Coast Indians" and the "Washington Indians" known
as "Flatheads" to hunt seal and sea otter. Still later,
Tlingit from Juneau and Sitka were joining their
Yakutat friends at the sealing camps in Disenchant-
ment Bay (p. 68). All of these contacts offered op-
portunities for trade, as well as for gambling, and
learning each other's songs. Some songs were purchased
from the Tsimshian at this time, and the latter also
bought Yakutat songs (pp. 571, 575). The Tsims-
hian, moreover, gave away some of their songs as a
friendly gesture after the quarrel over Chief George's
sea otter.
The seal hunting at Yakutat was partly a commercial
enterprise, just as salmon fishing is now, for the seal
oil was sold to White men, as were the skins. One
woman reported: "My father and uncle and brothers
used to come home with a load of seals. They lined
them up on the beach. If there's small ones, I claimed
it. Then they were 25 cents apiece, and 50 cents for
the big ones. And half the time you don't sell it. A
big war canoe come up from Sitka to buy the sealskins."
(MJ) Or, again, "Just think, they paid only two bits
[25 cents] apiece for skins at that time. The old store-
keeper down in the village buy it." (MJ)
Of course, the sea otter pelts were sold to the traders;
they were far too valuable to be kept.
Of the trading parties from Sitka in the 1880's, my
informant also said: "They come up here and trade
for seal oil and preserved berries and sealskins, and
skins of all kinds?just so they can get it from Yakutat.
Just like seaweed?they got it in Southeast of Alaska,
but Yakutat is best." (MJ)
Even today, there is still quite a bit of trade and
gift exchange between Yakutat and southeastern
Alaska. Almost every Yakutat woman who makes
moccasins for sale has bought some beaded "tops"
(insteps of felt) from friends or relatives in the south.
One Yakutat woman who regularly visits a relative
in Juneau, not only takes plenty of native food with
her, but sends half of what she preserves. This in-
cludes dried black and ribbon seaweed and dried
cockles. Another Yakutat woman has a "relative" at
Klukwan from whom she hopes to get dried mountain
goat meat in exchange for seaweed.
Values in Exchange
Most or all aboriginal trade was carried on between
relatives, or between trade partners, who, if not ac-
tually related, were considered as quasi-relatives. So
many exchanges were made in the form of gifts be-
tween these persons, in which the recipient felt honor-
bound to "pay double price," that information about
these does not give us a true picture of less ceremonial
forms of trade. Thus, we remember a war started
because the Teqwedi chief, Daqusetc, failed to pay
his Tl'uknaxAdi father, Dexudu'u, a slave in return
for the dress which his father had given to the wife
of Daqusetc. The Teqwedi were said to have considered
this an exorbitant price (p. 262).
It seems impossible to secure any idea of the relative
value of goods, for anything which my informants
knew had been formerly prized was apt to be considered
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 353
as "worth one slave," or "cost one slave." This price
was suggested for a prehistoric bracelet of native
copper (de Laguna et al, 1964, fig. 19, a, b, d), a piece
of copper big enough for a sea-otter arrowhead, a
piece of iron from drift wood, or a necklace of glass
and brass beads (MJ and six others). More specific
was the statement that when Chief Yaxodaqet cut
a piece of copper, 2 by % inches, from the handle of
his Russian copper kettle, he sold it for two silver
fox furs. This piece was just big enough for the sea-
otter harpoon arrowhead. The only equivalence that
seems to emerge from all the various statements is
that a big sea otter skin was at one time worth one
slave.
Another definite statement about an exchange was
to the effect that a ThikwaxAdi woman of Dry Bay
obtained a hair ornament from a rich girl who lived at
Lituya Bay. The hair ornament was made of beads
and dentalia, lined with Canadian cloth, and was said
to have been made by "Flatheads and Tsimshians."
For it she gave cross fox and marten skins.
We also know that at one time the value of guns
was very high. "Lots of places for one rife you have
to pile up these skins, one, or one and a half, or some-
times twice the length of the rifle." "There used to be
lots of [muskrats] around here, but when they started
to trade, they trade for rifle. They pile them [the
skins] up even with the rifle." This was the price
exacted by the Chilkat traders from the Southern
Tutchone, according to informants at Klukshu. I do
not know whether the Yakutat man is repeating tales
of such trade, or whether Tlingit middlemen once
exacted the same price from natives at Dry Bay and
Yakutat.
It was not until about 1885 that the natives at
Yakutat became generally acquainted with money.
This was in silver and gold, not paper, the smallest
coins being usually a quarter or a dime. Hardy Trefzger
(1963, pp. 23-24), who came to Yakutat in 1911, said
that when he helped Beasley in the latter's store, the
natives would have to buy each item separately, buy-
ing and receiving change for it before making the next
purchase. This was because, Beasley said, their arith-
metical calculations were limited to what they could
count on their fingers. (See, however, more sophisti-
cated counting devices and calculations, p. 801). Their
regular purchases consisted of small amounts at
a time of rice, baking powder, sugar, tea, and kero-
sine, 50-pound sacks of flour, and shot, powder, and
caps for their guns. Their clothes were made chiefly of
outing flannel and calico. Money was earned by selling
hair seal skins to Beasley for 50 cents each; the women
worked in the cannery and sold baskets, beadwork,
and moccasins to passengers on the steamers; the men
fished for the cannery, trapped and sold furs, and in
winter also cut ties for the railroad and firewood for
the cannery (ibid. p. 84).
Yet in 1919 old Sitka Ned and his wife were so
wealthy that they were delighted to secure from
Trefzger a small fireproof safe in which they could
keep then- money (over $5000 in gold and silver coin,
and a few bills), and the many rings and bracelets
they were holding as collateral on loans made to other
natives (ibid., p. 85).
Coppers
In southeastern Alaska and British Columbia the
most important items of aboriginal trade and cere-
monial exchange were plates of copper (tfnna). Yet
Yakutat informants did not mention these as having
been used at local potlatches. "Coppers" were said to
have been shaped from lumps of native copper obtained
from the Atna. None of my informants had seen any
(except possibly in a museum), although they could
sketch and describe the traditional sizes and shapes.
One man said that he had been shown a wooden model of
a "copper," made by a man who had been born in 1860.
At Yakutat, I was told that "coppers" were apparently
not made in the shape of a shield, the traditional form
farther south, but were shaped "like bow ties." That
is, the plate was narrowed in the middle, the two sides
flared out, and the ends, of equal or almost equal width,
were bluntly pointed (fig. 29). There was a line across
the narrow middle, and sometimes a longitudinal line
at right angles to this that ran down the center of the
"copper" from end to end. The plate was ornamented
with painted designs, presumbly crest figures. This
outline is now used as a pattern for beadwork on
moccasins (MJ). The actual shape of the coppers, how-
ever, seems to have been traditional to judge from amu-
lets made like miniature coppers (pis. 136, 178).
Coppers were made in more or less standard sizes.
Although each of three informants mentioned that
there were only three sizes, four separate terms were
given. The smallest was called a 'baby copper' (tfnna
yAt?i), although the informant did not know its size.
It was, I believe, the same as that called 'human hand
break' (qa dji Pit), and which might be assumed to be
the length of a man's hand from fingertips to wrist.
However, the informant translated the native term as
"right-here-the-break" and said that the copper reached
from the fingertips to the inside bend of the elbow.
Again, this size should have been that called 'man's
elbow,' (qa t'fy), yet I wras told that this reached to the
armpit. The largest copper of all, 'one's face it-pushes-
354 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
FIGURE 29.?Traditional shape of the copper at Yakutat, from
sketches by John Ellis, Sampson Harry, and Minnie Johnson.
away,' (qa yA kunAfrtSAq), reached from the fingertips
of the outstretched arm to the averted chin. This size
was worth 8 or 10 slaves (JR et al.).
Rights to the Humpback Salmon Stream were
purchased by the ancestors of the Kwacljqwan with sea
otter furs and coppers or with a large canoe hung with
seven coppers on each side, each copper worth 10
slaves. Swan ton's informant had them buy the land
with only one copper, worth 10 slaves (p. 241). The
Drum House Teqwedi bought their lands at Ahmklin
River with one copper, as long as from the finger tips to
the chin, worth 10 slaves (p. 252).
One informant told how a Hoonah woman had offered
a copper belonging to her son hoping not to be taken as
a slave by a southern raiding party. She also said that a
father might give coppers to those who tattooed his
child, thereby ennobling the latter, or might lay out
coppers for this daughter to walk on at her marriage,
which were then given to the groom's people. She was
clearly thinking of Tsimshian or southern Tlingit
customs, for these practices were not mentioned by
other Yakutat informants.
Harrington was told by Jack Ellis something about
the trade in copper and the value of the pieces:
"The southern Indians did not have copper.
Copper was just like gold to them. When they came
to the Cordova region they bought it, they did not
dig it out. Just a little flat piece of copper 6 inches
long and wide was worth a slave. Some seven such
pieces (JE makes a gesture as if these 7 pieces were
laid out on top of his arm from his hand to his
shoulder) was worth seven slaves."
[Davidson writes in the Alaska Coast Pilot of
1869 (p. 36):] ". . . the principal source [of pure
copper] is on the Atna or Copper River, about
twenty-five or thirty miles above its mouth, where
discovery and research are retarded on account of
the reported hostility of the natives. [The Russian
consul hi San Francisco had a specimen of copper
from this source, and nuggets a cubic foot in size
were reported.] All the peculiarly-figured copper
plates of the natives, twenty-six by fifteen inches,
and so much prized as heirlooms by the Indians as
far south as Vancouver Island, are hammered out
of pure copper obtained from this river."
It is obvious, however, that only very small coppers
could have been made from the native metal; the large
coppers described by my informants, like those seen
in museums, are all of commercial sheet copper.
Keithahn (1964) has presented evidence to show that
these plates were never made of native copper and that
they appeared on the Northwest Coast only after
explorers and traders had introduced commercial copper
plate. I have also suggested that they may have been
inspired by the medals and plates given by the Russians
to favored chiefs or buried in establishing territorial
claims (pp. 135-137).
Trade Etiquette
Parties who came to visit or trade were always re-
ceived in ceremonious fashion, although I do not know
what the procedures were for persons journeying on
foot. When arriving by canoe, the party seems always
to have included a chief or some man of rank who would
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 355
expect to be received and entertained by someone of
equal consequence.
"The Yakutat people stop the big war canoe from
coming in until the people say 'Welcome.' They ask
them [the visitors] who they going to come to. They
ask: "AdaxAnde yakw SAWE??Who you come to?'
The visitors then mention the person's name they're
going to come to. So the person would welcome them to
his house and take care of them. They wouldn't come
to my house if I'm poor. They would show off to each
other, how well off they are. They mention the chief
man. So, if they are coming to Kwaclkqwan they mention
Yaxodaqet, and on Teqwedi's side they mention
Kaxdax6tl [Chief Minaman]. . . ." When asked who
would be the Tl'uknaxAdi hosts, the answer was:
"Ckman, of course, and XAnAnelk, his brother,
[Abraham]." (MJ)
The hospitality of the leading chief and wealthy
house owner was also extended to visiting White men,
as Schwatka and Topham reported (pp. 191, 194).
I was told of no trading which was not ceremonially
conducted, as if it were an exchange of gifts. In fact, in
southeastern Alaska, at any rate, White traders in the
early days sometimes found it to their advantage to
imitate some of the Tlingit formalities. These could
evidently be manipulated by the Tlingit themselves
for purposes of economic profit when dealing with un-
sophisticated Athabaskans. Almost every early explorer
to the Tlingit has reported how the natives would come
out in canoes under the leadership of a chief to welcome
his ship with songs, speeches and other ceremonial
attentions. Some of the petty thievery by the natives
may have been prompted by the failure of the Whites
to offer reciprocal attentions, especially when it would
appear that the native chief was under the impression
that he had established a trade partnership with the
ship's captain. The lack of proper behavior on the part
of the ignorant Whites may have branded them as
boors, true Gunana, and therefore fair game for cheating
or theft. In fact, when detected, the natives often
acted as if it were a joke. Malaspina and his men were,
I think, more successful in then- dealings with the
Indians of Port Mulgrave, for, despite some incidents
which could have ended in tragedy, the Spaniards not
only acted with firmness in the face of danger, but
attempted to reciprocate the peacemaking ceremonial-
ism of the natives, ceremonialism essential to establish-
ing or restoring good relations between the hosts and
those who come to trade, to attend a potlatch, or to
settle differences (cf. p. 622 for further relevant quota-
tions from Malaspina).
The Yakutat people regularly conducted their trad-
ing in the form of gift exchanges between trade partners
(yAqawu). This term was translated by one informant
as "matched together," or as "intimate friends?my
own class, you know" (MJ). The same term is used
for the yellow cedar and alderwood parts of the halibut
hook which are similarly "matched together." Of two
trade partners one would say, "They're wuc-yAqawu
because they got agreement towards one another"
(MJ).
This seems to be an arrangement between persons
in different sibs of the same moiety. Thus two women,
one Tl'uknaxAdi, the other Kwac?qwan, were cited as
wuc-yAqawu, 'mutual trade partners.' "They yAqawu
each other. When they get money or something they
give it to each other. Just like they're sisters. If they
got blanket or something they give it to each other.
Men do it to each other, too." Again, referring to these
women, Elizabeth and Annie: as "yAqawu to each
other. They give good things to each other. Elizabeth
gives Annie big things, high-priced things. Then Annie
gives something back. That's the way they treat each
other. . . . Give each other money, blankets. You
know olden time, there's no such thing as money.
Blankets is just like money."
She went on to explain that the sons of these women
are "cousins," because they are descended from people
who are yAqawu to each other, but there was no in-
dication that the sons would necessarily continue the
gift exchanges.
Other informants denied that the relationship was
between specific individuals. Thus, a Ti'uknaxAdi
woman said: "Kwackqwan is my yAqawu. . . . No
special KwacJ?qwan. We call them all our yAqawu,
even the man and the woman."
Moreover, the yAqawu of the CAnkuqedi are the
Gunana. "They trade together, give each other pres-
ents." This was corroborated by a CAnkuqedi woman
from Dry Bay, who remarked of the "good" Atha-
baskans: "Tl'ukcu [Klukshu], CAnkuqedi, yaqaxguwAn
['friends'?]. Just like good friend, best friend?like
girl friend and boy friend. . . . You give me high-
priced things and I give you back high-priced things?
the same. That's yAqawu. I'm not going to forget it,
and you're not going to forget it. Tl'ukcu give furs."
She mentioned also that her father (^AfkA'ayi sib)
and her first husband (Tl'uknaxAdi), both Ravens,
used to go regularly to Klukshu at the headwaters of
the Alsek River. Perhaps trading or gift exchanges
with the Southern Tutchone were also arranged on
a intramoiety basis, since these Athabaskans have
Raven and Wolf moieties.
Apparently Kagwantan and Teqwedi were wuc-
yAqawu. "They like one another. Just intimate friends?
that's all that means." (MJ) I was unable to secure
more information about the relationship, although I
feel fairly certain that while any members of the
356 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
paired sibs were potential wuc-yAqawu, particular
alliances were formed between individuals.
The relationship apparently implied help, favors,
and perhaps even asylum to the visiting partner.
Thus in the story of CAIJA Hit (Canoe Prow House),
when Raven wanted to borrow the devilfish cane, he
addressed the owner as "my intimate friend?'ax
yAqawu." The narrator suggested that the owner
must have been GanAxtedi because he was so selfish!
(MJ) The same informant employed the term "in-
timate friend" in describing the relationship between
Wuwack, the sister of the Kwaci:qwan chief on Knight
Island, and Da-tlen, the Tl'uknaxAdi man who helped
her to escape when his people took her prisoner to
Dry Bay (pp. 246,866). It is highly unlikely that he
was her lover, since both belonged to the same moiety.
If the relationship were that of wuc-yAqawu, it would
indicate that it was one primarily affecting two in-
dividuals. (Cf. Olson, 1936, p. 212.)
At an early period, neither the Dry Bay Atha-
baskans nor the Eyak-speakers of Yakutat were
accustomed to these Tlingit methods of trading and
of gift exchange. Perhaps of them it could be said, as
they later said of others: "The people to the westward
stay by themselves so much, they are just low class."
Beresford in 1788 noted a difference in manners
between the people of Port MuJgrave and those of
Sitka, the latter seeming to be "far more lively and
alert" which he explained as due hi part to "their
enlarged society, and their constant intercourse with
each other" (quoted p. 127). The ceremonious trading
methods which LaPerouse encountered in Lituya Bay
and Dixon in Sitkan waters, were not noted for Port
Mulgrave before Malaspina's visit of 1791. However
this does not mean that they were not employed
between natives. Thus, the picture which Ismailov
and Bocharov (pp. 134-136) give of the Chilkat
GanAxtedi chief, Yeixak, coming to Yakutat with his
Teqwedi sons, Nequt and XEnR, on a regular spring
trip to collect tribute, needs rcinterpretation. This
was obviously a trading expedition, on which the
prominent Chilkat chief was being received with the
extreme deference which reflected the sense of social
inferiority of the unsophisticated people of Yakutat
in entertaining this aristocratic visitor from the cul-
tured south. Details of the story of QakexwtE, who
came as a teacher to Dry Bay, married a local wife,
and thereby established trade connections, may be
interpreted in the same light (pp. 270-272). It was
probably the Tlingit from southeastern Alaska,
GanAxtedi, Tl'uknaxAdi, Teqwedi, and Sitka Kag-
wantan, who introduced the "high class" fashions
of trade partnership and ceremonious dealings, as
they moved northward during the 18th century.
Traditions at Yakutat about the introduction of
Tlingit trading customs, mentioned largely by persons
proud of their southeastern Alaskan connections, ascribe
these to the famous ^atgawet (pp. 242-247). It will
be remembered that he was a Teqwedi man of Tongas
extraction, born at Akwe of a Tl'uknaxAdi father, and
that he traveled all over, making economically profit-
able marriages, and naming the relatives of his wives
after the Tlingit sibs of southeastern Alaska. When I
attempted to secure further information about his
economic activities, I was told: "[The Tl'uknaxAdi,
i.e., his father's people] used to trade to Victoria and
even to the States. They brought up lots of things to
trade. But the local natives, StaxAdi, were scared and
hid in the woods. So a great man organized them in
order to trade." These StaxAdi seem to have been an
autochthenous group, probably Eyak or Athabaskan,
on the eastern side of Yakutat Bay, assimilated by
the Kwacl:qwan (cf. p. 221).
Just what was involved in "organizing" these and
the other tribes along the Gulf Coast of Alaska is not
clear. But this probably involved working out a system
of equating the local sibs with Tlingit ones, thereby
facilitating the establishment of trade partnerships,
and of teaching the people proper intersib and inter-
moiety ceremonial behavior. Most of our informants
stressed the wealth he obtained from his many mar-
riages, since each brother-in-law gave him sea otter
furs. Perhaps he was supposed to have introduced the
custom of exacting handsome presents from his
wife's brothers, for this was a procedure profitably
employed by Chilkat traders in dealing with the
Southern Tutchone (Olson, 1936, p. 214).
Motives for Travel and Trade
It should not be assumed that the motives for trade
were purely economic, that is, the desire to obtain
needed goods for as little return as possible. The items
exchanged were luxury foods and luxury goods, until
the changed economic and cultural conditions of modern
times transformed many of these into virtual necessities.
But even as late as 1880, the Yakutat people were
really not dependent upon trade with other Indians or
with the Whites. At that time, for example, then: poor
guns could not have been as efficient for hunting as
their own spears, harpoons, and bows and arrows.
Guns and ammunition, cloth, Hudson's Bay blankets
and dishes, metal pots, Tsimshian wood carving, Haida
canoes, and Salish slaves were not essential to living.
They were imported luxuries, the possession of which
marked the wealthy. At that time perhaps only steel
adzes and knives were considered absolute necessities.
IN THREE PARTS TRAVEL AND TRADE 357
Sib territories, the sources of subsistence, were in
actuality open to all, since every man and woman in the
community could claim some relationship to the owners.
The most valuable material goods were sib or lineage
heirlooms, rarely alienated. It was not the accumulation
of wealth in the form of luxury goods that brought pres-
tige, but the ability to distribute it lavishly, to feast
one's relatives and guests with exotic foods, to make
handsome presents of imported objects to affinal kins-
men, and to pay lavishly at potlatches for ceremonial
services. It was this manipulation of wealth that marked
the aristocrat. Wealth given honored one's dead and
provided for their comfort in the afterlife, since they re-
ceived the spiritual counterpart of the material objects.
It was given in the name of the living to ennoble them.
And the receipt of countergif ts was public acknowledge-
ment of one's own social standing. Wealth was ex-
changed essentially between peers, not only on the grand
occasions of potlatching, but at visits between affinal
relatives and trade partners. In dealing with one's
equals, one did not seek economic profit. Rather, one
desired to prove one's worth by giving lavishly, in the
hope that it would be recognized by an equivalent
lavishness in return.
However, when dealing with low-class natives who
could not be considered peers, it was possible to have
strictly business dealings (from our point of view)?to
drive a shrewd bargain or exact an exorbitant profit?
for these were not persons worth impressing with gener-
osity because they could in no way contribute to one's
prestige. Relationships with Whites varied between hard
bargaining, sharp dealings, and pilfering on the one
hand, to the courteous generosity due a friendly trade
partner.
Much of the motive for native trade must have come
from the sheer pleasure in handling wealth. This also
explains part of the enjoyment of gambling. To increase
one's "capital" or to win was desirable because then one
had more with which to purchase the intangible but
more highly valued prerogatives and honors. But the
ability to lose might also serve as a sign of social stand-
ing, provided always that one did not overdo.73 At
Yakutat, lavish gifts were rarely used to humiliate a
rival.
These same attitudes are exhibited today toward
money. The Tlingit are well aware of the monetary
values of things and remember exactly how many
dollars and cents have been spent or given or loaned.
75
 According to the Wrangell narrator of Tale 31 (Swanton,
1909, pp. 138 and 139), high-class people were not supposed to
become gamblers, i.e., become crazy over the game, so that
they cannot stop when losing. When one wins one is supposed
to give a feast with the proceeds.
Many persons have small businesses or delight in playing
bingo for small stakes (see pp. 557-558). But there
is very little realistic sense from our point of view of
profit and loss or of thrift. The pleasure of running a
little store is largely in handling sums of money, in
watching dimes and quarters and silver dollars come
in, and in gossiping with friends, whether or not they
are customers. I believe that it is almost impossible to
run such an enterprise for profit; the claims of relatives
and friends for credit cannot be denied without creating
hard feelings, and there need be only a few unlucky
or unscrupulous debtors to deplete the assets. Bad
debts accumulated on the books are not taken, as we
would take them, as signs of poor business sense, but
rather as evidence of the creditor's superiority and of
the debtor's inferiority. On the other hand, between
most people there is a scrupulous attention to payment
for goods and services. It also seems strange to our
eyes to see the carefully calculated cash payments
made by a woman to her brother for fish he has caught
or for other items, in contrast to the lavish gifts made
by the same woman on other occasions, often to
nonrelatives.
One motive for trading expeditions was to visit
strange lands, to see one's distant relatives, and to
exchange news. I suspect that many trips were made
primarily for these reasons, and that trade was a
relatively secondary consideration. Certainly the re-
turn home of travelers was a time for gossiping, re-
counting of adventures, and storytelling. When guests
came to visit there was feasting, singing, dancing, and
the excitement of gambling. Some of the stories told
by returned travelers were evidently funny (to judge
by the samples recorded), their humor depending upon
the peculiarity of foreign customs or dialects, to which
the Yakutat people are sensitive (pp. 552, 897).
Traveling into distant lands where one had few
relatives was hard for women, and those who married
men in foreign villages where there was no lineage
house of their own sib are reported to have felt like
lonely strangers. Sometimes young men, also, avoided
marriages which would have meant settling far from
home. However, for the youth, traveling to strange
places and meeting strange peoples was not only an
exciting adventure, but was considered a valuable part
of his education, especially if he were the nephew of a
sib chief and might later act as interpreter or advisor
to his uncle when foreign guests came to visit (p. 465).
The value of such education is illustrated by the inci-
dent in which the knowledge of a single Tsimshian
word was credited with preventing bloodshed between
the visiting Tsimshian sea otter hunters and the
Kwackqwan followers of Chief George (pp. 284-286).

Making a Living
360 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
HUNTING AND FISHING
The Annual Cycle
In former times, the animals, birds and fish furnished
the bulk of what people ate, the clothing they wore,
and the materials for their tools, weapons, and other
manufactures. Today, seal hunting and salmon fishing
provide almost the only sources of cash income for the
people of Yakutat. The habits of these creatures, as they
respond to the varying seasons, set a pattern for the
lives of the people. The times when the different types
of game were pursued dictated the places of residence
(in the winter village or in hunting and fishing camps),
and this affected the subsidiary occupations of men and
women. The original annual cycle has, of course, been
modified by the imposition of Federal (and now State)
laws governing hunting and commercial fishing, but
much of the old pattern of life still persists. Further-
more, even in the old days, there was also regulation of
hunting by the sib chief who controlled the territory.
No single informant gave complete information
about the annual cycle?thus, the following summary is
based on scattered observations made by several
persons.
"In winter, when there's snow," said one woman
referring to the 1880's and 1890's, "they just stay
home, make basket, sew moccasins and sealskin boots.
Old people sit around the fire, tell stories. They take
sweatbath and talk it over. The young men go hunting."
(MJ) "In winter they hunted seal and mountain goat"
(MJ). Sometimes hibernating bear were killed in their
dens.
"In spring they go to Icy Bay for sea otter and
mountain goat. The women stay home and dig roots.
Some men stay home and take the women to sealing
camp in June." (MJ)
Other late winter or early spring activities of Feb-
ruary and March, were fishing for oelachon at Dry
Bay and the Situk River, fishing for halibut in Yakutat
Bay, hunting for seals along the ocean beach, gathering
clams and cockles, and scraping off the inner bark of
spruce trees.
In April and May, some men went to Icy Bay to
hunt sea otters, others fished for oelachon on the
second run. But many families moved up Yakutat Bay
to the spring camps near Knight Island and Eleanor
Cove where they fished for halibut and hunted bears as
the latter emerged from then" dens. Women gathered
hemlock bark, the roots of the Kamchatka lily, sea-
weed, sea urchins, and the fresh wild celery stalks.
Herring spawn was also obtained in May. Salmon began
to run, the king or spring salmon running in April
and May. In early May, seals were catching fish in the
surf off Ocean Point, on their way to the breeding
grounds.
In June, most families went still farther up Yakutat
Bay to the sealing camps, and probably remained
there until the end of July. During this time, birds'
eggs, the last of the seaweed, "wild rhubarb," and the
first berries were gathered. (In the old days, seal hunt-
ing would start at the end of June, when the last pups
had been born on the ice.)
In August came the second sea otter hunt, and the
women picked strawberries and other berries, and
again began to gather clams. Many families were
already back at the salmon streams, busy putting up
fish for the winter, and picking berries. These occupa-
tions continued into October when the last fish (cohoes)
were dried, the last roots dug, and the men left for
mountain goat hunting in the mountains.
In the coldest winter months, December, January,
and the first of February, most families were in their
winter homes, although some men might hunt seals on
the beaches at the mouths of the rivers. Harrington
noted that some cohoes might get frozen at their
spawning grounds, so that they could sometimes be
chopped out of the ice in upper "Opal Creek" (Orphir
Creels) in January or February.
A man summarized the modern annual cycle:
"Snow comes about November. We go trapping for
mink and otter. The coyotes have scared the foxes
away, so we don't get them. We also trap weasels and
wolves, and shoot bears. This goes on until December.
"In December, we come to town and stay. We hunt
seals around the islands.
"Spring comes. We used to work on the railroad
track, shoveling snow. [This is to clear the drifts which
are apt to remain in the forest until mid-June, since
it is necessary to run the train from Yakutat to John-
son Slough, 9 miles away, in order to ready the skiffs
which are kept there for fishing.]
"On May 18 fishing starts in Dry Bay. From June
18 to September 30 we fish in Situk River. [These
were the dates for commercial fishing in 1949. Later
the season was shortened by the U.S. Fish and Wild-
life Service because of depletion of the salmon.]
"Afterwards we make smoked fish for a week at
Ankau, maybe for two weeks. By October 5, we are
smoking fish.
"October 20, we may move to camp for trapping.
The season opens in November.
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 361
"In the month of December, it's snow. The wind is
strong, and we freeze, so we come back here again."
We should also note the fact that some families may
stay at trapping cabins over the winter, while others
may visit their camps during the winter and early
spring with sled and snowshoes. On these trips, they
catch fur-bearing animals and shoot seals at the
mouths of the rivers. However, most families remain
in town all winter, since the children must attend
school. There is also the halibut fishing in late winter
and early spring, hunting of seals and bears, and
collecting herring spawn in April and May. Actually
there is a good deal of coming and going during the
spring months, especially by couples who have no
children, and by parties of men. Many people have
more or less permanent spring camps at Eleanor Cove
up Yakutat Bay.
Control of Territories
All hunting grounds were owned by sibs, or by sub-
sibs (local branches of sibs, or major lineages), and the
chief of the ranking house of the group "took care of
the land." He would allot hunting grounds within his
territory to his sons, brothers-in-law, and grandsons;
that is, to men of other sibs who had homes in the
area. They could keep anything they caught and were
not obliged to give him a share. My informant and
others, however, stressed how much was actually
shared in the old days, and there is evidence that the
chief did obtain part of the catch made by his own
sib-mates, not so much because it was his legal right,
but because it was the moral obligation of his clansmen
to give to him as though he were their uncle (p. 480).
An informant explained the control exercised by the
chief of the Qalyix-Kagwantan over their hunting
territory with respect to a Teqwedi visitor from Yaku-
tat. This man asked the chief: " 'Can we hunt your
ground?' 'Oh yes/ the Kagwantan man [i.e., chief]
say, and they tell how many animals the visitor can
get. But one Kagwantan is the leader and he shoots
first. Then he lets the others shoot. They go to big
Cape Saint Elias and get the most beautiful fox. And
he [the Kagwantan chief] always be around and watch
if they get too many. And then [if someone does], he
just have to give it back to the chief. The extra fox
skin that is returned goes to the poor people. The chief
doesn't keep it for himself. The same way with moun-
tain goat, black bear and brown bear. The chief names
how many each family is going to get. That's the way
it is." The specific control exercised over seal hunting, sea
otter hunting, and fishing is described on pages 374-
375, 379-380, 384.
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 25
Another informant, in explaining the care of hunting
grounds, cited one of the smaller groups at Yakutat
as an example.
"They don't build any fire in their trapping territory
no matter how cold and wet they are?not unless
they absolutely must. Then they might build just a
little one, way down on the beach, right near the water.
When they were through cooking, they would wash it
away. If anyone comes on their land or disturbs their
animals that are breeding, they shoot. They don't ask
questions or give warning or give a second chance.
They just kill the man. . . . [The owners] won't let
others hunt on their land because they have such a
very small bit of it." [The implied use was trapping.]
At least in recent years at Dry Bay, each man had
his own special places for setting traps and snares.
A woman from Dry Bay said, "My husband have one
place. Now my son got it." The husband was the
son of the Tl'uknaxAdi Dry Bay Chief George, and the
grandson belongs to the chief's sib. I did not discover
whether there were individual claims to trap lines in
other areas, and how these might be allotted or inherited.
There are probably such claims, for certain families
have cabins on some of the rivers east of Yakutat
where the men trap every fall. Invidual rights, however,
seem to be subordinated to sib territorial claims, or
the men who trap here are sons or sons-in-law of men
who belonged to the owning sib. The shift from matri-
lineal to patrilineal inheritance has, however, compli-
cated the situation. In any case, land animal furs were
never very important economically to the Yakutat
people, so there was probably less importance put on
ownership of traplines than hi the Dry Bay area.
Religious Aspects
Hunting and fishing were the major occupations of
men; absorbing, exciting, and often dangerous. Super-
natural dangers were involved also, for the hunter or
fisherman was taking a life very much akin to his own.
He had not only to possess the skills, endurance and
equipment necessary to secure his prey, but he also
had to be spiritually prepared and, after the kill,
had to observe the proper rituals, for killing was an
act of religious significance. His wife, indeed all the
women of his household, were also bound by super-
natural regulations. Failure to follow the prescribed
procedures or lack of respect for the slain animal
could not only bring bad luck or disaster in this life,
but punishment hi the next, and death to the guilty
person and his sib-mates. Although it was never very
clearly stated, success in the hunt seems often to have
362 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
been felt as due to the goodwill of the animals, even
though the hunter might coerce or bend that will
through magic, just as he might the will of a human
being; at other tunes, the hunter felt that he was
battling an enemy to whom he owed the same respect
as to a brave opponent.
The conceptualization of the world of animals and
of the roles played by particular species is left to a
later chapter. It is sufficient to indicate here that no
matter what animal a hunter had killed, he had to pray
to it and to the Spirit Above justifying his act and
asking for forgiveness. The dead animal was addressed
in a song appropriate to its species, but all the animals
of its kind heard and understood. The heads of land
animals were left in the hunting grounds, covered up
and facing the mountain, i.e., inland; those of sea
mammals were returned to the sea. Because the treat-
ment which the body received affected the dead
animal's soul, it was of the utmost importance that
the proper rules be followed. For example, it was
necessary to burn the bones of salmon in order that
they might be reincarnated, and the runs continue.
The proper rules to be followed in hunting each type
of animal are described in the appropriate sections.
These observances were apparently ones which the
animals themselves taught men, as we learn from myths
(see "The Story of Kats who Married a Bear," "The
Woman who Married a Bear," and "Salmon Boy,"
pp. 880,881,890).
Waste of the dead animal's body and wanton killing,
especially of little birds or creatures that had no eco-
nomic value, could not be justified and so were taboo.
My informants spoke of then: ancestors who "took
care" of the hunting territories as if this involved
conservation of the game. It is doubtful, however,
whether conservation was formerly conceived in a real-
istic fashion, since dead animals were thought to be-
come reincarnated in new bodies. Rather, this care
must have been directed primarily to avoid "angering"
the animals or frightening them away from the hunting
grounds.
Animals apparently know whether or not taboos have
been violated. They also hear and understand what
people say. Thus, "If you talk about going hunting just
for a day, you will have no luck. But if you say it's for
a long time, they'll give up hope and just have to come
to you." When going after bears, for example, the
hunter does not mention his specific intentions, but
may simply inform his wife the night before that he is
going out with the dogs, just to "look around." It
should be noted, however, that there is no evidence
that the Yakutat Tlingit employed special circumlocu-
tions when referring to game animals, like the "trapping
names" used by their Athabaskan neighbors. There is
also no evidence of a special bear cult.
HUN1ING MAGIC
The training and preparation of boys for their lives
as hunters began at birth by the performance of certain
magical exercises (hexwa) in their behalf. As they grew
older, they themselves trained and kept in good physical
condition by bathing in cold water, running, fasting,
etc. (see pp. 516-517). These acts, and others of a more
obviously magical nature, also served to prepare them
spiritually for hunting, since physical and religious
conditioning were not clearly differentiated.
"They used to be very careful in my grandfather's
time. . . . They don't want to do anything that would
make them weak. For one thing, when walking, they
can't drink too much water. My uncle said, 'Don't eat
too much or you'll get wirsAq?get all in.'[74] . . . lean
remember my grandfather says whatever they do, if
they do it before breakfast, they have better luck. . . .
They always do things before yel (Raven) gets up."
His grandfather was Ned Daknaqin of Drum House.
The rule is that anything dangerous, uncertain, or
pertaining to the supernatural should be done or at
least begun before the raven calls at dawn and before
one has eaten. It is at this hour that the young man
trains and that the hunting party sets out. If possible,
the enterprise should be finished before food is tasted.
"When they go out bear hunting they don't eat
anything when they're out. . . . They don't eat out
there in the woods. . . . They just put some dried fish
in their belt in case they get stuck. They call this dried
fish "tired-on medicine" (sAqkA nagu)," i.e., medicine
for fatigue.7* When the tired hunters return, they do
not eat at once, but just drink a little broth.
The ability to go without food or water for a consider-
able period is not only of practical value to the hunter
who must often travel far from home, but it is felt that
frugality is a moral virtue, and that abstinence has a
religious or magical significance. They are therefore en-
joined at all crises. So, too, bathing in icy water in the
early dawn is not only hardening to the body, insuring
strength and health, but is spiritually purifying. The
hunter, moreover, must also abstain from sexual inter-
course and from any contact, direct or indirect, with
a menstruating wompn.
"It's like the rule in the Bible. We used to live like
God created us . . . Hunters stay away from their
wives four months before hunting. They [the animals]
know if you cheat. Some boys stays eight, nine months.
Then a certain month they come together. From Decem-
ber the hunters are apart?just the hunters, because they
supply the whole family."
74
 The terms implying fatigue, WUSAIJ and SAqkA nagu, may
be derived from tsAx, recorded by Boas, 1917, p. 139, as meaning
'to overdo.'
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 363
The informant was thinking, I believe, of the strict
rules pertaining to the dangerous sea otter hunts (see
pp. 378-379). I also understood her to say that people
formerly had mating seasons like the animals, although
I was unable to discover in what month the hunters re-
turned to their wives. Others said that hunters kept
away from their wives for several months, or reported
that some men refrained from intercourse for a whole
year after marriage in order to have good luck in
hunting.
A variety of amulets (WUXE or danak"), including
special scratching stones, might be used by the hunter.
He usually carried with him a magical substance or
"dope" (kayani, literally 'green leaves/ but more usually
roots). These brought him luck in general or in specific
situations. "Dope," for example, acted upon the will of
animals. "Animals?they claim the power of kayani
draws them in their way." The use of such magic was
surounded by regulations involving fasting, continence,
bathing, gathering the magical root or handling the
amulet only before dawn, etc. Each variety of kayani
had its own rules. Our informant believed that there
were kinds used for arrows, and also for traps and
snares, but did not know what these were. "Different
families has different kinds."
From the many references to kayani, I suspect that
every hunter in the old days had at least one kind.
It is perhaps impossible to separate the procedures
necessary for handling hunting kayani from those
necessary in the preparation for the hunt. Among the
most common varieties of kayani were those that would
destroy the anger of a dangerous animal, that would
make a man shoot accurately, that would secure an
animal that had escaped, and that would bring failure
to a rival hunter. These and other varieties of magical
plants and amulets are discussed in greater detail in a
later chapter (pp. 659-667).
There was no suggestion, however, that poison (for
example, aconite) was ever smeared on weapon points
to make them more deadly. Rather, the magical plant
was carried or used by the hunter himself, and was
effective in supernatural ways upon his quarry. There
was also a tradition about lucky arrows (see the story
about "Daxodzu and the Arrow," p. 712-713).
Shamans were sometimes called upon to assist people
when the hunting or fishing failed or when bad weather
prevented the men from going out.
MAGIC FOB HUNTING DOGS
Just as the boy or youth is prepared by magical
exercises, so there is also hexwa for the dogs that are
used for hunting bears and mountain goats.
"My grandfather [Daknaqin] put slime from a bear's
mouth over [a] human being, so he would be brave
when he's a man. So they do it to dogs, too, I guess."
"People tram dogs to hunt bears. Wherever the bear
has been chewing [on a tree], they rub it on the dog's
face. Then they will never let the bear go. I don't know
how they do i1 for mountain goats."
The usual procedure for making a good bear dog
was to "cut him on the nose," ('AkAlu xa XAC1SW [xackw]?
'I am cutting him on the nose'). This was to "get him
in good condition, to make him a good hunting dog."
Another informant explained how his father had done
this to his dogs:
"My old man had two or three dogs for bear hunting.
They used to know how to hunt bear and how to pro-
tect the old man from bears. They used to do things
to dogs to make them good hunters. They cut the nose
inside the nostril. They know how to cut the nose so
the dog smells better. Always we young boys never
believe it. The old man used to tell us to do it. 'If you
want good hunting dogs, cut the nose!'
"You cut it in a straight line. You have to stay on
one side of the line down the middle. If you cross that
line, it's no good?for good! You just cut it on one side.
The young dog, you cut it on a different side from an
old dog.
"When you cut it, then you take the hair of a black
bear and wipe his nose with it. And after you wipe his
nose with it, they twist the hair and they put it on a
bluejay, around his neck. And you put a little stick
across to open his mouth [jay's bill]. Then you put the
jay way inside the mountain [in a cave? or among the
mountains?]. If that bluejay is alive, if it flies away
with that?then you lost the dog, my old man used to
tell me."
This misfortune happened to a spaniel that the
informant's father had so treated. The bluejay flew
away with the bloody bear's hair around its neck. A
year later the dog was killed bear hunting.
"They always say if the bluejay goes away, then the
dog won't last. I don't know whether the bear killed
the dog or whether he got shot with the bear."
A variant of this method was used on another spaniel
belonging to the informant's father. "My grandpa, my
mother's father, takes that one and cut him on the
nose. And he catch the blowflies that time and put
them in a can, so the blood can drip on them. After
that dog's blood drip, he wipe his nose inside with the
hair that's right in the fingers of the black bear, the
hair between the bear's fingers. After that, he mix the
blood with that split fish (kadulxi). And he mix it up
and give it to the bluejays. And they eat it up." In
this way the dog was made very good at tracking
bears and in driving them to where his master could
spear them.
I did not learn what was done to condition a dog to
hunt mountain goats.
364 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
A good hunting dog was prized. "His dog and the
hunter?it's just like they talk to one another. The
dog hunts and he starts to bark, and the owner would
know just what animal it's got, and what way it's
going. If he stays still, the dog knows [and barks
accordingly], and the hunter goes there. . . . It's just
like they talk to one another. If the owner loses the
game, the dog would be just mad and would be growling
around."
LaPerouse wrote about the native dogs seen in
Lituya Bay in 1786:
"Dogs are the only animals with which they have
formed any alliance. Of these each hut has commonly
three or four. They are small; resemble the shepherd's
dog of Buff on; scarcely ever bark, but make a whistling
noise much like the jackal of the Carnatic; and are so
savage, that they seem to be to other dogs what their
masters are to civilized people." (LaPerouse, 1799,
vol. I, p. 401.)
My own informants described the native dog (ketl)
as "like a husky." The common type of White man's
dog at Yakutat seems to have been a water spaniel
(sAwak), "When the natives see a little dog, and his
chest is kind of round and he has long ears, they call
him SAwak."
Land Mammals
BEAES
Hunting bears, especially the huge brown bears or
grizzlies (xuts), is the adventure ?par excellence, and
more was told about the habits of bears and the meth-
ods of killing them than about any other animal.
"That's his only good time, I think, that man over
there," said a woman referring to old Prank Italio,
dozing in a corner, "?go out in the woods with the
dogs, and kill the bear." Today, many men go regu-
larly on bear hunts in the spring when the animals
emerge from their dens, even though bear meat and
bearhides are no longer of any significant value.
Among the pleasures of a spring camping trip to
Eleanor Cove is watching the bears moving about on
the snowy mountainside and the cubs playing.
Bears are now hunted with rifles. Their tracks
may be followed on foot, they may be shot from a
boat if within range, or they may be hunted in their
winter dens. A woman said that her husband would
enter the den with a candle. The bear blows it out;
then he goes in with another candle and shoots.
While bear hunters, of course, were supposed to be
continent, "they believe that when a woman shoots
bears, the bears can't do no harm. If a woman cleans
your gun, then the bear knows and he just drops . . .
It's just like they [the women] make a wish, I think.
One shot and they [the bears] drop. When it comes
like that, the bear just got no power."
In former tunes bears were killed with spears or
bows and arrows. They were also taken with traps
and snares. These weapons and devices are described
below (pp. 367-373).
If a man found a den that a bear had prepared but
not yet occupied, he was supposed to speak to the
nearby bushes, saying "Don't tell on me! (Lit xat
kinigiq)," and pay the bushes with a bit from his
clothing. If he neglected to do this, the bushes, or
rather their souls (qwani), would warn the bear, and
when the hunter returned to kill the animal he would
find the den empty. "That one, I proved it. That's
the funniest thing I ever seen. They went up to this
bear den, and there was nothing in there. They didn't
do what they were supposed to do, and there never
was a bear. All those hunters, that's what they have
to do?have to pay those bushes. You stick anything
[on them], just the lint off your clothes. . . . Next
time, there's always a bear there."
The bear was usually attacked as he emerged from
the den. A party of men would wait on the slope above
the den for the bear to come out. They were armed
with bows and arrows, but the bravest used spears.
The butt end of the spear was braced against the
ground, and when the bear charged, the man would
jump quickly aside, letting the bear impale himself on
the spear. Dogs were taken on such hunts, and some-
times it was their barking that roused the bear.
After the bears had emerged from hibernation?in
1954 this was early in April?parties of men, seldom
one man alone, tracked bears with dogs. The latter
were supposed to chase the animal toward the hunters.
A bear is said to run down the mountain, never up,
when it sees a man. The hunters may attempt to cross
the slope to intercept it, but a man cannot run as fast
as a bear, and dogs are needed to drive it or to hold
it at bay. The hunters might carry bows and arrows,
but again, the spear was preferred by the brave man.
A typical bear hunt was described by the man whose
father had the spaniel with the cut nose (p. 363):
A party of men had gone bear hunting in the moun-
tains with this dog. "The dog was following the tracks
back and he just disappeared. They walk all day, and
they walk, trying to find him. He just seem to get
excited, that dog. Pretty soon they see the bear way
up on the mountain. They watch and they see a little
dot just behind. The dog is catching up on the bear
way up on top of the mountain. The bear start to
run right down the mountain, and the dog try to catch
him.
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 365
"When he see those tracks, those old tracks, the
bear disappeared. Here that sAwak [spaniel] make
noise, and he follow the old tracks. His eyes is closed.
He don't even see my father who is standing just
beside those tracks. He goes by like a bullet. After-
wards they see him catch the bear up, way out on the
mountain.
"When he chase the bear down, then they don't see
it for a while. After a while they hear it come closer.
They hear it come closer all the time.
"He's got that spear-knife. The bear comes right
closer all the time. He's got snowshoos on, and he wait
for the bear to come. . . . When the bear comes close,
he puts the butt of the spear in the ground. . . . He
jump out of the way, and the spear goes in the bear so
that all of the wood [shaft] goes into it."
The informant went on to explain that if a man were
running with a spear, he would carry it low and parallel
to the ground, grasping it near the knifelike blade and
using an underhand thrust or throw. "If the dog
chases the bear up the tree, it is hard to spear the
bear then. When you throw the spear up, it drops down"
presumably deflected by branches. "My old man used
to kill lots of bears."
Another told how his father and two older brothers
were attacked by five big brown bears. The youngest
stripped naked "so he could fight, and went after the
bears." One bear ran against his braced spear and
stabbed itself in the neck; the man speared another
under its foreleg. Sometimes when the hunter tries to
withdraw the spear, the handle pulls loose, leaving the
blade in the animal. (CW) The sister of this informant
said: "My father was good at killing bears. They say
he had some kind of dope, he killed bears so easy. And
of course, he belonged to the Bear Tribe [Teqwedi sib
that claims the Bear as a totem], and he would talk
to the bears. Even when he was on crutches, he killed
them. My mother used to help him." (MJ) The man
was ^adanek Johnstone (1843-88).
When shooting with an arrow or gun, "you always
go for the heart side, between the ribs." When teaching
his son how to kill bears, ^adanelk said: "When you
get close to a bear, don't get excited. Just watch your
chance. When he turn around, watch the left side,
under the big paw. If you shoot him there, he won't
come back. That's where the heart is." (MJ)
Bear hunters, of course, prepared themselves by
bathing, fasting, and continence. "They stay away
from everything. They keep clean. It's like the Christian
life. They stay away from their wives, and so on. . . .
The bear can't do anything if a good man comes. Like
if you are a good Christian, any sin [evil] can't hurt
you." The hunters rose before the raven called, and
started out before dawn. If they had any amulets for
good luck they would have wished on these, and they
probably carried the roots of 'no-strength medicine'
(see p. 660) to chew on so the bear would not wish to
harm them. They were not supposed to eat or drink or
build a fire while they were out.
"And the people in the house is sleeping. They don't
want anybody to move in that house," explained the
widow of a hunter. "Because, suppose if your husband
out hunting, you're not going to eat, you're not going to
touch anything, you're not going to get mad at anybody
in the house, or your kids. If you get mad, the bear's
going to get mad at your husband, beat him."
While the hunters were out, the women at home were
supposed to be quiet. In the old days, the wives would
sit on the floor, their blankets weighted with stones at the
corners. If necessary, they could get up and eat some-
thing, but were supposed to be as still as possible (MJ).
The woman quoted above insisted that the wives could
neither eat nor work on baskets while their husbands
were away. "She just sit quiet in the house." It was also
said that those at home dared not scratch themselves
(with their fingers?), lest the bear scratch the hunters.
Perhaps the difference in strictness of the taboos ob-
served by women reflects the greater conservatism at
Dry Bay as opposed to Yakutat; the daughter (MJ) of
the famous Yakutat bear hunter, Xadanek, made it
clear that her mother used to weave baskets while her
husband and son were out hunting.
All informants agreed, however, that the women at
home must not get angry at anyone. The wife was
especially prohibited from punishing her children if
they were naughty. In telling about some mischief she
had perpetrated as a little girl, one woman explained:
"My mama dare not spank me because my father was
out hunting bear. She just have to sit quiet. You must
not get angry or get after your kids. She was going to
grab my face, but she remembered, or she would have
burned by face against the fire." (MJ)
A much younger woman told how once she had played
hide and seek with her little boys, "chasing my boys
and fighting with them." Meanwhile, the bear that her
husband was following, circled around as she and the
children were doing, so that her husband had difficulty
overtaking it.
Even the play of children by themselves could
affect the bears. Thus, when one of my informants was
a child she was playing tag with some other children.
When the men came home they asked what the children
had been doing, for they had seen several brown bears
(cubs?), chasing each other, running around, and fight-
ing in play. "But the bears don't see us; just the same
they do that."
After the bear was killed, the hunter would pray to it
for forgivenness, explaining why he needed to kill it.
The head world be cut off and buried, facing the
mountains. Sometimes it was covered with boughs,
366 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
or it might be put in a mountain stream, or buried
under a waterfall, so no birds could get at it. One
informant said that the head was turned to face the
sun when buried; perhaps she meant toward the east
where the sun rises, which would be toward the
mountains. "If they don't do that, the other bears
would notice and get angry and get after the hunter"
(MJ).
The hunter also sang to the dead bear. The song for
brown grizzlies (xuts) and for black bears (sik) was the
same. "The bears told them to do that. That's why
they don't eat bears' heads. But this time [now], most
of the real good hunters still do that?cut the head
off?but they don't sing that song."
It seems to have been customary at Yakutat to bring
the dead bear's head home or back to camp, where it
was warmed by the fire, before it was buried. The hide
was hung up indoors and addressed as if it were the bear.
At Dry Bay, however, the head was not brought back.
One informant said he had once seen a man slash
across the eyes of the dead bear, so it could not see who
had killed it, but this man no longer does this. The same
informant believed that some time after the head had
been buried, when the skull was clean, the hunter used
to return to secure the teeth. These could have served as
pendants or amulets, as material from which beads
were cut, and as tools for smoothing baskets.
Very few bear bones, and only those of the black bear,
were found at the late prehistoric site on Knight Island
(de Laguna et al, 1964, p. 78). Presumably these came
from animals that had been killed close by, for whole
joints weighted down with bones would have been
heavy to carry. We were told that the bear's hide was
cut down the belly and down the legs, and was ritually
shaken three times before it was removed. Usually the
flesh was stripped from the bones, but the intestines
were saved; these and the meat were packed home in
the hide. Sometimes, if four or five men went hunting,
they might bring the whole body home. The hard bone
of the bear was, however, used for some manufactures.
The hunter used to carry a heavy bone awl, suspended
by a cord around his neck, or over one shoulder and
under the other arm. With this he could sew the bear-
hide to make a bag in which to carry home the meat
and fat.
MOUNTAIN GOATS
Mountain goats (djmuwu) were also hunted in the
mountains, usually in the fall or early winter when the
animals were fat. Dogs used to chase and corner the
animals until the hunters came. Bows and arrows were
used in the old days. We have no information about
spears; perhaps the hunters could seldom climb close
enough to use them. No traps or corrals were employed,
and it was said to be impossible to drive goats over a
cliff.
"Goats won't fall. It's funny. They [the old people]
believe you get stuck, instead of them [the goats].
People just stay there on the mountain [unable to climb
up or down]. If they get away, it's up to the goats.
It leans against the mountain. They claim their [the
goats'] grandparents are living in there, or else it's the
whole mountain [is the goats' grandparents]. The goat
leans on the mountain and listens to it. If the mountain
tells the goat to let the man go, then after the goat lets
him go, the man walks just like right on the road,"
and gets down easily.
The mountainside where one hunts goats is called
'place where one chases things' ('a'At dAketl xeye).
Such places are across Nunatak Fjord from Shagg
Cuff, Mud Bay by Hidden Glacier in Russell Fiord,
Flat Mountain (LAgut) at the head of the Ahrnklin,
Icy Bay, and "way behind the mountains" behind
Icy Bay.
"Dry Bay, 'Antlen, Situk, and here [Yakutat]?each
got their own territory [for hunting mountain goats].
When they meet they try to beat one another." This
may happen when two parties each start the same goat
and their dogs are chasing it. "They know how their
own dogs bark. Then both sides start running." Such
encounters might lead to trouble.
The same informant explained that "if you shoot a
mountain goat, and it's falling, you are supposed to
caw (kAdugax) like a crow. You are supposed to crow
when it or a bear is falling, so it don't get black meat
with clotted blood. You also crow when you club
halibut. . . . It doesn't matter for seals."
The same rules for praying to the dead animal and
burying the head facing the mountain applied to the
goat, but we were unable to learn whether the hunters'
wives at home had to be quiet. Presumably this would
have been the case, since their husbands might en-
counter a bear when they were out hunting, or too much
movement by those at home might make the goats
too active.
Although the head was cut off, the goat's horns were
often saved for spoons, powder measures or other
objects. The intestines were removed to lighten the
carcass, which usually required two or three men to
carry it. The fat in the body cavity and around the
kidneys was always saved, for this was a great delicacy.
Judging by the archeological evidence, the body of the
goat was flenzed in the village or camp (de Laguna
et al., 1964, p. 78).
OTHER LAND MAMMALS
Other land animals formerly hunted at Yakutat,
Dry Bay, and at other areas along the Alaska Gulf
Coast were the wolf, wolverine, fox, mink, weasel,
muskrat, marten, lynx, and beaver. They were more
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 367
regularly taken with traps and snares, than with bow
and arrow (pp. 370-372). A number of these species are
now extinct in their former ranges (pp. 36-40).
"Groundhogs" (hoary marmot) were occasionally
taken on the coast, but in the interior up the Alsek
River, people snared groundsquirrels and "groundhogs"
or "gophers" (Marmoia monax ochracea). Since these
animals never appear on the coast, informants knew
little about the rituals for taking them. One Yakutat
woman remembered that groundhog hunters had to be
"clean," and that there was a song to the dead ground-
hog. This was supposed to have been composed by a
groundhog that had hurt its leg, and was learned by a
passing hunter. However, this woman (MJ) had never
heard of setting up sticks carved in human form to
lure the animal into the trap, as was done by the In-
terior Tlingit and by the Southern Tutchone of the
upper Alsek.
One man knew the first line of the groundhog song,
only because it appears in one of the funny stories about
a mythical transvestite (pp. 895-897). "Wake up that
young man! The thing he killed is lying away from its
head." (ciyisAnu' wudihwa! dudJAqedi cayidXx cAnA-
stEtc?'waken that-young-man! the-thing-he-killed its-
head-away is-lying')- A groundhog song with a similar
beginning was recorded by Swanton from the Tlingit
of southeastern Alaska (1909, Song 11, p. 392). He
reports that the singer holds up the groundhog skin in
front of him with both hands, and imitates the animal's
cry. The words of the song are: "Wake up that young
man and let us go up on the cliff. You always sleep
before you hunt. That is why you never kill anything."
There were formerly beavers at Dry Bay, but they
have all been trapped out. Beavers were more recently
hunted in the Controller Bay area, but we do not know
how they were taken before the introduction of steel
traps.
Animals of recent introduction in the Yakutat area
are deer (imported by the United States Government
from southeastern Alaska), moose, coyotes, and rabbits.
The last three apparently moved down the Alsek River
from the interior. Old Jack Reed believed that they
had been frightened out of their former home by the
building of the Alcan Highway, but a younger woman
(Mrs. JG) who accompanies her husband on hunting
trips said that the moose and coyote had appeared
about 1925. Harrington was told that moose had first
been seen in 1935 near the railroad bridge across the
Situk River. Most of the women are more afraid of
moose than of the brown grizzly?-perhaps rightly so,
or perhaps because the former is a large unfamiliar
animal. They are also apt to confuse the word for moose
(tsiskw; Harrington, tzfsl:w) with that for owl (Boas,
1917, p. 126; tsvska; Harrington, tshfs?w), usually
pronouncing them both as tislw.
There are no porcupines in the Dry Bay-Yakutat
area, and there have never been any caribou here,
according to the natives.
Although there are plenty of land otter in the region,
we were told that they were not purposely hunted in
former times because of their supernatural character
(see pp. 744-755), although they were sometimes taken
in snares and traps. Nevertheless, two land otter bones
were found in the upper levels of a midden at the site on
Knight Island, dating from late prehistoric or proto-
historic times (de Laguna et al., 1964, p. 83, Table 2).
Weapons
The weapons used for hunting land animals were,
with a few exceptions, the same as those used in war.
Thus, the hunter was armed with a dagger, spear, bow
and arrow, and possibly a pick. At a later period he
would probably have carried a musket, with powder,
shot, caps, and wadding (pi. 116), or a shotgun, or a rifle.
Unfortunately, the early explorers told us relatively
little about the weapons which they must have seen in
the hands of the Indians, although perhaps this is in
itself a testimonial to the usually amicable relations
between the Whites and the Indians. For example,
LaPerouse (1799, vol. 1, p. 407) says only:
"Their weapons are the poignard I have already
described [p. 116], a lance of wood hardened by the
fire, or pointed with iron, according to the wealth of
the owner; and a bow and arrows. The arrows are
commonly headed with copper; but the bow has
nothing particular, and is much weaker than those
of many other nations."
We are given no information as to what game was
being hunted with these weapons, and can only assume
that the lance and the bow and arrow were of unspecial-
ized types, used alike for hunting land animals and for
warfare.
SPEAR
The spear (tsagAl' or tsagAl; Boas, 1917, p. 126) was
described as having a double-edge blade (like that of a
dagger) about 14 inches long, set into a handle that
was about 6 or 7 feet long. This weapon was used for
hunting bears, and was usually retained in the hand,
not thrown. A shorter spear, about 4 or 5 feet long, that
is, from the fingers of one outstretched arm to the
elbow of the other, was also mentioned. Our informants
applied the same word to spears of both lengths, but
the shorter variety may have been the kind called
wusani (Boas, 1917, p. 124 wusani) by the more
southern Tlingit. My informants had heard this word,
368 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
although they were not sure what kind of spear it
designated. Archeological evidence would indicate that
spearheads were originally of bone or slate, later of
iron (deLaguna et si., 1964, pp. 124-127).
Emmons obtained two iron spearheads at Yakutat,
both of which were said to have been used for bear
hunting, but also received contradictory information
about the length of the shaft. The spearhead that had
belonged to Yakutat Chief George Yaxodaqet, "George,
the principal chief of the tribe," was said to have been
set into a shaft 4 feet long (AMNH E/2258, taken back
by Emmons in 1915). The other blade would have
been seized to a wooden shaft 8 to 10 feet long, and used
for war and for bears (AMNH E/2609).
BOW AND AREOWS
The bow (sAqs; Boas, 1917, p. 125, siqs, 'bow and
arrow') was used for land animals, birds, sea otters,
and for war. Presumably the same implement would
be employed for these varied purposes, but of this I
cannot be sure. The bow was described by informants
as made of hard, springy, young, hemlock wood,
taken from the toughest part of the limb (gakw or gAqw).
It was not steamed to shape. The bow had a diameter
of about 3 or 4 inches, and was about 4 to 4% feet long.
Harrington was told that the bow was of a red cedar
limb, which was the hardest or best wood, and that it
was from 4 to 5 feet long. The type is illustrated by a
number of bows collected at Yakutat (Niblack, 1890,
pi. xxvi, 110; pis. 108, 109 herein; AMNH 19/797,
1086, 1170, 1171). The bow had neither sinew backing
like that of the Eskimo nor the wooden projection to
catch the released bowstring which is characteristic of
Athabaskan bows. The bow is narrowed from each
edge at the middle to make a shallow notch on each
edge, serving as a grip and also as a rest for the arrow.
Sometimes the bow is said to have been decorated
(with paint? with scorch marks?) The bowstring
(sAqs kAdzas) was of square braided sennit of porpoise
sinew; one collected by Emmons (AMNH 19/1086) had
a bowstring of whale sinew.
When shooting, the bow was held horizontally in the
left hand, with the thumb, third and fourth fingers on
the near side, the first and second fingers on the side
away from the user (fig. 30). These two fingers steadied
the arrow in the notch on the bow and were held up
to make a V-shaped sight. Harrington also recorded
that the natives always sighted with the eye when
shooting. The notched butt of the arrow on the bow-
string was gripped between the ball of the right thumb
and the knuckle of the right forefinger (JE, CW and
MJ).
The arrow (tcunEt; Boas, 1917, p. 126, tcunet) was
of local spruce or of yellow cedar obtained at Icy Bay
or, less often, of red cedar imported from Prince
Rupert. It had a notched expanded butt and was
usually feathered with three split feathers from an
eagle's tail. Arrowheads (ttak or tcunEt $et; Boas,
1917, p. 130, Laq') for land animals or large birds
were described as made of bone, copper, or stone,
with a tang for insertion into the wooden shaft. Those
of bone were said to have had one or two pairs of
symmetrically placed barbs, evidently like those of the
Eyak (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, fig. 13 and
pi. 13, 8). This type is also represented by specimens
from Yakutat in the Fred Harvey collection (pi. 108).
One informant sketched a leaf-shaped, tanged arrow-
head of stone or bone, and specified that it had small
teeth along the edges, "just like a file, just like porcu-
pine quills" (fig. 31). Actually, the archeological speci-
mens found in the Yakutat area consisted of unbarbed
bowstring arrow
cut in bow
bow
arrow
(not sure of feathering)
Top view
Right hand
FIGURE 30.?Bow and arrow. From left to right, Sketch of bow by Minnie Johnson; sketch of arrow release as demonstrated by Minnie
Johnson; sketch of left hand holding bow as demonstrated by Minnie Johnson.
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 369
triangular or leaf-shaped blades of slate or bone,
usually with a tang (de Laguna et al., 1964, fig. 14, a,
d, e, g). Somewhat the same shape, but with a narrow
tang like a pin, was made first in native copper (ibid.,
pi. 14, a-e) and later in iron. There were also splinters
of bone, identified as arrowheads (ibid., pi. 15, u, v,
w). We found no bone heads with barbs on both edges,
but there were many long slender heads of bone or
antler with three to five barbs on the same edge and a
flattened bladeuke tip (ibid., pi. 15, a-e; fig. 17).
FIGURE 31.?Arrowheads, a, Arrowhead of bone, copper, etc.
(dena [sic]) for large game; after a sketch by Minnie Johnson,
b, Arrowhead of wood, used for birds; after a sketch by Harry
K. Bremner. c, Bone, stone, copper, or iron arrowhead used
for land animals and large birds; after a sketch by Minnie
Johnson, d, Arrowhead of stone or bone used for land animals;
after a sketch by Harry K. Bremner.
Emmons collected at Dry Bay an iron arrowhead,
"used against small animals as marten, marmot, etc."
(AMNH E/623), and a copper arrowhead, for "land
animals only" (AMNH E/2494). Similar copper heads
for land animals came from Yakutat (AMNH E/1288,
1290).
Informants said that arrowheads were detachable.
When the animal was shot, the head stuck in the
flesh, working in because of the barbs, but the shaft
fell off. The hunter would retrieve this and fit it with
a new head from a supply which he carried in a skin
bag (tcugwel or tcunEt gwet) worn under his left arm.
This bag was called by the same name as the skin
quiver, and may indeed have been the same bag or
possibly a pocket in it. When not in use the bow and
arrows were carried in the skin quiver which hung on
the back from the left shoulder. Harrington recorded
the same word (tchuukkweel, i.e. tcugwel) as a skin
quiver, but his informant identified it as belonging to
a "Stick Indian," or Athabaskan.
Children used arrows with expanded blunt ends to
shoot seagulls and other birds (fig. 316). Such blunt
arrows (qacgAl), I was told, never had bone heads.
Emmons, however, obtained one of copper at Yakutat,
said to have been used to stun mink and small birds
(AMNH E/2495). The famous lucky arrow of Chief
Yaxodaqet was said to have been such a blunt-headed
arrow (see p. 712).
WHIP SLING AND DABT
Although the Angoon Tlingit used a kind of dart or
arrow for land animals that was thrown with a whip
sling (djuxwa), and the Eyak had a toy of the same
kind (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, p. 238), I
could elicit only a very confused and uncertain state-
ment from Yakutat informants that they knew this
device (CW and MJ). Most persons applied the word
to the ordinary sling used to throw stones, but I did
not learn whether the latter was ever used for serious
hunting or for war. The Tlingit whip sling was used
primarily for hunting deer, which may be why the
device was not remembered, since this animal is not
native to Yakutat.
Fortunately Harrington received information at
Yakutat about the whip sling.
"Tjrxxwaa?-atlatl, spear-thrower. This is the name
of the stick that stays in one hand with attached
string. The spear they call tjrxxwaa tchuuneet.
Informant used to make spear-throwers and to prac-
tice with them. The arrow or spear is 1% or 2 feet
long and is balanced. The cord [on the whip sling
handle] is now string, but used to be a leather thong,
has a round knot in the end. . . . [The informant
failed to explain clearly that the knot of the cord
fits into a notch in the middle of the dart, from
which it slips easily when the dart is thrown with
the sling handle.] They used to kill deers on the beach.
Lots of snow on [the] beach [one time, and] a boy,
atlatled [his] arrows, and all were lost in the snow
without killing one deer. He had not practiced. It
[the dart] has a wooden point only, and sometimes
they feathered the butt, sometimes did not. If you
put feathers on, it whistles as it goes thru the air.
If no feathers, it just sounds a. Goes 200 yards.
"When [we were] kids, they would not let us
use the atlatl around the place for they were afraid
it might kill somebody."
This information was obtained from informants who
has been born and spent their youth in Controller Bay,
so it may refer primarily to that area and not to
Yakutat. It is safe to assume, however, that at some
time the people of Yakutat did have the whip sling.
Perhaps some of the barbed wooden points from the
site on Knight Island were parts of the arrowlike darts
for such a weapon (de Laguna et al., 1964, p. 146).
There is no indication that the Indians of this region
ever made serious use of the throwing board or spear
thrower for the harpoon.
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1- -28
370 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Traps and Snares
Before modern steel traps were introduced, the
Yakutat and Dry Bay people used deadfalls (yex, or
sin 'hidden') and snares (dasA.) of various types. To
make these effective, the hunter would address them
in the same fashion as the fisherman spoke to his
halibut hook (see p. 390), but I did not learn what
was said or what may have been the magical rituals
connected with their use. It was suggested by one
informant that magical plants (kayani) may have been
employed.
DEADFALLS
The deadfall for weasels and other small animals
was a "Figure Four" trap, consisting of a fall log that
ground
a
a
a
FIGURE 32.?Figure Four trap for weasels, sketched by John
Ellis, a, Notched prop. 6, Trigger, c, Lower part of prop.
was propped up at one end by two small pieces of
wood, the lower of which fitted into a notch in the
side of the upper (fig. 32). These two pieces were
held in place together because they fitted into a wide
notch or hook near the end of the trigger stick, to the
other end of which the bait was fastened. When the
animal reached under the fall log to take the bait, he
dislodged the trigger which permitted the two parts
of the prop to fly apart and dropped the fall log across
his back or neck.
The deadfall for larger animals, fox, lynx, wolverine,
or even bears, was of heavier construction (fig. 33).
Near a tree with a horizontal branch, two pairs of
upright posts were set up, between which the fall log
was to move. A horizontal pole was fastened to the
tops of the two posts nearest the tree, making a gate
through which the animal was to pass in order to
reach the bait. One end of the fall log rested on the
ground; the other was held suspended by a rope that
was tied to one end of a pole. The latter was balanced
across the top of the gate, with its farther end resting
on or lightly fastened to(?) the horizontal limb of the
tree. To this end of the pole was attached a rope or
stick with the bait. This trigger stick is called tanA,
like the hook for catching squid, or qatagAni. The
upper end of the fall log was weighted with one or
more heavy logs leaned up against it, and the whole
trap was surrounded by brush so that the animal was
forced to reach through the gate under the fall log in
order to get at the bait. When he tried to take it, his
tug dislodged the pole to which it was fastened, and
this permitted the weighted log to fall and crush him.
Below the fall log there was usually another log on the
ground, so that the animal was caught between the
two, and even if still alive, was unable to dig itself
out. Neither of these logs was spiked.
One informant said she had seen a deadfall for bears
at Katalla, built "like a log house," presumably re-
ferring to the row of timbers weighting down the fall
log like a roof. She had carried the fish used to bait it,
but was unable to describe the mechanism except to
say that "when he steps on that small stick, that big
stick falls on him?kill him." There was apparently a
log on the ground and the bear was crushed between
this and the weighted log above. The mechanism may
have been that of the "Sampson Post" trap, in which
the fall log is held up by a small prop that is balanced
insecurely on top of the horizontal projecting trigger
stick, which in turn rests on the ground log.
Deadfalls were made without any iron, even when
it was available, because animals were believed to
avoid the smell. For the same reason, the Indians were
careful not to leave any iron or tin cans on the hunting
ground. "If you make a trap, you can't expect to catch
anything for a few days, until your smell goes away.
Windy or rainy weather is good; then it's all clean."
Informants denied any knowledge of anything like a
box trap, pitfall, or tower trap for taking animals alive.
Their absence is corroborated by a pitiful story re-
corded by Harrington in 1939-40 about a man who
attempted to recapture a pet cat, but did not knoAV
how to do it except with a steel trap.
An elderly man (JR from Sitka) said that a Japanese
boy had given him a "hunting paper with all the
animals on it and all the traps." He had apparently
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 371
?S
weighting log
weighting logs
tree
fall log
FIGURE 33.?Deadfall for fox, lynx, and wolverine, sketched by John Ellia.
taught the Indian to make wooden traps of Japanese
type, but I was unable to learn what these were or
whether they had been copied by anyone else.
SNAKES
Snares were made for foxes, wolves and, at Dry Bay
or up the Alsek River, for ptarmigan, "groundhogs"
and groundsquirrels. Larger snares were made for
bears.
The type of snare for foxes (perhaps once used for
other animals of that size) was set in the animal's trail,
and brush was arranged in two converging lines on
each side so that the animal could not easily avoid the
snare (figs. 34, 37). The snare itself was a noose with
a slip knot, now made of size 40 Italian twine. It was
set in a gate made of two uprights and a cross bar on
top. The open noose was tied to the sides and top of the
gate with grass or something that would break easily;
the bottom of the noose was about 4 inches from the
ground. The line from the snare ran to the smaller
end of a 15-foot pole which was balanced across the
top of an upright post, 4 feet high, the upper end of
which was notched or forked. The larger, heavier end of
this swing pole was away from the snare. The pole was
held in balance because a small stick, about 1 inch long
and % inch in diameter, was fastened to the snare line
just above the noose and was used as a hook to catch a
loop of the line around the crossbar of the gate. When
the animal tried to force its way through the gate, it
would break the grass strings holding open the noose,
and these movements would dislodge the little trigger
stick or hook. This permitted the heavy butt end of the
15 -Foot pole
4 feet high Q-. hook
trail
.--i?N. detail of hook
gate and snare trail
^K
brush
V
V
X
V
*k
brush
FIGUHB 34.?Snare for foxes, sketched by John Ellis.
372 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
pole to swing down, while the animal was hoisted by
the neck until its hind legs just cleared the ground.
The line from the noose was threaded through a piece
of wood, now a cork net float, which slid down on the
animal so that it could not bite through the line.
The larger snare for bears could be made in two ways.
This was also set up in a gate across the animal's trail,
but a large standing tree was more common than the
swing pole. According to one method, the end of the
line to the noose was tied around the tree just above the
branch (fig. 36). This line was threaded through a
transverse (sic, probably longitudinal, see below) hole
in the middle of a log, about 3 feet long and 3 or 4 inches
in diameter. This log was balanced on the horizontal
limb of the tree. When the bear attempted to push
through the noose in the gate, the log would be dis-
lodged and slide down the line onto his neck. The bear
"fights the wood," but cannot chew through the line
because the log is in the way. The noose was not made
with a slip knot; it was the log itself that would
tighten the noose and so strangle the bear. This type of
noose is called 'tied-up thing' (yAniduxu; cf. Boas,
1917, p. 135, yi-duxu, 'to tie a knot').
b
swing pole
around
by
noose
FIGURE 35.?Snare for foxes, sketched from descriptions
Sheldon James, Sr., and William Thomas.
The informant said that the line was made of %
cotton line, the same kind used for "hanging nets,"
that is, as the edge of the seine to which weights or
floats are attached. Although this is a very strong cord,
it is hard to believe that it could hold a bear.
The second method for rigging the bear snare was
to run the line from the noose to a hole bored through
a tree (fig. 38). (Perhaps in the old days it was
passed over a branch.) The end was secured to a
heavy timber that was propped up against the tree
with a stick. When the bear put his head in the noose,
his movements would dislodge the prop, the heavy log
fell and he was hoisted off the ground. An older in-
formant, in describing this snare (xuts yAyi dasA,
'bear [?] snare'), said that the noose and line were
formerly of sea lion hide and that the noose was made
with a slip knot. The line above the noose was passed
lengthwise through a short log. This slid down onto
the bear's neck and prevented him from chewing
through the line. The hole in the tree was just high
enough so that the bear's hind legs dangled clear of
the ground.
FIGURE 37.?Snare for brown bear, as sketched by Sheldon
James, Sr.
FIGURE 36.?Snare for bear as described by William Thomas. FIGURE 38.?Snare for bear as described by Olaf Abraham.
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 373
The Dry Bay people were acquainted with methods
of snaring ptarmigan, said to be the same as those of
the Southern Tutchone on the upper Alsek. Since
ptarmigan are found all along the coastal plain, al-
though more common in the interior, it is probable
that the Yakutat Indians also snared them. I was not
told whether other birds were caught in snares. The
ptarmigan snare was not described in detail, but one
gathers that it was a noose set in a gate or hole in a
fence made of upright brush. The ptarmigan were
described as "running away," which suggests that they
may have been driven into a series of such snares. The
informant explained with gestures how the bird would
be strangled in the noose. (FD)
GORGE
While large birds, such as swans, geese, and eagles,
were shot with the same kind of arrow as that used for
land animals, ducks and seagulls were also taken with
gorges (nutA; cf. Boas, 1917, p. 142, yA-nui, 'to swallow,'
si-nuf, 'to catch fish with bait'). These gorges were
slivers of bone, pointed at both ends, and attached at
the middle to a line (de Laguna et al., 1964, fig. 18, b, c).
"They still use things like that now if they get out of
gun shot [have no more ammunition]. You tie a string to
it about four feet long, and then put a small fish, a
a herring, or a oelachon, or a smelt. . . . You put a line
across the river and use several strings with gorges hang-
ing from it. Put it in a shallow place where the water
runs so the fish [bait] look like they're swimming. . . .
The sawbill [duck] swallows the fish and gets that stick
stuck in its throat. . . . You can catch seagulls this way,
too."
The informant's aunt once caught 18 sawbills in this
fashion. She hid behing a log on the bank above the line
of gorges. In one version of the myth about Salmon Boy,
he is described as "fishing for seagulls" with a gorge
baited with salmon eggs.
It was denied that the natives ever caught birds in
nets (gewu; Boas, 1917, p. 128, gew), although a cove
near Yakutat is said to be a place where the Russians
used to net black ducks, and is so named (p. 64).
Sea Mammals
Sea mammals formerly hunted at Yakutat included
the sea lion, harbor seal, fur seal, porpoise, and sea otter.
Killerwhales and large whales were not hunted, but the
flesh and fat of stranded whales were eaten. Of these
animals, the fur seal and sea otter are now protected by
law, and there is no longer any use for the porpoise and
sea lion, although the latter may sometimes be shot to
protect the seals. The harbor or hair seal is still ardently
pursued for the commercial value of the skins as well as
for the bounty on the nose. At the end of the last century
the skins and oils had a commercial value, and Albin
Johnson (1924, p. 99) estimated that the seal then fur-
nished the major source of income to the natives. One
informant, who had been married to a Dry Bay man,
denied that sea lions were hunted. While this may be
true for the Dry Bay people, who were noted as hunters
of land animals but seem not to have been skilled as
hunters of sea mammals, this statement does not apply
to their neighbors at Yakutat.
No magical rules or religious observances spe-
cifically applicable to seals, sea lions, or porpoises
were mentioned by informants, except that a woman
is not allowed to punish her children while her husband
is out hunting seals (MJ). Seton-Karr noted the use
of a scratching stone, employed by men for 3 days
before they went out hunting (1887, p. 60), and
Professor Libbey collected some specimens (see p. 666).
Presumably these same scratcheis would have been
used by hunters in pursuit of any game and were not
limited to sealers. Informants denied that a drink
of fresh water was ever given to dead sea mammals,
although this was known to be an Eskimo custom.
Seals and other sea mammals were, and are, usually
flensed on the shore and, since this is where garbage
is usually thrown, the heads would inevitably be
returned to the water. It is interesting that in the mid-
dens on Knight Island, where seal bones were plentiful,
many auditory bullae were found but there were few
skull fragments. The bullae had probably been
knocked out to extract the brains, and the rest of the
skull thrown onto the beach or into the water (de
Laguna et al., 1964, pp. 78 f.). Magical rules for hunt-
ing the sea otter are described below (pp. 378-379);
perhaps at one time they applied to the hunting of all
sea mammals.
MOnERN SEAL HUNTS
The harbor or hair seal is hunted in Disenchant-
ment and Icy Bays where these animals breed. Orga-
nized parties as well as small groups or single hunters
kill seals in April and May, before the commercial
fishing season starts, and also after it ends. Seals
may be shot whenever they are encountered. Seals
are valued for the $3 bounty paid for each nose (by
the Federal Government in 1954), and also for the
skins which are made up into moccasins or other
articles for sale. Although seal meat and seal oil are
relished, at least by the older people, most of the meat
is wasted on the large hunts, and even the skins were
not saved on all the hunts. For example, in August
1952, on one trip, organized by a native with a small
motor boat, about 100 seals were shot, the seagulls
374 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
stole some of the noses, and the party threw away
most of the meat and skins because they could take
less than 12 carcasses in their boat. Another man
with a large motor boat killed 300 seals in Icy Bay
in 1953, but attempted to save all the skins which were
to be sent away to be commercially tanned. On a later
trip the same year, he returned with 100 carcasses
which it took 5 women 3 days to skin. Most of the
meat and blubber was wasted. The following spring, he
organized a similar hunt to Icy Bay, on which over
400 seals were brought to Yakutat. Some of the whole
animals, minus the noses which the hunter always
keeps, were sold for $2 apiece (the baby seals for $1).
Many of the animals could not be flensed, and about
100 were washed away by the tide. At that time the
raw skins were worth about $2 each, and a dressed
skin about $10 or more.
A White resident of Yakutat who spends the sum-
mers hunting seals in Icy Bay wrote me that in 1964,
"Seal skins are very high now. I bought and shipped
3,300. My profit made me a good season."
Since the baby seals are not born until the middle
and latter part of May, these early seal hunts kill a
great many females with unborn young. The wooly
white fur of these babies is used for trimming moccasins.
There seems to be no thought, however, that the seals
might ever be exterminated.
On these hunts, most seals are shot with rifles from
boats, and the floating carcass is retrieved with an
ordinary boathook. Until recently, a harpoon without
a float was used for this purpose, the hunter simply
retaining in his hand the line attached to the butt end
of the shaft. This device is described below (pp. 376-
377).
SEAL MIGRATIONS: HUNTING IN WINTER
The migrations of seals dictate where and how they
are hunted. In winter, if people are short of food or are
out trapping on the rivers east of Yakutat, they go
down to the ocean beach at the mouths of the frozen
streams. Here they imitate the movements and the call
of the seal until they are able to get close enough to
shoot them with a rifle. In former days they were
either harpooned or clubbed. The Yakutat hunter wears
gray clothing, in the old days of sealskin, but no other
disguise was mentioned. However, at Dry Bay, where
the seals come ashore (in winter?), the hunters would
wear a white sheet over then" heads and hide their guns
under it, and "the seals would come up to them" (MJ).
No special sealing scratcher was used like that of the
Eskimo to imitate the sound of the seals' claws on the
ice. Seals were most readily obtained at the mouth of
Dangerous River.
In March, the seals move north along the shore in
groups of 2 to 15, and are shot from the beach at Ocean
Cape. Harrington reported that they were still eating
fish in the surf here in early May (1940). However,
their movements seem to depend upon the food avail-
able, for seals may appear in Yakutat Bay as early as
February depending upon the presence of fish. Thus,
in February 1954, there were some fur seals in Monti
Bay, reportedly sleeping under the cannery dock, be-
cause there was a run of small smeltlike fish. By late
May, according to Harrington, all the seals have gone
to the head of the bay near the glaciers.
The hair seals give birth to their young on the ice
floes in Disenchantment and Icy Bays, where the bears
cannot reach them. They remain here during the early
part of summer, when they can be seen in large numbers
basking on the floating ice (July 26, 1952). "How is it
the hair seals make the ice gather together and block
Disenchantment Bay when they are having their
young?" MH asked Harrington, apparently thinking
this was due to some kind of "medicine" on the part
of the seals. It is, of course, just at this season of spring
melting that the glaciers discharge a great deal of ice.
In August, the seals move out into the open water
again, and in the fall enter the salmon streams along
the coast for fish. They leave the rivers again as the
latter began to freeze up.
ABORIGINAL CONTROL OF SEAL HUNTING
While seals were undoubtedly hunted in winter in
ancient days, the KwacB:qwan chief who controlled the
summer hunting grounds in Yakutat and Icy Bays
would not permit hunting at the breeding places until
after the young were born, that is, not until the end
of May.
"If there are young seals, then the mothers will
stay with them, and there is not as much chance of
scaring the whole herd away. . . . The chief would
also say that the men had to get seals with spears.
He didn't want people to shoot [with guns] because
they would scare the seals. If anybody went sealing
before the seals had pups, they would scare the whole
herd away."
At a still earlier period, "They were very strict with
the land. In those days they couldn't buy food from
the store, and they didn't have guns. Now anybody
can shoot a seal, but when they hunted with spears
it was different.
" Yaxodaqet [the Kwackqwan chief at the time of the
Russians] used to give the word when the people
could go to sealing camp. They didn't hunt seals until
they could see the baby seals on the ice. He would
send his nephews up to look, and when they reported
that there were young seals, he would send up five or
six canoes to hunt seals. He would feast his people,
and send word to Situk, Italio (and Akwe?) Rivers
that the season was open and they could come to hu nt.
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 375
[That is, the Bear House Teqwedi of Situk, the Drum
House Teqwedi of Italio, and possibly the Tl'uknaxAdi
of Akwe River would be invited.] Some of the people
might be waiting at New Chicago [Eleanor Cove] to
move to sealing camp. They would be catching halibut.
The ice would be floating down to New Chicago and
gradually would move north. But till they could hunt
above Egg [Haenke] Island, he would not allow any-
one to build a fire on Egg Island. The north wind
would blow the smoke down and frighten away the
seals.
"Once he gave the order that no one was to make a
fire on Egg Island, and that they were to report to
him if there was any violation. Then somebody came
and told him that someone had made a fire on Egg
Island. They said that 'AndAlstin had built a fire.
[Was this name Yandulsm, a Kwaclqwan name?]
"So Yaxodaqet called 'AndAltsin and asked him if
he had broken the law. 'AndAltsin said Yes, he had
made a small fire down by the edge of the water to
cook seagull eggs.
" 'Because you have broken my law, you are going
to be anchored at the bottom of the bay with a big
stone tied around your neck. And your partner, too.
But because you told the truth, you are excused.
Don't do it again!'
"Yaxodaqet never made a mistake. He was always
right. It wasn't for himself, but for all his people,
everybody, that he made that law."
SEAL HUNTING IN 1886 AND 1899
When the New-York Times expedition arrived in
Port Mulgrave in mid-July, 1886, they found the
native village
as silent and deserted as a midnight graveyard. . . .
The Indians, we soon learned, were at the head of
the bay hunting seals for their winter supply of
oil and skins. In these waters seals abound, and
the Yakutats catch them by shrouding the bows of
their craft with white cloth so as to resemble ice.
In this way they are able to approach close enough
to the seals to harpoon them." [Schwatka, 1891,
p. 867.]
I was told that men in a canoe could get close to a
seal by imitating its cry.
"Over fifteen hundred hair-seals are said to have
been killed in three days, by a party in Yakutat
Bay, with clubs, and considering the large numbers
we have seen [at Icy Bay], and the ease with which
the Indians seem to go out and club them, it is not
difficult to believe it.
"The Indians hunt the seals systemmatically in
Yakutat Bay, where they are consequently very
shy. We saw large numbers in the sea on our return
[from Icy Bay to Yakutat], but besides being con-
trary to the laws of the United States, it would
be useless for any party of white men to hope to
kill more than one or two." [Seton-Karr, 1887, p. 71.]
The sealing camps in Yakutat Bay were on the east
side, the oldest just south of Point Latouche, and the
more recent ones on the beaches north of the point
(pp. 67-68). It was here that the Harriman Expedi-
tion in June 1899 encountered three to four hundred
people, some reportedly from Juneau and Sitka, as
well as from Yakutat, camped in canvas tents and
bark shelters (p. 314). By this period, the old sealing
canoe for hunting in the ice (gudiy?) (p. 339-340) was
already obsolete, and the forked prow canoe was used
instead. The hunters were armed with guns.
"The Indians kill the seals not for the flesh, al-
though this is eaten, nor for the hides, though these
are used, but for the oil, which is a necessity to them.
They drink it, preserve berries in it, and use it for
cooking, so that it really forms a considerable and
important part of their food. The month of June,
therefore, is usually spent hi Yakutat Bay, on what is
perhaps the greatest hair sealing ground on the
coast. When the Harriman expedition reached that
point there were between three and four hundred
people gathered there to secure the annual supply of
oil.
"The seals are hunted in small canoes, usually
occupied by two persons. They are light, and until
one has become accustomed to them, seem cranky
and likely to tip over. The shape of the cutwater is
peculiar, for under the prow the wood is cut away
backward, and beneath this again projects forward
just above the water's level, with the result that
this projecting point of wood first strikes and
pushes away the ice cakes which so thickly float
upon the water's surface, and prevents them from
battering and chafing the bows of the canoes.
"The two seal hunters in the canoe may be two
men, or a man and his wife, or a man and boy. The
hunter sits in the bow and his companion in the
stern, while amidships are placed three or four large
stones for ballast, weighing in the aggregate 150 or
200 pounds. Each occupant sits or kneels on a little
platform fitted into bow and stern, or perhaps on a
pile of branches covered by a blanket, a coat, or a
skin, so as to keep him above the water, of which
there is always more or less in the canoe. To the right
of the bowman, and so of course immediately under
his hand, are his arms, usually a Winchester rifle, or
double-barrel shot gun, and a seal spear ten or
twelve feet in length. Sometimes the hunters wear
white shirts and hats, made of flour sacks, and some-
times white cloth is hung over the gunwales of the
boat, so as to make it seem like a piece of floating ice.
This precaution is less commonly employed where ice
376 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
is abundant, as in Yakutat Bay, than in places where
there is less ice. Many of the bergs here are covered
with dirt, and are of all shades from white to black.
Much of the surface of the upper end of Yakutat Bay
is covered with floating ice wbich is continually
falling from the fronts of the glaciers which pour
into it, and it is among this floating ice that the
sealing is done. The hunters paddle along slowly,
keeping a sharp lookout for the seals. When one is
observed they sit still, but as soon as it dives they
paddle as swiftly as possible toward the spot, con-
tinuing their efforts until it is almost time for the
seal to reappear. They are so familiar with the habits
of the animal that they can gauge the time very
closely.
"When the seal is about due at the surface the
paddlers stop and look for him, the hunter holding
his gun in readiness to shoot. If the seal appears
within range the shot is fired, and if the animal is
wounded both men paddle to him as fast as possible,
and the hunter tries to spear him, either by throwing
or thrusting with the spear. A long, light line is
attached to the shaft of the spear near its head,
and the end of the line is retained in the boat. The
spear point, being barbed on one side, seldom or
never pulls out, and the seal is dragged to the side
of the canoe, struck on the head with a club, and
taken on board. If the first shot should have merely
wounded the seal, and it is impossible to spear him,
he is pursued and shot again whenever he comes to
the surface. Few seals are lost unless they can get
among the thick ice where the canoe moves with
difficulty, and the floating blocks interrupt the view.
When a seal is taken into the boat an equivalent
weight of stones is thrown overboard to lighten the
canoe. Often before noon the canoe has all the seals
that it can carry, and returns to the camp.
"When the village is reached women help unload
the canoe and carry the seals up the beach, while
the men take the boat up above high-water mark.
"It would be difficult to form a close estimate as
to the number of seals killed by these Indians, but
more than 500 skins were counted in the camp where
we spent most of our tune, and it would seem that
a thousand seals would not be too large a number
to be credited to the three camps that were located
near the head of the bay." [Grinnell, 1901, vol. 1,
pp. 161-165.]
In this account, Grinnell does not mention the small
stools in the canoes which my informants described.
On the other hand none of my informants spoke about
women going hunting with the men, or the use of
ballast in the canoe, and some denied the use of white
cloth as a disguise, although a block of ice was formerly
put in the gudiyE to screen the hunter.
An informant was shown a photograph taken by the
Harriman Expedition of some seal hunters in a canoe
(cf. Grinnell, 1901, vol. 1, fig. on p. 141). He recognized
it at once as foreign, and when told that the scene was
Glacier Bay, near Hoonah, he commented as follows:
"They got that white sheet on the boat. They usually
put sealskin around here [the bow and partway aft
along the sides]. They don't make noise when they
going in the ice. They use this sheet over them. That's
the way they hunt, Hoonah people. White sheet [on
the boat], and white dress [referring to the white
jackets and white caps], and sealskin around the
bow."
When asked if this was ever done at Yakutat, he
said:
"The Hoonah people do that. Yakutat?they never
speak about using white sheet. Just go up to them
[seals], spear as much as they want, and take off again.
But later on they start getting scarce. They always
say those Hoonah people use those white sheets and
put sealskin on the canoes."
HABPOONS
The harpoon ('ada or 'ddA.) used for seal, porpoise,
seal lion, and sometimes for sea otter, had a tanged,
detachable barbed head (kAt) (pi. 117). The harpoon
line was attached to a hole in the tang of the head. We
were told that it was made of twisted spruce root
('as xadi), but those collected by Emmons had lines of
twisted sinew or hide. The line was hitched around the
fore end of the shaft, ran back, and was fastened again
at the butt (fig. 39). It was so attached that after the
animal was harpooned, the line would come loose from
the shaft. The latter floated free and was picked up by
the hunter. The shaft was described as about 2 fathoms
or 12 feet long, but they seem to have ranged from about
10 to 14 feet. It was preferably made of red cedar be-
cause that floats well. It had a groove across the
slightly expanded and flattened butt to furnish a grip
for the forefinger of the right hand (fig. 40). It was
thrown with the left hand near the middle of the shaft
and the right hand on the butt. None of my informants
had heard of a throwing board.
At the end of the harpoon line was a float (kAtsis).
One informant said it was made of the whole skin of a
baby seal (tsa-yAdi kAtsis), but specimens collected at
Yakutat seem to be made also of the bladder of a seal
or a bear (TBM/WSM 1507/26-28; AMNH 19/1166).
When the animal was harpooned, this was thrown out
of the canoe, and the wounded animal was soon tired
from attempting to escape with the drag of the buoy.
It was then dispatched with a club (pi. 110). Sometimes
these clubs were decorated, and seem to have been very
similar to those of the Chugach (Birket-Smith, 1953,
fig. 16, b).
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 377
FIGURE 39.?Harpoon ('ada) for seals, sea otter, and fish, a,
Sketched by Minnie Johnson on July 22, 1952. 6, Sketched by
Olaf Abraham on June 14, 1954. The barbed head (kAt) is
attached to a line of spruce roots ('as xati). The line is then
fastened to the forward end of the spear, run back along the
shaft, and fastened again at the butt. Olaf made a halfhitch
at each place in demonstrating, but was not certain if that
was the correct knot to use. The attachment is such that,
after the animal is harpooned, the line detaches from the shaft
which floats away and is then picked up by the hunter. At the
end of the line is a float made of a whole sealskin (kAtsis) and
shaped like a seal. When the sea lion is harpooned, the buoy
is thrown out of the canoe and the animal becomes exhausted
quickly.
Somewhat different arrangements of the float were
described. One man said that the float was made of
the skin of a young seal, taken off whole, "like a box
and blown up like a balloon," and that this was at-
tached directly to the shaft of the harpoon, not to the
line. Another man indicated that two lines were at-
tached to the shaft; one ran from the barbed head to
the fore end (kAt kEt); the other (xuktl) was attached
to the butt of the shaft. The end of the latter was either
retained by the hunter, or was attached to the float. I
believe that the float was omitted when the harpoon
was simply used to retrieve a seal that had been shot,
whereas the float was described by older informants as
fastened to the end of the harpoon line.
The barbed head might have three or four barbs
(xan) (see fig. 39). If it has three it is called 'three-
head-barbs' (nAsk-CA-xan); if four, 'four-head-barbs'
(daiun-CA-xan). The fonnost barb was called gaxan;
the lowest one "next to the fat" (tayi tudE &ukawuxa,
possibly 'the-fat into the-one-that-bites'). People used
to say, in fun, that the rear barb would call to the
foremost one, "Hold it! (gaxan gulcat)." The foremost
one would reply, "You are next to the fat." The first
phrase is commonly used by a man who is urging his
partner to work harder, while the latter will answer as
above, meaning that the other has the easy job.
Archeological harpoon heads were of bone, with two
or originally three barbs, and were about 5 inches
long (11 to 16 cm.). Modern heads are made of iron,
and may have from 2 to 4 barbs measuring from 4 to
10 inches in length. Emmons collected a number of
barbed heads at Yakutat, as well as complete spears.
The heads were of iron, bone, or copper, and were
used for seal, sea otter, or salmon (AMNH E/160,
473, 859, 1577, 2121, 2601; pi. 112).
FIGURE 40.?Flattened butt of a seal harpoon shaft, with finger
grip, as sketched in Bear Paw House in 1949. The butt, shown
natural size, was part of a shaft 12'6".
A rather obscure observation in the report of Shelik-
hov, based upon what Ismailov and Bocharov had
learned at Port Mulgrave in 1788, suggests that the
"iron images of crows," which the Russians assumed
were amulets, actually functioned as detachable barbed
harpoon heads:
"With the beaks which they use for ornament, they
harpoon sea-otters and seal, as they lie sleeping on
the ice. They catch fish, also, sometimes with these
instruments, sometimes by means of dams, and some-
times in small nets." [Coxe, 1803, pp. 326-327.]
Harpoons used for fish are discussed on pages 384-386.
SEA LION AND PORPOISE
Sea lion and porpoise were hunted with the same
harpoon as that used for seal, and a float was always
378 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
attached to the line. It was also used for fur seal.
The latter are said to have been caught sometimes
with a single unbaited halibut hook, but the method
was not described and the informant may have referred
only to a lucky accident. Fur seal were sometimes
shot with the same harpoon arrow as that used for
sea otter, and porpoise were also shot with bow and
arrow. Whereas sea otter were hunted primarily with
the harpoon arrow, the barbed harpoon with float was
used for those animals that escaped the encircling
canoes (see below). The same wooden club that was
used to dispatch seal and sea otter could also be used
for porpoise, but I do not know how wounded sea
lions were killed.
SEA OTTER
Ever since the late 18th century, beyond which we
could hardly expect native traditions to extend except
in unusual cases, sea otter hunting has been the fore-
most maritime pursuit at Yakutat, as exciting as bear
hunting and far more lucrative. According to all com-
mentators, the Yakutat people excelled other Tlingit
in this activity, being the only Indians except the
Eyak to use the harpoon arrow, having better hunting
canoes, and venturing far out into the open sea. The
sea otter is now protected by law, and the last major
hunts were held late in the last century, when now-
elderly informants were young. (Harrington was told
that the last open season on sea otter was in 1909;
by then they must have become very scarce.) In the
final decades of the 19th century, Icy Bay and Con-
troller Bay and the open ocean between were the great
sea otter hunting grounds. Fleets of canoes would go
there from Yakutat, manned not only by local natives
but by Tlingit from southeastern Alaska and even
Tsimshian and other Indians from British Columbia.
These foreigners used guns, but the Yakutat people
still preferred the traditional bow and arrow. These
expeditions were dangerous and the quarry valuable,
so it is not surprising that magical rules as well as the
techniques of sea otter hunting should have been more
stressed by informants than those which applied to the
hunting of other sea mammals. At one time sea otter
were numerous in Yakutat Bay, for Deep Bay on
Khantaak Island is known in Tlingit as 'Sea Otter
Bay,' because the animals used to shelter here during
winter storms. The sea otter is not completely extinct in
the area?one was seen near Yakutat in February 1954.
MAGICAL RULES
In addition to the usual purification and abstinance,
the sea otter hunter fasted for two days before setting
out. Probably he manipulated his amulets, and bathed.
He might carry an amulet (danakw) in the canoe.
Furthermore, the men in the party did not eat all day
when they were out on the water.
Charley White described his first sea otter hunt,
taken with his uncle when he was a small boy:
"No eat on canoe. Just come ashore to eat. All day
long [without food]. That time no eat, make luck. He
eat?no luck. He see, yuxtc-qwani [sea otter souls] see
it?no luck! Ligas! [taboo]."
The sea otter hunter would rise in the dark, make a
fire and eat before the raven called. A part of what he
ate was put into the fire, while he wished for luck,
saying "xAt gax ttAxetl," freely translated as "Come to
me, luck!"
A woman told me: "In sea otter hunting, they used
dope of some kind. The men keep away from their
wives for several months. The women are quiet when
the men are out after sea otter." Another woman said
that the wives "have to sleep all the way through."
When asked if they could eat or get up at all, she
explained, "You get up to eat, and go to bed again,"
but admitted that she knew little about the rules
because sea otter were no longer hunted. Almost cer-
tainly the taboo against becoming angry and punish-
ing children would have applied to sea otter hunting,
perhaps even more strictly than to sealing (see p. 373).
Because the men had to travel and hunt on the open
sea, forecasting the weather was very important, and
those who could do so were highly respected. Chief
Yaxodaqet, who controlled these hunts (see below),
was noted as a weather prophet. There were also a
number of charms or rites to control the weather
(see pp. 805-807).
Tikhmenev (1863, vol. 2, pp. 347-349, PetrofFs trans-
lation) has described sea otter hunting as practiced in
the first half of the 19 th century. While it was the
Tlingit of southeastern Alaska who used guns (not
the Yakutat natives), the magico-religious practices
and the activities of the shaman which are described
are stated to be especially characteristic of the Indians
of Lituya and Yakutat Bays.
"Of the various Kolosh tribes only the natives of
Yakoutat and Ltua Bay employ themselves at the
present day in hunting sea-otter, i.e. a locality
abounding in these animals, compared to other
points on the coast of Northwestern America. The
height of the season for this pursuit falls in the
Spring, before the fish begin to run. About this time
the Kolosh assemble from the various villages on a
locality previously determined upon, and in parties
of sometimes over a hundred canoes they go in
pursuit of their game. Only the prominent chiefs and
their relations among the Kolosh living in the villages
on Vancouver Sounds where sea-otters are scarce,
are allowed by the Yakoutat and Ltua people to
participate in the hunt. Like the Aleut the Kolosh
surround a flock of sea-otters?but not with spears,
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 379
but guns. The Sitka Kolosh kill a small number of
sea-otters annually in the neighborhood of the Sul-
phur Springs and around Mount Edgecumbe.
"While fitting out for hunting sea-otter, the
Kolosh, especially those living at Yakoutat and
Ltua observe certain customs, upon the strict ob-
servance of which depends, in their opinion, their
success in hunting.
[Author's Note: The customs observed by the
Kolosh in time of war and when preparing for a
sea-otter hunt have been described by the present
Secretary of the Governor of the Colony, N. M.
Koshkin.]
"For two months before the departure of the party,
i.e., in the month of March, at the time of full
moon the hunters make offerings to the Shaman
(sorcerer) and ask him to tell whether they will
kill many or few sea-otters and if they shall return
home in safety. The Sorcerer who has been con-
sulted generally] observes a strict fast of eight
days, taking food only once in every 24 hours,
having drunk for some time before nothing but
sea-water, so that his present food cannot mingle
with any taken before. Fresh sea-cabbage, mussels
and other sheUfood are entirely banished from
his table, but even the hunters must not eat them
during that time, since that might cause misfortune,
as they believe, or even danger of life in pursuit of
the animal. During the fasting neither Sorcerer nor
hunter must live with their wives or have inter-
course with them.
"At the close of this observance they have taken
upon themselves, i.e. on the 8th day, the hunters
assemble in one barabor, in the middle of which
a fire is burning. Soon after the Sorcerer appears
also and in measured steps walks around the fire,
when each of those present must strike him with
his open hand and then he begins his deviltry and
prophesy.
"The Sorcerer nearly always escapes the danger
of being deprived of his remuneration, and if his
words do not come entirely true, he is generally
left in possession of his gifts or at least half of it,
since ill success in hunting or any other disaster
happening to the party is always ascribed by the
Shaman to a failure on the part of the hunters to
live up strictly to their observances. And even half
of the reward is only returned if it happens that
a party returns from an unsuccessful hunt in less
than 20 days; a longer absence makes it impossible,
according to custom, to recover anything and places
the prophet in full possession of every thing he may
have received. Sometimes these misfortunes are
ascribed to incontinence on the part of a hunter's
wife, etc. If a man is wounded while hunting sea-
otter an investigation is made to discover the cause
of it among his wives or their relatives.
"Before the departure of the party the hunters
and their wives clothe themselves in clean white,
use the skins of animals only for blankets and
cloaks, and do not change them until their return.
The washing of the white clothes is strictly for-
bidden, as well as of anything else, and a breach
of this observance is considered a very bad omen."
THE SEA OTTER HUNT
The surround method was used in hunting sea otter.
Five, ten, fifteen, or even "sometimes a hundred boats
would go out, two men hi each canoe. Sometimes they
would go so far out to sea that they could just see the
tip of the mountain." The canoe used was the split-
prow dugout (t6iyac), although one informant said
that the sealing canoe (gudiyli) was also good for
hunting sea otter. The two men in the canoe were
close relatives in the same sib, sometimes brothers;
the older man in the stern watched and the bowman
kept his bow and arrows ready to shoot. When a sea
otter was sighted, a paddle was raised as a signal, the
fleet surrounded it, and all the bowmen shot at once.
The first man to bit the otter so that the barbed head
of the arrow held fast would call out that he had done
so. He claimed the pelt, but would offer something,
customarily a blanket, to the one who finally killed
the animal. Sometimes the second man to shoot the sea
otter also received a blanket; perhaps all whose arrows
hit received something. The group would continue to
shoot until the animal could no longer dive because of
all the arrows in it. Then it was clubbed or killed with
a "spear." My informants were uncertain whether this
was a lance or a harpoon, for one described it as "a
sword or something long," but called it by the word
for harpoon ('ada), and others were equally vague. It
was almost certainly the harpoon with float already
described, for one informant (MJ) said that the sea
otter was sometimes taken with an ordinary sealing
harpoon. Hunters could recognize their own arrows
because each man marked his shafts in a special way,
the feathers might have distinctive colors or be cut
in an individual style, or the sinew line might be
different.
"They used to go out twice a year for sea otters: in
egging time [May or early June], and in the middle of
summer, when strawberries are ripe [late July and early
August]." They might also be hunted in winter, if
they were found sheltering inside the bay.
The sea otter hunt was strictly controlled by the
Kwacl;qwan chief, since his sib owned the waters where
the animals were encountered.
"Yaxodaqet restricted all the land from Yakutat to
Icy Bay. No one may hunt sea otter unless he knows
380 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
it. . . . Those chiefs [the first Yaxodaqet and his
successors] would say when it was all right for the
people to start hunting sea otter. They watched how
many each man got. If one man had four and the
others had only two or three, they would tell the man
with the most to stop hunting. The chiefs saw to it that
each family got the same number of skins.
"The otter was hunted with bow and arrows. The
people had plenty of guns then [presumably referring to
the time of Chief George Yaxodaqet who died about
1902], but the shooting would scare away the otter. If
there was an unlucky man who got only one otter, or
maybe none at all, the chief then gave an order that
all of the hunters except that one man had to use the
sticks of their arrows. Only that one man could use a
regular arrowhead. Then they let him shoot and shoot
until he killed an otter.
"The chiefs restricted all the land, but it was for
everybody's good.
"Yaxodaqet lived at Nessudat [an early historic
village on Lost River]. He would send his people out for
otter. He would say how many canoes were to go out?
'Four canoes going out!' or 'Five canoes!' He'd tell
them how many sea otters to get?no more, no less. . . .
The men could keep the skins they got, but his nephews
would have to give skins to him. They could ask for
valuables in return.
[When the chief discovered or was notified of the
presence of a sea otter herd, he would send word to all
the villages to come and hunt.] "The chief used to say
how many each man could kill-?maybe four, no more?
so everybody would have a chance. Or he might say to
the hunters, 'You're not going to use the point on
your arrow, just use the end [socket piece],' and then
mention some man and tell him he could use the point.
When he got a sea otter, then he would name the next
man."
From the stories told by other informants, it was
obvious that these measures did not equalize the fortunes
of the different hunters. Some men were notably
successful, and their luck and wealth sometimes
aroused such envy among their less fortunate kinsmen
that the latter might attempt to injure them through
witchcraft (see pp. 739, 741).
The noted sea otter hunter, ^adanek Johnstone
kept all the right humeri of all the sea otters he had
killed, "just for the fun of it." These filled a big wooden
box, about 2 feet square and 2% feet high, "Everyone
came to admire them." They were kept as heirlooms
after his death. (MJ) It is doubtful that the bones were
saved merely as trophies, since the right humerus of the
sea otter, like that of the seal, was the "fortune-telling
bone," often employed by the hunter to divine his
luck, or even carried in the canoe as a charm.
After the hunt, the head of the dead sea otter was
probably returned to the salt water with a song and
prayer, although informants gave no specific infor-
mation on this point.
SEA OTTEK HUNTING IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY
The story of "An Averted War with the Tsimshian"
(pp. 284-286) deals with an episode that occurred on a
sea otter hunt near Icy Bay, about 1890, and thus gives
some insight into the commercial hunts of that period.
Seton-Karr, in 1886, when going from Yakutat to
Controller Bay, passed "a point on the coast where a
party of Indians which had been fitted out by the
traders with boats and guns had been landed to hunt
sea-otters" (1887, p. 136). This place was at the western
edge of the glacier on the west side of Icy Bay protected
by a low sandy point, and known as the "Icy Bay
landing," although it was some 20 miles west of the
bay. Unfortunately, we are not told what Indians were
hunting here. Other parties, we know, hunted off
Cape Yakataga for White traders.
Seton-Karr (1887, p. 153) also learned something
about sea otter hunting in Controller Bay,
"The Indians [according to Nils Anderson, the
trader] usually only hunt land fur in winter, not
sea-otters, for the sea is too rough for canoes. They
always use bows and arrows for sea-otters, and will
only use a gun when they are close and cannot miss.
They have an idea that guns frighten away the
otters; or perhaps loading takes too much time, for
they use muzzle-loaders. In winter the otters are
driven by the gales to take refuge near shore, in
lee of the islands; but in summer they can only be
found out at sea.
"We pay from forty to sixty dollars each for the
skins to the Indians. They are used for trimming,
and would be too expensive to make whole coats
of. They practically last for ever." [Ibid., p. 154.]
At that time, the Whites in Controller Bay were
catching sea otters in nets (ibid., p. 152), but this
practice does not seem to have been tried by the
Indians.
Russell also has a little to say about sea otter hunting
at Yakutat in 1890:
"During the summer of our visit [1890], about
thirty sea-otter were taken. They are usually shot
in the primitive manner with copper-pointed arrows,
although repeating rifles of the most improved pat-
terns are owned by the natives, in spite of the existing
laws against selling breech-loading arms to Indians.
The fur of the sea-otter is acknowledged to be the
most beautiful, and is the most highly prized of all
pelts. Those taken at Yakutat during our visit
were sold at an average price of about seventy-five
dollars." [Russell, 1891 b, p. 80.]
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 381
SEA OTTER BOW AND AEEOW
The bow used in hunting sea otters was the same as
that employed for land animals (p. 368).
The harpoon arrow (pis. 109, 112) had a shaft about
3 feet long, preferably of red cedar because this is said
to float best. This wood had to be imported from
southeastern Alaska or even from Prince Eupert, we
were told, but sometimes yellow cedar from Icy Bay
or local spruce was used. The shaft (tcunBt) had three
split and trimmed eagle tail feathers at the notched
and expanded butt, and resembled an ordinary arrow
except for the socket piece (tcunEt ius saq, 'arrow
foot bone') at the fore end, into which the tang of the
barbed head was set. Informants described the socket
piece as "like the top of a fountain pen," or as "like
a little bone ring, split in two," and about as long as
the thumb, with a hole at one end to receive the shaft
and another at the other end to seat the barbed head.
Sketches made by informants showed that the diameter
of the socket piece was greater than that of the arrow
shaft, but the lengths they indicated were very dif-
ferent, and perhaps several styles were once used.
However, the sea otter arrows collected by Colonel
Ball in 1880, by Professor Iibbey in 1886, and by
Lieutenant Emmons at about that same time all seem
to have foreshafts about 8 to 8% inches long, made in
one piece of heavy bone (sometimes of ivory, AMNH
19/798, E/1087), with bifurcated tang into which the
wedge-shaped end of the shaft is fitted and secured
with a seizing of sinew. The shaft swells a few inches
below the foreshaft. Some shafts seem to have painted
marks around them; some foreshafts have a simple
design: .-. .-. (pi. 112; four specimens col-
lected by Emmons).
"The reason you use the bone in front is so you can
shoot it straight. If you don't weight it, it would just
be going any old way." The weight of the socket-piece
also made the arrow float vertically in the water when
the sea otter was struck and the shaft was detached
from the head.
The detachable barbed head (tcunEt kAt) was similar
to that used for the harpoon, except that it was from
iyt to 2 inches long. Archeological examples (de Laguna
et al., 1964, pp. 135-137), identified by our informants,
were all of bone. We were told that they were also made
of copper, but never of iron. Barbed heads collected at
Yakutat in the 1880's are of bone or copper, and some-
times of walrus ivory (AMNH 19/798, quiver with 4
arrows).
The harpoon line (tcunEt kEt) of braided porpoise
sinew was attached to a hole in the tang of the barbed
head, although a number of archeological specimens
lacked a hole or any obvious place for attachment. This
line divided some distance from the head, to form two
lines, the ends of which were attached to the shaft near
each end, forming a martingale rig. This meant that
the shaft would drag crosswise in the water when the
wounded animal tried to escape. A few informants,
however, described only a single line, tied to the middle
of the shaft, but their accounts may have been mis-
interpreted (CW, MJ, et al.). The line was wound
tightly around the shaft when the arrow was shot.
Curiously enough, none of the informants mentioned
the special wooden quiver in which these arrows were
kept. It was carried in the bow of the canoe, close to
the hunter's hand, the arrows put in point first. Speci-
mens collected at Yakutat (pis. 108, 109; AMNH 19/
798, 1172, E/1087, 1901, 2280) are identical in
style to those of the Chugach (Birket-Smith, 1953, fig.
13). The quiver was made of red cedar, partially hol-
lowed out, split in two, finished, and bound together
again with sinew or spruce roots. It flared at the mouth
to accommodate the feathered butts and also to facili-
tate extraction of the arrows. The quiver was about 36
inches long;.
Fishing
Salmon are the most important type of fish caught
on the Gulf of Alaska. They furnished, and still fur-
nish for some Indian families, the staple supplies for
the winter; commercial salmon fishing has been the
main source of livelihood since early in the present
century. Fishing is pursued with an enthusiasm almost
equal to that of hunting. It usually lacks the dangerous
excitement of hunting, but the uncertainty of the
catch and the large sums that can be made from
lucky hauls provide a gambler's thrill. Women formerly
worked in the cannery, but since this has ceased to
operate, many go fishing with the men. The catch is
sold to companies that process it elsewhere.
The sahnon runs occur in the following sequence, but
with considerable overlapping: king, sockeye, hump-
back, and coho. There are few dog sahnon in the
Yakutat area (Harrington was told that a man might
catch only half a dozen in a season), but they may be
caught east of Dry Bay (FD). Harrington in 1939-40
recorded slightly different dates for the runs than the
information which I was able to compile (pp. 50-51),
perhaps because my informants seemed to be particu-
larly interested in the very first fish of a species to
appear as well as in the very last stragglers of a run
that might be caught. To summarize, however, we can
be safe in reporting that the king or spring salmon run
in April and May, with the first individual occasionally
appearing in Yakutat Bay in February or March.
382 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Since the Indians did not try to catch them by trolling
in aboriginal times, as they do now, king salmon were
not important to them until they reached the streams.
Harrington reports that there are no true runs of king
salmon in the Gulf of Alaska in the fall, as there is
farther south, although one may see them jumping in
the ocean and in the bays in October. I understood,
however, that spawning might continue all through
the summer, and that the Indians tried to catch them
in the fall. The sockeye appear in late May, with the
run lasting through June and into July, sometimes into
the beginning of August, when the last few fish are
very red-skinned. What few dog salmon run in Yakutat
waters come with the sockeye. The first humpback
salmon appear at the end of June; Harrington reports,
with the last straggling sockeye. The major part of
the run is in the latter part of July and early August,
petering out in the latter part of the month. The coho,
the favorite fish for drying at Yakutat, may first
appear in August (or even July), but the major part
of the run is in September and October, when the
weather is cold. Harrington reports that the last coho
salmon sometimes are frozen in the ice in shallow
streams.
Although halibut are now commercially taken on
the banks far out beyond the mouth of Yakutat Bay,
this industry has never been one in which the Yakutat
natives participated, perhaps because the large sea-
going halibut boats represented too great a financial
outlay. However, they catch halibut for then: own use
just inside the mouth of the bay, or in Monti Bay,
generally in the late winter and spring, February to
May. Halibut fishing was one of the occupations tradi-
tionally pursued before moving to the sealing camps
in June. In May, the herring (yaw) spawn in Yakutat
Bay. Dry Bay lacks herring, but the oelachon (sak)
run there in February, and also in the Situk River in
March when the ice begins to break up. Candlefish
(cat6) run later in the spring. A small smeltlike fish
that appeared during the winters of 1953 and 1954 at
Yakutat is a newcomer to the region. Steelhead trout
('acXt) may be taken in the salmon streams in May and
later in the summer. There are other varieties of trout
(pp. 51-52), but none of these has been important as a
source of food. Other fish caught in salt water are the
"cod" (sa?) or lingcod, the "black cod" or sablefish
('fcqin), and the "black sea bass" (litistuk?), although
my identification of these species is not always
certain (p. 53).
COMMERCIAL FISHING
Commercial fishing has been the main industry at
Yakutat since the first salmon cannery was built on
Monti Bay. This was originally a saltery (1902), con-
verted into a cannery in 1905. I do not know when it
ceased operation. It was not running in 1949 at the
time of my first visit, and hi 1952 was opened only in
the spring to put up a few cases of king salmon from
Dry Bay. Most of the fish caught in Yakutat and Situk
waters are shipped to Hoonah for canning; others are
bought by fish buyers who come to the mouth of the
Situk River. Herring were once commercially important
at Yakutat; for a time there was a saltery at the
mouth of the Ankau (1900-05?), but the large herring
runs were destroyed.
All commercial fishing is regulated by Federal law,
implemented by regulations made each year by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (This statement and
the account that follows refer to 1954, before Alaska
became a State.) These rules are enforced by a local
Fish Commissioner and his assistants who are stationed
during the season at each of the main fishing areas.
The rules specify the dates for opening and closing the
fishing season for each area and hence for each species,
the localities where fishing is permitted, the types of
gear allowed, and the number of salmon that must be
permitted to spawn. One Fish Commissioner is regularly
stationed on the Situk River, where a count is made of
all the salmon ascending the stream through an opening
in the Government weir. The Commissioner may pro-
hibit fishing if the count is too low. No fishing is
allowed on Saturday and Sunday to permit regular
escapement of salmon each week.
There is naturally considerable resentment at these
regulations on the part of both native and White
fishermen. Thus, the decrease in the numbers of salmon
caught, actually due to overfishing, is blamed by some
Indians on the weir at Situk. The appearance of sock-
eyes in Lost River, Arhnklin, and Italio Rivers, which
are said to have been formerly coho streams, is suppos-
edly due to this weir which has frightened the sockeye
away from the Situk.
"The White men say that we are killing the river
because we fish so much, but the old man and my uncle
used to take care of the river. . . . My old man tell
[the Fish Commissioner], 'You put the weir 2 miles up,
otherwise you're going to kill that r i ve r ! ' . . . If the
tide catches up to the weir, all the fish will go to other
streams. We can't talk to the fish what we are trying
to do. All the animals?that things in the air, they
know what we do; but the fish, we can't talk to them."
In recent years, trolling for king salmon could legally
begin about the middle of May, while net fishing for
sockeye might open the middle of June or even later in
Yakutat waters. The dates for Dry Bay and for the
Situk-Arhnklin Inlet were different. Net fishing closed
September 30, although trolling was permitted later.
These rules apply only to fish that are to be sold for
canning. Thus it is before and after the commercial
fishing season (and sometimes on weekends when
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 383
commercial fishing is prohibited) that the natives catch
salmon for their own use. They may also retain some of
those caught at other times.
Salmon are caught with set gill nets and with beach
seines. Harrington reports that the gill nets are made
with mesh in three sizes: for king or spring salmon with
8-inch mesh; for coho with 6-inch mesh; and for sockeye,
humpback, and dog salmon with 5&-inch mesh. Sockeye
salmon are caught in gill nets near the mouths of the
rivers east of Yakutat. Those which we saw near Lost
River were anchored beyond the surf, at right angles to
the shore (pi. 102). Not only does the law determine
the length of the net and size of the mesh, but the dis-
tance from the mouth of the stream and the space
between the nets. The actual order in which the nets are
set is, however, controlled by the "beach boss," who
appears to be the successor to the sib chief who formerly
determined the position of fishtraps in the river. The set
nets are visited in a large skiff. The men do this when
the nets are anchored in dangerous waters, but many
women tend their own nets in more sheltered inlets.
Women may work in pairs, or a woman and boy may
fish together. The main fish camps are now at Dry
Bay (principally for king salmon), and at the mouths of
the Situk and Lost Rivers. When the season opened at
Dry Bay in May 1954, most of the men went there
without their wives, but the other two camps are easily
reached from Yakutat by automobile (Lost River), or
by train and skiff (Situk), and so almost the entire
population moves to these camps when fishing begins
there in June or July. Many families have summer
shacks or houses, or else live in tents, usually returning
to Yakutat for the weekend. They may also have
smokehouses at these camps or, occasionally, near
their homes in town.
The fish camps at Lost and Situk Rivers are on ter-
ritory claimed by the Bear House branch of the Teqwedi
sib. Rights to the Lost River area are said to have been
wlUed by the last local chief to his daughters, for his
grandchildren. The husband of one of these daughters,
who belongs to the same lineage as the deceased chief,
"takes care of the land" at present, and serves as
"beach boss," although he does not claim the position
of chief nor the right to exclude anyone from fishing in
the area. However, the people who regularly fish here
constitute a family group, structured much as it might
have been in former days. In addition to the son-in-law
of the deceased chief and his wife, the group includes
another daughter of the former chief and her White
husband, the children of these two women, the son-in-
law of one of them, and another man of the Bear House
lineage. From time to time, others not related in any
way to this group, such as an unattached White man,
may choose to fish here. Most of the Yakutat people,
however, go to the camp at the mouth of the Situk
River, but I do not know how that camp is organized.
Later in the season, when humpback and coho sal-
mon have come to Yakutat Bay, those who have gas
boats will catch them with beach seines. These are
long nets that are carried in the gas boat and are towed
around a school of fish by means of a skiff. The ends of
the net are brought together to entrap the fish, and
the net is hauled up on the edge of the beach where
the catch is removed (pi. 103). This operation requires
a group of men, and the members are selected by the
owner of the boat largely on a family basis. Thus, his
brothers, sons, sons-in-law, or sons of his sib "brothers"
and "sisters" are apt to be asked.
Nets used for both types of fishing may be purchased
on credit from the cannery, and gill nets may be made
by the natives from commercial twine. With the intro-
duction of superior nylon nets, no one now tries to
make them. However, the purchased nets still need to
have floats and weights attached to the upper and
lower edges, and nets are dyed a dark green, said to
prevent rotting. Skiifs are usually rented from the
cannery, which also gives credit for gasoline, food, and
other equipment. The cost of the outfit for sockeye
fishing (gill net, skiff, and so on) is considerable,
amounting in 1952 to $500. A diligent and lucky fisher-
man may, however, make $1,000 in a few weeks, but
a careless or unlucky man may lose his net and skiff
and end the season in debt.
Partners in gill netting share expenses and returns,
but for beach seining from a motor boat each member
of the crew gets one share, while the owner receives
two extra shares, "one for the boat, and one for the
net," which is the usual practice am ong White fisherm en.
It is generally at the end of the commercial season,
in early October when the coho are running, that the
people catch and smoke what fish they still need for
the winter. The Ankau lagoon system was formerly
reserved by law for this purpose, and many families
had cabins and smokehouses along the shores of the
lagoons and lakes in this area. Some families once lived
here during the summer and maintained vegetable
gardens, but these camps are now virtually abandoned.
ABORIGINAL SALMON FISHING
Salmon fishing in aboriginal times was carried on in
rivers or lakes by means of spears and traps. These
fishing grounds, like all hunting territory, were owned
by sibs, or by major lineages. I gather that no claims
were enforced with regard to salt water fishing, but that
salmon streams were jealously guarded. The tradi-
tional history makes clear that the original owners of
the Humpback Salmon Stream (Kwack) broke the
spears of the young men who were fishing there without
permission (p. 233).
384 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Probably the chief of the sib or lineage that owned
the stream determined where the weirs and traps
were to be placed, and who might spear or gaff salmon.
In any case, trap sites were not privately owned.
Later, when commercial fishing began, but before the
Federal Government made and enforced regulations
designed to ensure a sufficient escapement of salmon
to the spawning grounds, it is said that the local chief
"would watch the salmon runs, and if there were too
few fish going up, he would order the nets taken up
for a day or two. There were lots of fish in those days."
In the old days, when salmon began to run, the
women were not allowed to come close to the water.
They had to stay back in the house where they belonged.
This was to show respect for the fish. But now, women
even help to catch them, one man commented.
When salmon were cut for smoking, they were
placed on the cutting board with the head upstream,
and were hung in the smokehouse in the same position.
The Indians were careful not to waste any part of the
fish. They tried to dry everything but the fins and
entrails. When the flesh was eaten, the bones were
burned. If this was not done, the fish would suffer and
there would be no more runs.
Menstruating women, of course, could have nothing
to do with fresh salmon. As recently as 1934, fishermen
objected when a woman was going to have a baby in
a house near the bank of the Situk River, saying "It's
against the Indian law."
When salmon are running and one is seen to jump,
people should call out "Again! (tsul)," and it will jump
again. They also call "Come [jump] again! (feu& tan).
Your river runs in grass ('ihini xal' nAside)." This is
because, if the fish do not come, the stream becomes
choked with grass, which the fish do not like. The first
salmon is sent by the Salmon Chief to clear out the
grass, so that the run will come to a clean river.
Informants denied that there was any special cere-
mony or ritual performed for the first salmon caught.
The proper behavior toward salmon was learned by
the boy who insulted the fish and was taken by them
(p. 889). He returned as a fish, was caught by his own
father, and eventually regained his own form and
became a great shaman. Then he told bis people how
salmon should be treated. In one version of this story,
the big traps in the river appear like forts to the fish,
who try to break them down, just as a war party might.
It should be noted that the Eyak word for "fort" and
for "fish trap" is the same (Birket-Smith and de
Laguna, 1938, p. 545).
I did not learn anything about magical procedures
for herring, oelachon, or other small fish that come in
runs to spawn, except that all fish should be treated
with respect.
HARPOONS FOE SALMON
I have already quoted the statement from Shelikhov
that the Yakutat natives in 1788 caught fish with
harpoons (p. 377). The fish were undoubtedly salmon.
The salmon spear or harpoon ('ada) was the same as
that for seals and other sea mammals, except that it
lacked a float. It was used either from a canoe or from
the bank of a stream. It was usually thrust at the fish
but if thrown, the fisherman held the harpoon line in
his hand. Such a harpoon could be used only in clear
water. Harrington reports that king salmon were
taken with the harpoon from a canoe in dead low
water at the mouths of rivers, where the salmon were
perhaps only 3 feet below the surface. In distinguishing
between three types of weir, he reports that the stream
might be completely blocked by a fence of vertically
placed poles which prevented the fish from ascending
and that they were harpooned below this. Such weirs
were known by the Russian name, zapor, according to
Moser, whose party found a number of such barricades
on T'awal Creek in 1901 (p. 75).
Salmon harpoons, like those collected by Emmons at
Yakutat in the 1880's (AMNH E/1890, 19/1165),
were seen in deserted fish camps at Lost River Landing,
on Russian Lake in the Ankau lagoons, and in Yakutat
(fig. 41; pi. 117). The barbed heads are made from
iron files instead of bone; the line is of fishing twine.
These have until recently been used by men for catch-
ing fish for domestic consumption, either because they
prefered the old-fashioned method, or because they
could not afford a commercial net.
Some form of socketed or toggling harpoon head was
evidently once used for salmon. The type of harpoon
head described by Malaspina was evidently such a
toggle head with socket:
"Their most common food is the salmon which
they take with a small harpoon-like barb made of
bone, which in the part opposed to the point has
a conical cavity, into which fits the end of a shaft of
wood; at the neck of this harpoon is fastened firmly
the end of a cord made of marine plants [probably
kelp], and which on the other end is attached to a
bladder. When they see the fish coming, the harpoon
is thrown: if this wounds the animal, the shaft re-
mains floating which is attached to the line, and the
fish cannot go to the bottom nor conceal its where-
abouts, because this is indicated by the bladder."
[Malaspina, 1848, p. 287.]
Apparently the harpoon line was tied around a con-
striction of the head, not passed through a line hole.
When asked about the type of weapon called dena,
some informants applied the name to a large arrowhead
for big game, sketched with one or three pairs of barbs.
A woman, however, at first applied the term to a picture
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 385
of a Chugach socketed toggle harpoon head (Birket-
Smith, 1953, fig. 8), but added that the kind used at
Yakutat had barbs. I interpret this to mean that the
usual form was barbed and tanged (kAt). On another
occasion she mentioned the use of the d^na for fish.
"I never see it, though. My husband used to tell me.
They use it just like kAt, but it goes way in the stomach,
they says." It was my impression that she was attempt-
ing to describe a toggle head.
Her son who admitted that he had never seen a dena,
nevertheless attempted to describe and sketch one (fig.
42). It was made of two pieces of bone, evidently tied
or riveted together. It was sharp at the butt to fit into
the spear shaft, and had a line tied to it. "When it goes
in [the fish], it's straight, then it turns across [toggles]."
FIGURE 41.?Iron harpoon heads seen in William Milton's
cabin, at reported site of the Russian Fort, Ankau Lagoon.
Left, attached to a shaft 126 inches long. Right, attached to a
shaft 114 inches long. Both are shown actual size. (Sketch by-
Edward Malin in 1949.)
FIGURE 42.?Fish spearing device, drawn by John Ellis to
illustrate the story of t'qayakw.
His sketch indicates an implement like a double-pointed
blade or spike, hinged in the middle to a slotted handle.
The sharp butt suggests that of the tanged and barbed
head (kAt), although my informant denied that it was
the same; the slotted handle suggests the harpoon head
made in two parts lashed together, although the in-
formant rejected this explanation. Probably, he was
referring in some way to the gaff hook of the southern
Tlingit which had a detachable hook. However, in his
version of the Story of Lqayakw, it seemed clear that
the den& was a detachable harpoon head used by the
Brown Bear Spirits to spear salmon. A shaman con-
cealed himself in a fish or fishskin and managed to cut
their de"na from the harpoon line, and that was how
men learned about it (p. 878).
Another man, when identifying a bone pin with,
pointed ends as a gorge, at first suggested that it might
have been intended for a dena. "You hit a fish with it
and it turns around inside a fish." After explaining how
the gorge turned crosswise in the duck's throat, he
added, "That dena is almost the same."
It should be noted that while no archeological
examples of socketed harpoon heads made in two parts
386 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
were found in the Yakutat area, they were found at
early historic sites near Angoon, where these dena
were identified by the Angoon Tlingit as particularly
good for seals because they could not easily be torn
out (de Laguna, 1960, pp. I l l , 112, pi. 8, b, c).
GAFF HOOKS
In addition to the harpoon, some kind of gaff hook
(kExa) was also used for salmon. While not described
by my informants, it would appear to be of the same
kind as that used by the Tlingit in southeastern Alaska,
to judge from Harrington's information:
"Especially cohoes are to be obtained in riled
water such as comes from glaciers. The Indians row
up a muddy river and as they float down hook cohoes
from the muddy water at various places. The cohoes
are swimming up and the gaffers are drifting down.
The gaffhook [Mxaa] consists of a pole made from
a small young spruce tree with a steel hook at the
tip end of it, which hook is said to have been anciently
made of bone. Getting hold of iron from wrecked
ships, driftwood and the like, the natives substituted
it for bone. A spear cannot be used in clouded water,
for one cannot see the fish."
This type of gaff hook is illustrated by Krause (1956,
pi. II, 2, S). The gaff hook with the detachable hook,
made by the southern Tlingit, was perhaps what one
of our informants confused with the harpoon (dena).
The modern gaff hook, used to pitch fish from skiff
to motor boat or from the hold of the latter to the
cannery dock, has a much shorter handle, 18 inches
instead of 18 feet. One of these with a killerwhale
carved on the fore end, painted in black, white and
light blue-green, was made in 1954 by a man who
said he had copied it from a "Washington Indian"
(pi. 111). According to Harrington, the modern gaff
hook developed from the club (xus) used to dispatch
seal, sea otter, king salmon, and halibut. In 1939, the
Indians were using a baseball bat to which they often
attached a %-inch iron gaff hook.
The old type of gaff hook was also used to catch
oelachon during the winter. Normally these fish would
be caught in a cylindrical trap (see below), but if the
ice in the river were too thick for the trap to be set,
"the men make a hole in the ice, and the women folks
catch them with hooks." MJ indicated that these
gaffs sometimes had two hooks. She had caught fish
herself in this way when she was a child at Situk.
This "stick with two hooks" may have been like one
type of Eyak fish spear (Birket-Smith and de Laguna,
1938, p. 115).
Bone specimens which may have been barbs for gaff
hooks were found at the site on Knight Island (de
Laguna et al., 1964, pp. 151-153, fig. 18, a,f, g). They
are unlikely to have been barbs for the side prongs of
fish spears, like those used by the Chilkat, and interior
Athabaskans, for informants denied that such fish
spears were ever used at Yakutat.
SALMON TRAPS
Salmon were trapped in some streams, and these
probably supplied the bulk of the fish formerly taken
by the natives. Apparently two kinds of traps were
made, both used with weirs.
Several informants mentioned the enormous traps
(cal) that were formerly used in Lost River. These
traps were given individual names referring to the
sib totem, such as "Brown Bear Trap," or "Raven
Trap." They were described as box-like affairs, about
25 feet wide and almost three times as long(?), with
a catwalk on top. The trap was made of red cedar
(more often perhaps of local wood) which the men
procured, while the women gathered the spruce roots
with which the men lashed the pieces together (MJ).
The trap was set in a fence or weir (?Ata ?Edi, or
xeta ?6di) that was built across the river and was
attached to stakes (xwel) driven into the bottom. There
was an inner portion of the trap, described simply as
"a long thing," from which the fish could not escape.
Salmon were permitted to ascend the stream above
the trap, when the river was closed with the weir. A
large party went upstream above the fish to drive
them down into the trap. Some people were in canoes
(the 'spruce' canoe was mentioned), others stripped
almost naked and walked down the bed of the stream,
carrying sections of fence. When the fish entered the
trap it was closed. One or more little trees had been
thrust through the top of the trap; the chief in his
canoe watched these, for their shaking indicated when
the trap was filling. When the tree shook hard and
finally stopped moving, the trap was full. The inner
part of the trap was hoisted out with spruce root ropes
and the fish taken into canoes. One trapful was said
to have been enough to supply all the people of Diyagu-
na'Et on Lost River for the winter. When the chief,
the owner of the trap, had taken enough for his house-
hold, he let the others have the rest. These traps were
used especially for cohos, and also for sockeye salmon.
It would seem that if the trap were as large as 25
feet in width, it would have been impossible to hoist
out the heart. Either this measurement applies to the
trap plus the attached wings, or else only the cover of
the trap was removed. Possibly a large trap had
several inner compartments.
One informant believed that each family or house-
hold on Lost River had its own trap (qukw, 'box').
Several of these were set in the openings of the fence
across the river, and would presumably have been
much smaller than the large boxlike traps described
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 387
above. No living person has seen these traps on Lost
River; they were last used about 1870 or perhaps even
earlier, when the parents or grandparents of my older
informants were children.
The second type of weir distinguished by Harrington
was described as an open-tip V-shaped weir, made of
vertical pole fencing, rarely of stone. The fish swam
into the converging arms of the V, where they were
trapped when a gate was closed. The enormous fishtrap
out in the ocean in which the salmon are supposed to
have been imprisoned until released by Raven was a
"vertical pole corral" of this type. Perhaps Harrington's
informants were describing a large boxlike fish trap
similar to those used on Lost River.
CYLINDRICAL TRAPS FOR SALMON AND OELACHON
Cylindrical traps (kitx), with an inverted funnel-
shaped entrance (kltx-yik yAdi, 'child inside the trap')
were probably the most common type of fishtrap (fig.
43). These were made like baskets of split sticks of
red cedar lashed to hoops by means of spruce roots.
The opening was just big enough to permit the en-
trance of the fish, salmon or oelachon, depending on
the type for which the trap was intended, but the
fish was unable to find its way out. The trap was set
with the opening downstream. Traps of this kind
might be used in a small stream without leads, or with
a weir of rocks, or with leads of fencing, depending
upon the location. The leads or 'wings' ('akitc) were
normally fences of hemlock sticks. Such traps were
used for salmon in the Dry Bay area until early in the
present century, and at Dry Bay, Situk, and the
Ankau area near Yakutat were also used for oelachon
at the same period. A large trap was said to yield
almost two canoe loads of oelachon.
Harrington described this type of trap as
an "open-tip funnel trap, a sort of slatted basket of
slender poles sometimes 10 feet long with a funnel
of poles at one end, through the open tip of which
fish find their way into the trap, few finding then-
way out through the tiny opening to which there
is no convergent guiding from the inside. A door at
one side of the trap enables removal of the catch."
Emmons collected a cylindrical trap for oelachon at
Yakutat (AMNH E/533). He reports that it was
weighted down with stones, set with the open end
upstream to catch the fish that went in and out with
the tide.
A trap, presumably of the same type, was used for
herring.
LaPerouse's men had the opportunity of observing
natives catching salmon in such traps in the Huagin
River, near Lituya Bay.
Walking westward from Lituya Bay,
". . . they discovered an Indian village on the banks
of a small river, which was staked quite across for
the salmon fishery. We had long suspected that this
fish came from that part of the coast, but we were
not certain of it, till this adventure satisfied our
curiosity. Mr Duche1 de Vancy made a drawing,
which will explain the particulars of this fishery.
[Footnote: "This drawing is not come to hand.
(French Editor.)"] In this it will be seen, that the
salmon, coming up the river, are stopped by the
stakes: unable to leap over them, they turn back
FIGURE 43.?Oelachon trap drawn by William Thomas, July 4
1952. a, Trap with leads or "wings" and funnel entrance
6, Fence for lead.
towards the sea; in the angles of the dike are placed
very narrow wicker baskets, closed at one end, into
which they enter, and being unable to turn in them,
they are thus caught. This fishery is so abundant,
that the crews of both vessels had plenty of salmon
during our stay, and each ship salted two casks."
[LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 389.]
TIDAL WEIRS
Although my informants did not mention tidal
weirs, these were recorded by Harrington. After de-
scribing the fence (zapor) that completely blocked the
river so that the salmon that were caught below it
could be speared, and the open-tip V-shaped weir like
388 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
an enormous trap, Harrington described a stone weir.
This would be built across a stream or slough in such
a way that the high tides would bring in "certain
fish," which would be caught behind the stone wall
when the tide ebbed. Probably the stone fish dam on
T'awal Creek, which the Indians told Schwatka had
been built by the "Aleuts" long ago (pp. 75, 344),
was a tidal dam of this kind.
Neither my informants nor Harrington's mentioned
rows of pointed stakes set across the mouths of streams
on which salmon impaled themselves when trying to
jump. These, like the stone tidal dams were, however,
made by the Tlingit (de Laguna, 1960, p. 116).
DIP NET
Two of my informants gave the name gAkwtc or
gAqtc for fishtrap, though Boas gives this as the word
for oelachon net (1917, p. 128, goqtc). Angoon Tlingit
also used this word to designate the funnel-shaped
fishtrap, which they said was used only by the Chilkat
(de Laguna, 1960, p. 11).
Dip nets were, however, made at Yakutat and Dry
Bay, and it was probably oelachon that were being
caught in the "small nets" reported by SheKkhov (see
p. 377).
According to the story of QakexwtE, this man from
Hoonah found the Athabaskans trying to "snare"
oelachon, and catching only one at a time (p. 271).
He taught them to build a fence or weir, and a dip net
(diga) of spruce roots to scoop up the fish. He also
taught them to put the fish into a hole in the sand, so
that they could render the oil. At that time, the cylin-
drical basket trap (kitx) was not used for oelachon
(p. 272).
Emmons secured a dipnet for oelachon at Yakutat
(AMNH E/1116). It was made of whale sinew, stretched
on a circular frame with a long handle. Such a net was
made with the help of a horn gauge (E/1356, 1357) to
regulate the size of the mesh.
HEEBING BAKE
While herring were sometimes caught in traps set in
streams, they were more often taken in open water by
means of a rake (xftlA). Some men still make fish
rakes to catch herring for bait when trolling for king
salmon. Occasionally a dip net is used for this purpose,
but is said not to be as satisfactory because herring
move so fast that they are hard to catch with a net.
The herring rake was a slender pole, about 15 feet
long or more, shaped like an oar, and armed along one
edge for about one third of its length with a row of
teeth. These were formerly spikes of bone, about 2 to
2){ inches long. Now they may be sharpened nails,
although heavy copper wire cut into short pieces is
preferred because this does not rust. Some of the bone
points found at the site on Knight Island may have
been teeth for fishrakes (de Laguna et al., 1964, p. 148).
One man was making a rake out of an old oar, which
he was afraid might be too short.
Fish rakes were not used at Dry Bay, because, it was
said, there were no herring there. At Yakutat they
were used for herring, oelachon, and smelt. Candlefish
(cat6) were also caught, but I did not learn whether a
rake or a trap was commonly used.
The rake is used in a canoe, one man paddling to
the school of little fish, while the other in the bow sweeps
the rake down through the water and up into the air
again with a swift motion, dumping the fish into the
canoe. "They use it like they paddle a canoe" (MJ).
HALIBUT FISHING
Halibut (tcatl or teal, or nalx, 'riches') are caught
with hook and line in deep water ('it), sometimes re-
ferred to as 'hah'but country' (nalx 'ani). They are
taken with a large V-shaped hook (nAxw; Boas, 1917,
p. 127, nXi"), made of two pieces of wood lashed to-
gether with spruce root, a bone spike set as a barb into
one arm of the V. The other arm, which is pierced for
attachment of the line, is carved to represent a man,
a spirit, an animal, or a bird.
The hook should be made of yellow cedar and
alderwood, the first being used for the upper arm with
the barb, because of its buoyancy, while the heavier
alderwood is used for the arm to which the line is
fastened. The hook "is made together with yellow
cedar and alderwood?otherwise it wouldn't be no
yAqawu?'matched together' " (MJ). This is the same
term that is used to designate a trade partner (p. 355).
"Olden times when Old Raven, you know, when he
fish, hooking for a halibut?when he went to halibut
spirit, halibut liked the smell of yellow cedar. So alder-
wood and yellow cedar?du yAqawu ['his trade partner'].
That's what that means. They have to keep them
together. That's what they call 'intimate friends,'
isn't it? They tie [them] together and they hook lots
of halibut like that." (MJ)
The line (tix) of spruce root rope or of kelp rope
(tl'eyani) is weighted with a heavy stone and the
hook is so attached that it floats some 12 to 24 inches
above the bottom. The upper end of the line is buoyed
with the inflated stomach of a large seal, or with a
float of red cedar, carved to represent a loon or other
aquatic bird. One informant specified that only one
hook was used on the line, and told how a man with a
single native hook caught more than another using 30
commercial hooks. Perhaps this was the kind of rig
observed by LaPerouse in Lituya Bay (see below).
Most informants, however, specified that halibut
hooks always came in pairs (CW et al.). Each would
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 389
be fastened by its own 12-inch leader to a line about
3 feet long which was anchored at each end with a
stone. One man said that there might be up to three
pairs of hooks on one rig.
The bait used for the wooden halibut hook was a
piece of "devilfish" (i.e., squid, naqw or 'bait'), or
sometimes a skunk cabbage leaf. The squid was caught
with a variety of gaff hook (tan.\).
Emmons collected two complete halibut rigs at
Yakutat in the 1880's (AMNH 19/1135;pi. 113). One
consisted of two and the other of four hooks, together
with seal bladder float, and line of twisted two-strand
spruce root, 20-30 fathoms long. The bait would have
been squid, herring, or shellfish, lashed on with spruce
root just below the barb. Any rough stone might serve
as a sinker. A man might set out two lines, each with
one or two hooks, with a buoy of wood or a bladder
float.
Halibut hooks collected at Yakutat before 1900 are
carved to represent: a human figure with curious
headdress (PU 5191); a shaman with a crown on his
head, singing (pi. 114); a man's head and a crow (AMNH
19/1143); an eagle on a man's head (pi. 115); a spirit
that lives under water (pi. 114); an animal's head
(pi. 114); an animal's head and a bird (PU 5191); a
crow (pi. 115); a loon (AMNH 19/1144); a devilfish and
a duck (AMNH 19/1146); a devilfish (AMNH 19/
1142); and a creature, half-halibut and half-land otter
(AMNH 19/1158).
Each halibut hook was given an individual name,
appropriate to the carving on its shank. Thus, one of
a pan- carved early in World War II, is shaped like a
paddle with "Hitler's face" on it (fig. 45), and was
called in Tlingit 'land otter's paddle' (kucda ?ayi).
"It always catches big halibut." The other of the pair
(fig. 446) was called 'Haven's backbone.' Another
pair (fig. 44a, c) made by the same man were called
'Cormorant-?- flying,' and 'Land Otter People' (kucda-
qwani). The last had a small face in a fork. Note that
when the hook is sunk, the carving faces downward
so that it will be visible to the halibut on the bottom.
Another man made a halibut hook in 1954 according
to the old pattern and wanted to get just one halibut
with it. It was carved to represent a man wearing a
big hat, holding a knife in front of his body, and standing
on an animal's head. "That's his spirit." This carving
represents the 'master of the hat' (saxw gati), and is
copied after the original halibut hook given by the
land otters to a Kagwantan shaman from Grouse
Fort (see the story of the first halibut hook, p. 897).
The same man had a larger, older hook carved to
represent Raven.
When the fisherman in his canoe had paddled out to
where he was going to fish, he would warm his hands in
FIGURE 44.?Halibut hooks made by Sampson Harry, a, "Land
Otter People." 6, "Raven's Backbone." c, "Cormorant (?)
Flying." (Schumacher, after Malin, 1949.)
390 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 1
Yellow cedar
Irvin q
INCHES
FIGURE 45.?Halibut hook made by Sampson Harry with "Hitler's face" on it and named "Land Otter's Paddle."
(Sketch by William Irving, Yakutat, 1949.)
the sun and put them on his rig. He would address the
buoy, the line, and especially the hooks. To the latter
he says: "Go down to halibut land and fight! (nalx 'ani
'Ak&yA dJAqfdAgtr)." He also incites the hook to go
for the halibut's wife, so that the halibut will become
angry and attack the hook. These words are supposed to
be magically effective.
The fisherman may set out more than one rig, but
watches the buoys. When the float or floats bob, the
fisherman hauls up the line and, if he has caught a
halibut, caws like a raven, to prevent the fish from
becoming clotted with blood, and kills it with a club.
Sometimes a large halibut is able to escape with the
whole rig.
The people have a saying that when the fisherman
paddles to the buoy, the latter will tell him: "He (the
fish) has almost killed me, O Fisherman (de xAt
wuduwAdjAq, cxA.ni he)." And when he pulls on the
line, the fisherman will say: "If it's just a nibble, every-
one in [halibut] land is mocking ('irnqwa tsuts kaka-
xAh-'usi 'an 'aya)." However, this last dialog is not
considered to be a magical formula (hexwa).
LaPe"rouse observed halibut fishing in Lituya Bay:
"They fish, as we do, by staking rivers across [i.e.,
for salmon], or with the hook and line. Their mode
of angling is very ingenious. Each line is fastened to
a large seal's bladder, and set adrift. One canoe has
twelve or fifteen of them. When a fish is caught, he
drags along the bladder, and the canoe rows after it.
Thus a couple of men can attend twelve or fifteen lines,
without the trouble of holding them in the hand."
[LaPerouse, 1799, vol. I, p. 406.]
This description suggests a rig somewhat different
from that used in modern times, since one would gather
that only one hook was attached to a floating(?) line,
not several to one set line.
Beresford has given us a more complete description
of the rig used to catch halibut. He was evidently
impressed by it because seven seamen were beaten at
halibut fishing by only two Indians (see p. 126).
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 391
"Their hook is a large simple piece of wood, the
shank at least half an inch in diameter; that part
which turns up, and which forms an acute angle,
is considerably smaller, and brought gradually to
a point: a flat piece of wood, about six inches long,
and near two inches wide, is neatly lashed to the
shank, on the back of which is rudely carved the
representation of an human face.
"I cannot think that this was altogether designed
as an ornament to their hooks, but that it has
some religious allusion, and possibly is intended
as a kind of Deity, to insure their success in fish-
ing, which is conducted in a singular manner.
They bait their hook with a kind of fish, called
by the sailors squids, and having sunk it to the
bottom, they fix a bladder to the end of the line
as a buoy, and should that not watch sufficiently,
they add another. Their lines are very strong, being
made of sinews or intestines of animals.
"One man is sufficient to look after five or six
of these buoys; when he perceives a fish bite, he is
in no great hurry to haul up his line, but gives
him time to be well hooked; and when he has hauled
the fish up to the surface of the water, he knocks
him on the head with a short club, provided for
that purpose, and afterwards stows his prize away
at his leisure: this is done to prevent the halibut
(which sometimes are very large) from damaging,
or perhaps upsetting his canoe in their dying
struggles." [Beresford, 1789, p. 174.]
FISHHOOKS FOR OTHER FISH
Cod (sa?) and "black cod" ('icqin) were also caught
with hook and line. One informant thought they were
taken with the same rig as the halibut, but was not
sure. Probably the hook was a V-shaped wooden hook
with bone barb, but must have been much smaller
than the halibut hook.
Emmons obtained in Yakutat a small wooden piece
to fit over the gunwale of the canoe to prevent chafing
when the fishing line was hauled up. It was used when
fishing for cod at depths of 8 to 20 fathoms (AMNH
E/1962).
When shown a picture of a Chugach rig for cod
(Birket-Smith, 1953, fig. 21 a), an informant said
that it was formerly used for halibut hooks. According
to his statement, two hooks were attached to the
outer prongs of a three-branched stick, the stone
weight dangling from the central prong, and the line
tied to the butt end of the branch. This rig was called
qict'. The informant may have been mistaken as to
the type of fish taken with this arrangement.
Trout are caught from the bridge over Lost River
near the airfield with ordinary commerical fishhooks
(t'exA) and bait. Salmon were never caught with hooks
in the old days, although now king salmon are caught
by trolling with a spoon, that is, an unbaited hook
with a shiny lure that resembles a small fish.
In February, 1954, many people were snagging small
fish like smelt from the cannery dock, using small
unbaited commercial hooks.
Sometimes a mud shark (tus) would be caught
on a halibut hook. It was believed that it could not
be killed with a club, but would die at once if the
fisherman threw snot (catxitc) from his nose on its
face, "That's the Raven's trick" (MJ).
FOOD AND ITS PREPARATION
Introduction
FOOD GETTING AND PROCESSING
Hunting and fishing are traditionally the tasks of
men, even though women now participate in these to
a much greater extent than they did formerly, when
they probably caught only the smaller animals and
fish. However, when the carcass of the animal or bird
has been brought to the village, the seal or fish landed
on the beach or on the riverbank, then the processing
of these becomes almost exclusively the task of women.
It is they who cut up and prepare the flesh of these
creatures for food, and their skins for clothing or
other articles. Many foods are not eaten fresh, but
may be subjected to long and complex treatments
involving cutting, pulverizing, drying, smoking, or fer-
mentation. In addition, much of what is procured has
to be preserved for later consumption. While the men
work on bone, horn, tooth, claw, or feather, the women
prepare the sinew, intestines, and skins; the latter
dehaired, or with fur or soft feathers attached. Women,
of course, still do the cooking and working on skins,
but there is much less preservation of native foods than
in former days before there were stores (with canned
goods) and public relief.
392 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
The women not only prepare and cook the food
which the men have brought, but also contribute to
the family larder. It is they who dig roots, gather
berries, and collect the seaweeds and marine inverte-
brates called "beach food." These activities are still
pursued, and are mentioned here in connection with
vegetable food and "beach food" recipies.
The division which I have made in "Hunting and
Fishing," "Food and its Preparation," and "Native
Manufactures," while logical from our point of view,
is rather arbitrary from that of the native. He sees
the preparation for the hunt, the kill, the flenzing, the
cooking or preparation of the flesh for consumption,
the processing of hide or bones, and the ultimate dis-
posal of the unused portions, as integral parts of one
single process, involving the respectful handling of
animal, bird, or fish, pleasing to the spirit of the latter
if fitting and economical use has been made of its
body. While there seems to be little or no religious
feeling connected with gathering berries or shellfish,
even for these there is also the thought that a single
long process is involved. Berrybaskets are made,
parties of women go out to pick, and the spoils are
often elaborately prepared so that guests may be
feasted. The unitary nature of these economic
activities can be the more easily conceptualized by
the natives because they are carried out primarily by
the team of husband and wife, even if at some stages
other members of the family may be involved.
YAKUTAT FOODS
The people of Yakutat enjoyed a rich and varied
diet in the old days. A number of native foods and
dishes are still prepared, chiefly by the older women.
Those who do so are proud of their skill and industry,
and those who remember the foods of long ago recall
them with nostalgia. There seems to be a general feel-
ing that the wild foods of the Yakutat area are better
than those of southeastern Alaska, and it has been
claimed that it was the abundance of food resources
that attracted settlement in the area.
The main staples were meat and fish, richly supple-
mented by eggs, plants, berries and the "beach food"
of low tide. There was also great seasonal variety
produced by the flow of sap hi the spring, the awaken-
ing of hibernating animals, the migrations of birds and
animals, the growth of green plants, the laying of eggs,
the fish runs, the ripening of the different berry crops,
and the maturing of edible roots with the first frosts.
The succession of fresh foods was all the more enjoyed
because they had not been tasted for a whole year.
Although most of the food obtained was prepared for
storage, yet even these supplies had a seasonal char-
acter, since particular items were usually consumed
long before they again became available.
The attitudes toward the native diet are well ex-
pressed by informants. Thus, one older woman had
been talking to a White man:
"I almost scratch his mouth out last night." He had
been asking, "How did all those people [who lived on
Khantaak Island] find enough food to eat? What did
they do for a living?" My informant mimicked his
accent.
"I told him, I just more than bawl Him out?'They
got camps all along the lake, all around the islands up
there. They put up lots of things. They even got
slaves to put up cal [caches]'?You know, that log
cabin business to put up the grub.?'Put up all kinds
of berries, all kinds of bear meat. And when the tide
goes out, you go around the ocean beach. There's gum
boots [chitons] and sea eggs [sea urchins] and mussels
and two kinds of seaweed. And on this side [of Khantaak
Island] cockles about that big?[she gestured to in-
dicate a diameter of about 4 inches]. You can take it
right in front of your house. They dry that and boil
them and preserve them.'
"[He] make me kind of mad?'What do they do for
a living hi winter? What do they eat?'
"And it's no T.B. going on that time, either.
"They put up their own stuff. They know what to
put it in. They put up tablespoon of berries and they
can get a big Hudson Bay dish out of it [i.e., make a
dish the size of a washbasin from a tablespoonful of
dried berries]. They took hooligan oil and make 'ice
cream' and dried strawberries [i.e., "ice cream" from
dried strawberries and oelachon oil]. They used no
sugar at that time. They used their own flavor. They
invite one another, until the White people came with
their molasses and sugar."
"The old foods were good, healthy. People had no
sickness, no epidemics when they ate them. They
wouldn't have died except that witchcraft set in."
(MJ)
"Before that," a man said, "they used to live on the
bear meat. The people lived on land game more than
fish. They used to have it pretty good."
The superiority of Yakutat food to that of other
areas was often cited. "Even the seals don't taste good
in southeastern Alaska." This is because the seals of
Yakutat and Icy Bay are believed to get so much more
fish to eat than those of southeastern Alaska or Prince
William Sound. In other places they eat mostly "beach
foods" and so do not have as good a flavor, it is said.
It was also denied that clams or mussels were ever
poisonous around Yakutat, although they are known to
be sometimes poisonous in southeastern Alaska.
"Mussels you can eat anytime?no affection what-
soever. Anything around the beach is pure as anything?
no dirt or anything gets in there. But in Southeast of
Alaska it tastes funny. You know Yel [Raven] don't
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 393
want to eat anything down in Southeast of Alaska.
When he come up here everything taste good to him.
That's the story of it. From Alsek up, from Lituya up,
they eat anything. Down in Southeast of Alaska when
you take things from the beach and you eat it, you feel
funny." (MJ)
This statement was substantiated by citing the ex-
perience of relatives and by reference to the well-
known case of mussel poisoning that killed so many
Aleuts at Poison Cove. Peril Strait, in 1802 (cf. p. 169;
Bancroft, 1886, p. 390). That Yakutat shellfish are
never poisonous seems doubtful, in view of the diarrhea
which followed our eating of some steamed clams on
April 25, 1954. However, there was an epidemic of
"stomach flu" at the time, and lack of any doctor or
nurse prevented diagnosis.
The Yakutat people also believe that their varieties
of salmon and methods of smoking are superior. When
I commented on the fact that in southeastern Alaska
many Tlingit rely on dog salmon for their winter sup-
ply, I received the scornful reply: "They make it so
hard, it's like a board; you can't chew it. Besides, the
meat is kind of coarse. You can't toast it over a fire.
The only way you can eat it is to boil it. That is because
it is so lean." (MJ) The staples at Yakutat are the coho
and humpback salmon, and the White man also would
prefer these to the dog salmon.
One evening in September 1952, we showed colored
slides, many of which were photographs of food plants,
fish, and prepared foods, to a large and appreciative
audience in the church. One woman said that she was
proud of Yakutat when she saw our pictures (pis. 94-
104).
DOMESTIC UTENSILS
Aboriginal tools and utensils used in preparing native
foods were baskets and boxes for cooking and storage,
spits for roasting, tongs for handling hot rocks, drills
and strike-a-lights for making fire, spoons of wood, horn,
or eagle beaks, large wooden platters and individual
wooden plates, wooden bowls of various shapes, and
baskets for water dippers and drinking cups. There
were also wooden cutting boards, mortars of wood or
bone or stone, wooden and stone pestles, square frames
for drying certain foods, knives with copper blades, and
scrapers of copper or shell. These last are now made of
iron.
At an early period the people obtained china dishes.
In the last century, "Hudson's Bay dishes" were used for
feasts. These were blue and white Copeland porcelain
platters and bowls, the largest of which were actually
washbasins. A number of families still treasure such
heirlooms. I also saw a beautiful Chinese plate that had
been given to the present owner's paternal grandmother
when she was born, and which must therefore be over
295-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 27
100 years old. The same man also owns a small brass
kettle that had belonged to the commander of the
Russian post at Yakutat when it was destroyed in 1805,
and which has passed through the hands of many
Kwackqwan chiefs. In addition, many families have
cast iron pots of various sizes which are also said to have
been obtained from the Russians.
The gear used for hunting and fishing have already
been described, but mention should be made of the
utensils used by women in food collecting. There was a
wide flat basket (tal) into which blueberries were
picked (pi. 129). Although it was not used for gathering
other berries, it served as a mortar in which they might
be crushed. Large baskets with handles (?akisAt) were
used to carry loads on the back, and presumably served
to carry other plants or beach foods. For gathering shell-
fish, crabs, and roots the women still use a digging stick.
This is simply a stout stick with a pointed end, which
also serves as a cane. A long pole was used to strip
hemlock bark from standing trees.
Now, of course, gunnysacks, lard pails, and gal-
vanized iron buckets are taken on collecting trips. Coal
or fuel oil ranges and ordinary commercial pots and
pans are used for cooking, and the table is set with our
familiar array of cloth or oilcloth, dishes, silverware,
and napkins. In former times, however, cooking was
done by roasting over a fire, by stone-boiling in a basket
or box, by broiling between hot stone slabs, or by baking
in an earth oven, the last usually a hole under the fire
that had been lined with skunk cabbage leaves. The
spit over the open fire and the earth oven may still be
used on camping trips.
Food in the 18th and 19th Centuries
The Tlingit met by LaP6rouse in Lituya Bay in early
July, 1786, were apparently living on salmon and hali-
but, which they boiled or roasted on spits:
"The wooden vessels, in which they cook their
fish, are never washed. They serve for kettles, dishes,
and plates: and as they cannot be set over the fire,
they make the water boil in them with red-hot
pebbles, which they renew till their food is sufficiently
dressed. They are also acquainted with the art of
roasting, which they perform in the same manner as
our soldiers in camp." [LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, p.
400.]
Beresford also observed stone-boiling at Port
Mulgrave the following year:
"They dress their victuals by putting heated
stones into a kind of wicker basket, amongst pieces
of fish, seal, porpoise, &c. and covered up close;
394 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
sometimes they make broth and fish soup by the
same method, which they always preferred to boiling
[over the fire], though we gave them some brass pans,
and pointed out the mode of using them." [Beresford,
1789, p. 175.]
Suria had ample opportunity to observe native
methods of cooking, especially since it will be remem-
bered that on one occasion the natives forced him to
eat some fish (p. 150).
"Their sustenance and daily meal is as follows:
they catch a fish and pass a stick through it from
the tail to the mouth which they fasten in the ground.
They keep turning it towards the fire. As soon as it
is softened they place it in a straw basket which is
very flexible and is so closely woven that not a
drop of water can come out. In this they put it to
cook with seawater, and so that the basket may not
burn underneath they have various red hot stones
which they throw inside, according as necessity de-
mands, always maintaining the heat until the dried
fish in small fragments forms a mess and then they
eat it with some long deep spoons made of horn."
[Wagner, 1936, p. 254.] [A similar type of fish chowder
is reported by Schwatka in 1886 (see below).]
"The pots and jars in which they cook are those
already referred to. Their food consists of fish: sal-
mon, smelts [which Newcombe advised Wagner were
more likely to have been herring and oelachon], and
another which looks like a conger eel." [Wagner,
1936, p. 257.]
Malaspina himself was much impressed by these
watertight baskets. Writing about native crafts, he
observed:
"Among their manufactures those which are most
appreciated are the blankets, the canoes covered with
skins, and the baskets. Baskets are the work of the
women and merit great attention as much for the
taste with which are combined the straws dyed in
various colors in little and very delicate ones, as for
the closeness and strength of the weaving in the
large ones, which not permitting the escape of
liquids serves them just like our pots, casseroles
and jars, since they cany water and do their cooking
in them. Several times we saw the natives pour
water into one of these baskets in which was the
flesh of sea wolves [fur seal] or of nutria [sea otter],
which they are accustomed to eat, place it near the
fire, put heated stones into it with two little sticks
[palitos], take them out cooled, and repeat this
action until that stinking food was boiled." [Mala-
spina, 1849, p. 288.]
There is little further information until almost one
hundred years later, when Abercrombie reports as of
about 1884:
"The chief dependence of these Indians for food
is placed upon the salmon, a store of which, sliced,
but not salted, is accumulated for winter consump-
tion. To a lesser extent they rely upon the flesh of
the bear, mountain goat and seal, and on the various
shellfish, plentifully found on every beach. Certain
berries, roots, and plants are eaten in their season,
but with the exception of a few berries which are
preserved [,] are gathered for immediate consumption
only.
"The quantity of salmon which a native can con-
sume at a single sitting is remarkable, and if it be
provided for him, incredible quantities of tea will be
drank." [Abercrombie, 1900, p. 396.]
On his trip through the Ankau and Lost River
system, September 1886, Schwatka saw some Indians
who were cooking dog salmon in a kettle. They would
spear out a piece of fish with a forked stick and leave
it on a log to cool before eating it. "When the remaining
mass, by a constant jabbing of the sticks, was converted
into a sort of salmon soup, rough cups made from the
horns of mountain goats, and holding about half a
pint, were used to assist in conveying it to their
mouths." [New-York Times, October 26,1886.]
Meat of Land Animals
The most important land annual meat was obtained
from bears and mountain goats, although foxes and,
presumably, other fur-bearers were also eaten. The
meat of the black bear was preferred to that of the
brown bear, and one woman explained: "because
brown bear eat human beings?I think they do."
Bear meat (xuts tliyi) was soaked in salt water, dried
or smoked, and put up in oil to preserve it (MJ).
Although bear hunting was a dramatic and exciting
adventure about which many stories were told, it is
doubtful that bear meat ever formed a substantial
part of the diet (see however, p. 392). Certainly few
bear bones were found on Knight Island, although
the adjacent mainland is now a favorite place for
hunting bears. This may be because the bear was
usually cut up where it was killed, and only the meat,
intestines, hide, and what few bones were wanted for
tools were brought back.
Mountain goats were especially valued for their
tallow (djmuwu qahagu or vanesi). The fat (tay)
around the kidneys and in the belly of a single goat
is said to yield five gallons of tallow. The fat was
crushed with a hard wooden pestle, soaked in warm
water, and squeezed with the hands to extract the
blood. It was then rendered. The white tallow was
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 395
not only an important ingredient of feast dishes but
also of cosmetics.
"If you don't smash it, it don't melt the grease
out. When you smash it fine, it is just like lard, and
smells fine. You can use it to mix with red paint. And
they dry the meat."
Since some of the favorite hunting grounds for
mountain goat were behind the Saint Elias Range,
where there is "just sunshine all the time" and timber
is scarce, the meat would naturally have been dried,
not smoked.
MJ recalled how as a child she loved to lick mountain
goat tallow that had been heated in a horn spoon by
the fire. Children also liked to roast it on a stick and
eat it with dried fish or seal meat.
The mountain goat seems to have played a fairly
important part in the diet of those who lived or camped
near the areas where it could be obtained, to judge by
the archeological evidence from Knight Island (de
Laguna and others, 1964, p. 78).
The moose has appeared only recently in the Yakutat
area, although the Dry Bay people were familiar with
it because of their annual trips into the interior. "The
moose nose is the best part, and if you like anybody
you say, 'I like you like a moose nose' " (MJ). A
Yakutat woman who had been "married into Dry
Bay," said that moose meat was good smoked, although
she had eaten only fresh meat.
One of Harrington's informants described a method
of cooking meat, probably one employed by hunting
parties; the kinds of meat so cooked were not specified.
"A way they roasted meat, they heated two slabs
of rock and put a slice of meat between them. They
heat these slabs in the fire, and then do the roasting
away from the fire, laying one hot stone slab flat on
top of the ground, then the meat on top of this slab,
then the other slab on top of this. These rock slabs
stay hot quite a time."
Birds and Birds' Eggs
The Yakutat-Dry Bay area lies on one of the great
western flyways for migratory birds. The innumerable
swamps, ponds, streams, and salt water lagoons,
especially between Ankau and Lost Rivers, make this
a favorite breeding spot for many species, while others
frequent Yakutat Bay and nest on the islands. Although
the native names for many birds were secured, I did
not compile a list of all those which were eaten, although
these probably included all the larger species except
eagles, ravens, and crows. Those specifically mentioned
were geese, and freshwater and saltwater ducks, such
as mallards, black ducks, sawbills, and goldeneyes.
Only a few people eat seagulls, presumably when short
of other food. It is said that seagulls have to be skinned
because it is impossible to pluck them (SJ). Actually,
skinning removes some of the highly flavored fat. In
one of the stories there is mention of boiling a small
saltwater duck like a sawbill (see "The Chilkat Man
who Visited Kiwa'a," p. 772). A favorite game bird in
former days was the swan. "It's good meat if they
get a big swan" (MJ). Ptarmigan were also eaten.
Birds' eggs are gathered in May and June. These
include the eggs of ducks, of the Arctic tern, of sea-
gulls, and of the Mttiwake. Women and children
gather those which are found on the beach (chiefly
the eggs of terns or "sea pigeons") while only men,
boys, and active young women climb the cliffs of
Haenke Island. Excursions are made here every year
to gather eggs from the gull and kittiwake nests on
the southern cliffs, to hunt some seals, and to enjoy a
picnic on the beach.
Although birds and eggs are relished, and seagull
eggs were formerly preserved in boxes of oil, they
have never played an important role in the diet.
Seal Meat
The common or harbor seal was the animal most
abundantly represented by bones in the middens on
Knight Island, and undoubtedly furnished most of the
animal flesh eaten by the prehistoric and protohistoric
inhabitants of that site (de Laguna et al., 1964, p. 77).
This was equally true in later times, and is still true
today. In other areas, especially Dry Bay, land animals
were probably more important, to judge by native
accounts, although we lack archeological evidence on
which to base an accurate comparison.
Seal meat, like other meat and fish, was roasted,
boiled, dried or smoked, and prepared in various ways
for eating or storage. The fat was rendered into oil,
considered an indispensable article of food, and the
skins were scraped and prepared for manufacture into
garments and other articles.
FLENZING AND PROCESSING
Seals are flenzed in such a way as to preserve the
skins, fat and flesh. This work is done by women at
Yakutat, but was formerly done by men at Dry Bay.
The following description based upon observations made
at Yakutat may serve to illustrate the method.
Late in the evening of July 28, Paul Henry drove up
with a truck loaded with seals, and Minnie Johnson
purchased a female seal and two pups from him. The
bellies had been slit to let out the gas and keep the
396 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY
FIGURE 46.?"Flensing seal hide, Yakutat Bay," sketched at the sealing camp above Point Latouche during July of 1899. The woman
squats behind a sloping plank and cuts the blubber from a sealskin with an ulo. There is a shelter of canvas (or blankets) with
spruce bark roof behind her, in which seal meat is hanging to dry. (After Grinnel, 1901, p. 161.)
meat fresh. The carcasses lay on MJ's porch overnight.
She was busy all next day flenzing the seals. She laid
them out, one at a time, on sheets of cardboard. Using
an ordinary kitchen carving knife, she extended the slit
in the belly to the junction of the hind flippers and tail,
slicing through the blubber to the meat. The skin and
fat were removed in one piece, with the tail and four
flippers attached to it since they had been cut through
at the joints. Then she removed the entrails, saving only
the liver, kidneys, and heart(?). She said that in former
tunes the small intestines and lungs would also have
been kept. (In addition, the stomach would have been
saved to be used as a bladder or bag.)
Next, the head was cut off and discarded, although the
old people used to boil it for the "scalp part," and they
presumably also ate the brains. Then the shoulders and
thighs were detached, and we were given half of the
latter for our dog. The ribs on one side were chopped
from the backbone with a hatchet, but those on the
other side were left attached. This is done only with a
young seal, for the backbone of an old seal is cut free of
the ribs. The old people are said to like the backbone.
The ribs, including the attached vertebrae, she sold to
us for 75 cents, and also disposed of similar cuts to her
neighbors. The meat which she kept was washed and
put into a box. She sliced the liver and washed that also,
squeezing the pieces to extract the blood.
When she had flenzed the seals, she proceeded at once
to cut the fat from the skins. For this operation she sat
behind an inclined board on which the skin was laid, and
sliced the fat off with an ulo, cutting down and away
from herself, close to the skin. When she came to the
attached flippers, she used the kitchen knife again to
cut them off, leaving a small hole where the fore flippers
had been, and simply slicing off the rear portion with the
hind flippers and tail. The nose was cut off to be re-
turned to the hunter for the $3 bounty. Although MJ
threw away the nippers on this occasion because she
had so much meat, she said that they were usually
eaten.
Having cut off the fat, she dropped the skins into a
tub of fresh water with a little soap to wash off the
blood, while she attended to the fat. The latter was cut
into 12- by 14-inch blocks and dumped into an empty
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 397
5-gallon gasoline can. On Wednesday, August 6, it was
still there, and she commented that she had not yet had
time to try out the fat, although she was buying more
seals. The fat was eventually cut into tiny pieces, about
as big as the thumb, and was put into a pot on the stove.
Many people try out the fat in big kettles or cans over
open fires out of doors (pi. 8). "If any water gets in, it
makes slime on the bottom" (MJ).
The rest of the day, July 29, was spent hi cleaning and
stretching the skins in wooden frames to dry. This task
was not finished until after supper (see pp. 423-424).
On August 7, MJ was busy trying out seal oil and
putting up the rather stale meat of the three seals
which she had purchased the previous day. These car-
casses had been sold already gutted and without the
noses. It is believed that seal fat should rot a little before
it is rendered if the oil is to keep well, and since the
newly purchased seals were not very fresh, she was prob-
ably able to render the fat from both batches of seals at
the same tune. When we saw her in the afternoon, she
had already flenzed the new seals, and poured the ren-
dered oil into earthware crocks. The new skins were
soaking in a washtub of soapy water outside the door.
MJ had chopped up the meat, backbones, ribs, etc.,
into small pieces and was putting them into mason jars,
with one tablespoonful of salt to each. No extra fat was
was added and no water, "because the meat makes its
its own juice." The sealed jars were set in a large kettle
of water on the stove. They rested on pieces of kindling
so that the glass did not touch the bottom of the pot,
and were covered with water. She said she would boil
them for 2 1/2 hours because the seals were young, but
that older seals would need to cook 3 hours.
Four hind flippers, still in their skins, were set in a
roasting pan in the oven. The others she had thrown
away because she had no time to bother with them and
because there were too many blowflies on the front
flippers. "You peel them after you cook them. Taste like
pigs' feet. But I promised I'd cook my granddaughters
a good dinner. They don't like seal meat." So the
smallest child was sent to the store for a can of hot dogs.
Grinnell described the methods of flenzing and proc-
essing seals observed at the camps in Disenchantment
Bay in 1899:
"The process of 'butchering' the seals absolutely
reverses the method common in other regions. [I.e.,
common for other animals. As far as I know, seals
are always flenzed in this fashion.] The product
sought for is the blubber, which is attached to the
hide. This being the case the Indian woman does
not skin her seal, but opens it by a long gash along
the belly and cuts out from the inside of the hide
the meat and the bones, leaving the blubber attached
to the skin. The flippers are cut off, the legs, the
ribs, and loins taken from the body and put to one
side, and the remainder, consisting of head, back-
bone, and attachments, lifted out of the skin and
thrown away upon the beach. All the cutting is done
with a broad crescent-shaped knife of iron or stone,
the back of which, if of iron, is set in a rounded
wooden handle, in which a thumb hole is sometimes
made. When a woman has removed half a dozen
seal skins, she kneels on the ground behind a board
which she rests against her knees, and spreading the
hide, hair side down on the board, rapidly strips
the blubber in one large piece from the hide, which
as she draws it toward her is rolled up by a twisting
motion into a thick rope. The great sheet of pinkish-
white blubber is then cut into strips and put to one
side, to be tried out a little later." [Grinnell, 1901,
vol. 1, pp. 160-161.]
METHODS OF COOKING AND PRESERVING
The usual method of cooking seal meat is to boil it,
and there should be some fat with the meat to add
flavor, according both to the natives' taste and my own.
Salt is now added to fresh water, but in the old days
sea water might be mixed with fresh water. The blood
in the meat adds richness to the broth, but there is
little marrow in the bones, unlike those of mountain
goat or bear. One man, however, makes stew by chang-
ing the water several times to get the blood out, and
likes to add celery, garlic, onions and chop suey sauce.
Pieces of seal liver, kidneys, and fat, arranged in
alternating chunks on a skewer, may be roasted over
the fire. The old people knew how to stuff the lungs
with fat and roast them.
In former times, seal meat was dried in the sun or
smoked, and put up in oil in wooden boxes. The flippers
were singed to remove the hair, cooked, and also stored
in oil. Sometimes the hide with the fat was sliced,
singed, and smoked?"like bacon?strong taste." Or
the piece of fat and skin was put up (in oil?). It was
roasted on a stick before being eaten.
The small intestines were dried and braided for
preservation, and were presumably boiled before being
eaten. Another method was to wash them out, stuff
them with fat, and smoke them. These were preserved
in oil, and when served were sliced across like sausages.
Informants did not know whether they were boiled
(MJ and friend).
Grinnell was impressed with the amount of seal meat
hanging from poles at the sealing camps in Disenchant-
ment Bay.
. . . "There are flippers, sides of ribs, strips of
blubber and braided seal intestines. All these things
are eaten; and, in fact, during this fishing the In-
dians must subsist chiefly on the flesh of the seal.
The flippers appear to be regarded as especially
choice. We saw many women roasting them over
398 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
the fire. After they were cooked the women pulled
them out of the ashes, and heating an iron in the
fire singed the hair which remained on the skin and
then tore the flippers to pieces and picked the meat
from the bones." [Grinnell, 1901, vol. 1, p. 160.]
SEAL OIL
Seal oil was not only essential for preserving many
kinds of food but formed an important part of the diet.
It was also used in a number of native medicines and
was burned in stone lamps. In explaining why the
Tlaxayik-Teqwedi went to a sealing camp where they
knew they risked attack by their enemies, the nar-
rator said: "The old people believed that they had to
have seal oil and use it with their food. If they didn't
have it they would get skinny and thin and weak. It's
just the way white people think cod liver oil is good for
them." (cf. p. 263.) Children were regularly given doses
of seal oil in a spoon and, as might have been expected,
some liked it while others rebelled. Men might drink
a cupful at a time in order to keep healthy. Seal oil is
also used as a preservative and condiment with berries,
and although the taste is one which has to be acquired
by the White man, it does enhance the flavor of the
fruit. A great deal of seal oil is therefore put up; Har-
rington reports that one industrious housewife in 1939
put up 10 gallons.
In former days, when the seal was flenzed, the fat
was dumped into a bag made of a whole sealskin
suspended from a square wooden frame supported by
four posts. "My father used to take the biggest seal
he can find. He makes a bag out of it. All the seal fat
goes in there. It's called tsa gwel, 'seal bag.' It's held
up by four posts. . . . They fill it with dry grass on
top to keep the nits out of there. When they are through
they throw the sealskin away.
"The fat that they take out of the big sealskin
they put in a pot and melt for oil. Then they put
the oil in a big wooden box. They need lots of oil to
preserve the food. They got to put oil over the meat
so it won't mildew." (MJ)
MJ had been a child at the sealing camps visited
by the Harriman Expedition, where Grinnell described
the use of these skin bags and the trying out of seal
oil.
"Here was seen a primitive form of kettle, com-
mon perhaps to all North American tribes; it was
a large seal skin, laced by its margin to a square
frame of poles, hanging down in the middle eighteen
inches or two feet, and full of strips of blubber; it
would hold from one to two bushels." [Grinnell,
1901, vol. 1, p. 160.] (See pis. 78, 79.)
These bags were not strictly speaking "kettles," for
the blubber was merely put in them to rot a little;
they were not used for cooking. The seal fat was,
according to Grinnell (quoted, p. 314), tried out in a
pot (presumably iron) that was set in the fireplace of
the bark shelter. As the oil was rendered, it was ladled
out into kegs, cans, and sometimes into old-fashioned
rectangular wooden boxes.
Burroughs also describes the scene:
. . . "The dead carcasses of the seals lay in rows
upon the pebbles in front of the tents and huts.
The women and girls were skinning them and cutting
out the blubber and trying it out in pots over
smouldering fires, while the crack of the Winchesters
of the men could be heard out amid the ice."
[Burroughs, 1901, vol. 1, p. 60.]
Meat of Other Sea Mammals
People formerly ate sea otter meat, which is said to
taste different from seal meat. If fresh, it spoils in
three days time, but is good when a day old. It can
be preserved for a long time, "two years," by boiling
it, smoking it, and putting it in a five-gallon can
covered with seal oil. It must be covered by about 2
inches of oil. If a piece sticks out above the oil, then
it spoils quickly.
Porpoise meat was sometimes eaten. Porpoise bones
were, in fact, next most numerous after those of seal
in the middens on Knight Island (de Laguna et al,
1964, pp. 77-78). "It tastes like seal meat, but it
makes you smell." When the informant (MJ) was a
little girl, her father made her a frying pan out of a
piece of iron?"No such thing as stores at that time."
Her father's brother's wives borrowed it to cook
porpoise meat, but her father made her throw it away
afterwards because of the smell. This was when they
were camped on Knight Island. "They were a poor
hunter's family, otherwise they wouldn't eat it. My
father was a great seal hunter?sea otter, too."
Sea lion meat was eaten. "Some people just eat the
'hands.' I never taste one. They say it's good to eat."
Sometimes the fat and hide were cut into strips and
roasted over the fire, "like wieners, or like bacon."
Whereas some informants said, "We got no use for
whales; we don't eat them" at present, there is ample
testimony that some people formerly did so. For some
it seems to have been a matter of preference, and for
others of necessity.
"They used whale bone for the spearheads. They
found dead whales on the beach and used to eat the
whale meat, too. They were lucky to find one in the
whiter, it meant lots of food for everybody."
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 399
Thus, when people were starving at Diyaguna'Et
on Lost River after the smallpox epidemic, they were
saved when a whale drifted ashore (p. 278).
Whales were also eaten at Dry Bay. In fact, this
is supposed to be the place where, according to the
myth, Raven drifted ashore in the dead whale and
tricked the people who were flenzing it into abandon-
ing it for him (see p. 846). A woman who had lived
at Dry Bay said that people used to eat the whales
that drifted ashore, but never hunted them. She had
never tasted the meat, but had been told that it was
good and tasted like seal meat.
Another woman remembers being with her mother
on the ocean beach near Yakutat when they found
some whale blubber. They cut it into strips to carry
home. "That's the only time I taste some. And I
don't know [now] what it tastes like-?long time ago."
The grease made from it was "just like lard."
Still another informant described a winter of starva-
tion at Situk when she was a small child in the mid-
1880's, when storms and intense cold prevented
hunting and stopped the oelachon from ascending the
river. Before the bad weather came, however, a big
whale drifted ashore, and her parents and maternal
grandparents had cut the fat from it, although no
one else bothered to do so. Her grandmother also used
to save the backbones of dried fish. Later, when her
father's brother and his family were starving, they
were invited over and given soup made from the fish-
bones and roasted whale fat dipped in oil. At first,
they didn't like the soup or the whale fat, but soon
"they like it and go for it like pigs."
Fish
SALMON
Fish were the main article of diet, and salmon
formed the staple winter provisions. Of these, the
coho and humpback salmon were the most important,
although the red and white varieties of king salmon
and the sockeye weie also preserved. According to
native opinion, the ideal fish for preservation is one
that is not as lean as the dog salmon, and not as fat
as the sockey or white king, because fat fish become
mouldy very fast and, though smoked, must be eaten
soon.
Fresh fish are now fried in a pan, and in former
days were most often boiled or roasted on a spit. A
large king salmon might be baked in a pit Mned with
skunk cabbage leaves, as Raven did in one story (see
p. 868). However, then as now, the major part of the
fish is smoked, or rather, as Harrington has aptly
observed, dried, since the amount of smoking is very
light, and the natives speak of "smoked" salmon as
'dried' ('At ?eci). Some families now put up salmon
in jars or have their own home canning outfit.
The oldest method of slicing fish for drying, one
probably used before sharp steel knives were available,
was to cut the salmon down the belly almost to the
back, removing the backbone by a cut near the tail,
and spreading the flesh out by means of one or two
twigs set across. The backbone and the attached ribs
with the adhering flesh were dried separately. Or, the
backbone may have been cut free only as far down as
the tail and hung over one side of the drying rack,
while the body of the fish hung over the other. Har-
rington described this particular method, and re-
ported that when the fish was dry, at the end of a
week or so, the backbone was broken off and thrown
away. Presumably it was these backbones which my
informant's prudent grandmother had kept (see
above). We saw both styles of cut fish on the Copper
River in 1954, and the Atna methods appear to be
those described by Yakutat informants.
Fish spread out with twigs in this fashion were called
tlak, and this seems to have been the regular method
employed at Yakutat when Eyak was still spoken. The
use of the spreading sticks was said to have been un-
known in southeastern Alaska at that tune, for a
Chilkat visitor was so impressed by it that he called
the Yakutat people "fish stretchers" (xat-'ic-qwan)
(see p. 897).
The method of preparing fish most commonly em-
ployed now, but one which requires not only great skill
but a razor-sharp knife, results in a single slab of fish,
four times as wide as the original body, but very thin.
It is not only opened down the belly, but the two halves
are sliced from the center toward the sides, so that
these inner pieces are unfolded. In addition, one or two
extra filets may be cut from the thickest part of a large
fish to be dried separately. When cured, the whole is
folded together again, so that it looks like a complete
fish, minus head, tail and backbone. This method of
cutting is described below.
In slicing a king salmon, the whole belly is apparently
cut off for separate drying, because the fish is so big.
A modern method of curing salmon, used especially
for large fish like the king salmon, is to cut it into long
slender strips, with the skin on one side, but without the
bones (kaxtlisAt'). Harrington noted that this method
was used for large coho salmon and also for halibut, and
that it involved real smoking, in White man's style.
Cohoes caught in the fall when it is cold could be
preserved without smoking. The heads were cut off,
the fish gutted, cut open, and hung on poles to dry in
the north wind, "just like cold storage." This style was
called qa daxdqin (MJ). When the Dry Bay people
400 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
went up the Alsek River into the interior they dried
king salmon in this fashion, covering itwithcottonwood
branches, and leaving it to hang and "take care of itself"
over the winter (p. 87).
There were said to be altogether five methods of
cutting fish, but I do not know whether these included
any other styles than those already mentioned.
A number of supernatural regulations formerly gov-
erned the cutting and drying of salmon. Thus, the head
of the fish was turned upstream when the most impor-
tant cuts were made, and the women apparently faced
downstream. "Don't set towards the water. Among the
fishes, it's like you set naked. You have to set sidewise
to the river. . . . When you have finished splitting the
fish out, you hang it with its head upstream." This was
obviously to insure the return of the reincarnated
salmon in another run. The smokehouse is built with
the door facing the river, and the sticks on which the
fish are hung run across the house, according to this
informant's sketch. The poles on any outdoor fishrack
also run parallel to the river bank, and therefore the
fish can be hung or saddled on the pole with the head
upstream (see fig. 19, p. 304).
Cutting and drying salmon was perhaps the single
most important work of the housewife, in which she
was assisted by the men and the household slaves. It
was hard work that had to be done before the fish
spoiled, the women at the cutting boards and fish
racks keeping up with the men at the weirs with
harpoon and fishtrap. Albin Johnson reports that "a
large family among the Indians dries and smokes
approximately 2,000 to 3,000 salmon" (1924, p. 109).
The people are very fond of smoked or dried fish, and
women who do not have smokehouses may simply
dry slices of salmon or halibut on sticks hung up behind
the stove. Many women also put up lightly smoked
fish strips, as well as fresh fish, in jars or cans (pi. 100).
Dried or smoked fish may be eaten raw, sometimes
dipped in oil, or it may be lightly toasted over a fire
to soften the flesh by making the oil run out a little.
This is a favorite and satisfying dish on a picnic. Dried
fish, soaked overnight in oelachon oil, was regarded as
especially healthy food for children (MJ). Dried fish
might be soaked in water overnight and when boiled
was eaten for breakfast in former days. As already
explained, the provident housewife saved the backbones
(:At tA^E) of the salmon to boil as soup when other
supplies ran low.
SMOKING SALMON
One informant gave a detailed account of the most
elaborate method of cutting and smoking fish. She
evidently learned how to do this when she was a young
girl on the Kaliakh Kiver, west of Icy Bay, and she
still prepares her smoked salmon in this manner, (fig.
47; pi. 104).
The fish is laid on the cutting board on its right side,
the head toward the worker. The head is first cut off,
then the knife is set in the anus and cut forward to the
severed head. The fish is held belly up, the guts removed,
and the blood scraped out. It is then turned over on the
other side, and the medial cut is extended from the
neck to the tail and deepened so that it almost reaches
the skin along the back. The fish is again turned over,
FIGURE 47.?Method of cutting salmon for drying, from a sketch
approved by Maggie Harry.
with the tail toward the worker, and a transverse cut is
made across the base of the tail so that the latter is
attached to the left side of the fish, while the backbone
is on the right half of the fish. It is now ready to hang
on a pole (djikaqas) in the smokehouse (fig. 19, p. 304).
When the informant first tried to do this, "I caught
ten salmon, but when I cut them, I put all the tails
on the backbone side, and the fish fell off the drying
poles. I half cried. I don't know what would happen
when I spoiled the fish, but he [Yakategy John] fixed
it somehow. The tail weight balances the backbone
weight. That's why the fish stay on the pole."
The split fish (kadubd, 'spread out') are hung two to
a pole,head upstream and flesh side out, above the smoke-
spreading boards in the smokehouse. They are left
overnight, or "hang until all the water dries on it, till
the skin dries out, only not too dry."
The next stage is to split the fish again in order to
spread it out. This is done on a slanting board, the
upper edge of which is toward the worker, as with the
board on which the fat is cut from sealskins. In this op-
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 401
FIGURE 48.?A bundle (or box) of dried fish tied up for storage. Two cords are used; the shorter is marked a-a'. Sketch in 1952 by
Catherine McClellan from a model made by Maggie Harry.
eration, the backbone is removed, the tail cut off, and
the fish split on both inner surfaces from the middle of
the back towards the side edges (belly), so that the re-
sulting thin slices hang free, though still attached to
the edges of the belly. The dorsal fin is cut off to make
the fish dry better, but the ventral fins cannot beremoved
since they lie between the inner and outer pieces on
each side and help to hold the parts together. One or
two extra slices, depending on the size of the fish, are
cut from the fleshiest part to be dried separately (Vt
yuwaxeci, or 'At da ieci). The various slices should be
"thin as paper."
The last step is to make cuts through the thickest
part of the fish on the flesh side near the back so that it
will dry quickly. The major cuts are longitudinal, but
each woman has her own special mark made by sub-
sidiary cuts by means of which she can recognize her
own fish. This was necessary in former times since the
five or six families of the household might have three
or four hundred fish hanging in their smokehouse at
one time.
The "part dried" fish (nayAdi) is now carried folded
with the belly up into the smokehouse, and is unfolded
to hang open with the skin sides against the drying
pole above the smoke spreader, again with the head
upstream. Every day the fish must be shifted, for they
would spoil if left in the same place on the slimy poles.
The fish are dried and smoked in this way for about a
week.
Care must be taken to keep the fish at the right
temperature, for if the fire is too hot the meat will be
cooked off the skins. Green spruce and alder wood are
preferred for smoking. About 9 o'clock in the evening
the fire is banked and is started again about 6 o'clock
in the morning, to burn all day.
After about a week the fish are taken down, folded
and softened between the hands. Then they are spread
out on a clean board, the first one skin side down, and
the others laid with alternate sides up, so that the meat
sides are together, with the topmost skin side up. About
25 are put together, making a pile described as about
4 feet high. A clean board is laid on top, and the heaviest
men walk on it until the fish are soft (sus). Then they
are threaded on a pole, 25 to a stick, and are hung up
very high in the smokehouse for another week until
they are thoroughly dry. The men hang them up, for a
woman is not supposed to go above the fish hanging
below. Fish on the stick are called dulsusx. The dried
fish ('At ?eci) are then tied up in bundles of 50, skin
sides out (fig. 48) and the bundles are packed in boxes
or put in the outdoor cache.
This same process was described also by Harrington,
who perhaps learned it from the same informant. How-
ever, we should note one difference. According to his
report, at the first cutting the backbone of the salmon
was completely removed, not left on one side of the
split fish. The tail was cut part way through anterior
to the caudal fin and bent. It would appear that this
was to serve as a hook for hanging the fish, although
it seems to have been hung over the pole in the ordinary
way. He also does not record the softening process by
pressing it between boards.
"Everytime they smoke fish, they got to cover their
heads all the time?think those hookworms from the
fish drop on their head and get into their body. I re-
member when I was small, I always took my hat off
and they always tell me to put it back on."
OTHER FISH
Halibut are obtained chiefly in the late winter and
early spring, when supplies of smoked salmon may be
running low. Most of the catch is now eaten fresh,
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1- -28
402 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
since there is little other food available at this season.
Halibut are also, however, sliced thin for smoking and
drying, although we did not learn the details of how
they were preserved. One informant who had lived on
Controller Bay as a boy, said that they used to smoke
the cod and halibut they caught in the spring. "The
cod was just like wood when they dried it. You couldn't
eat it. But when it was soaked in salt water for two,
three days it was just like fresh. We took the dried fish
with us when we moved . . . to Bering River about
August to smoke salmon."
Other edible salt water fish are flounder, sea bass,
bullheads, candlefish, herring, oelachon, and smelt.
The candlefish and oelachon are more valued for their
oil than for their flesh, and the herring for their spawn
(see below), although all of these little fish are eaten
fresh. Oelachon may also be dried, either whole
(xlkAnesi), or split in two (kusqak). The fins of skates
are said to have been eaten by a few people (MJ and
CW, etc.). Among freshwater fish that were eaten
fresh, usually roasted, were several varieties of trout
as well as the lingcod or loche. There is apparently no
belief that the liver of the trout is poisonous.
FISH EGGS
There are a number of recipes for preparing or pre-
serving fish eggs (guqw), chiefly those of salmon. The
eggs are obtained when cutting up female fish and
should properly be called the roe. The eggs of king
salmon are now boiled and put up into jars, but older
methods involved drying and fermenting. Fresh oela-
chon eggs are also boiled.
Fish eggs that have dried a long time (guqw kahakw,
or kahakw) will keep a long time. "It's sticky. It sticks
to your teeth." In this respect they apparently are
thought to resemble dates, for the latter are called
'Chinamen's fish eggs' (TcanwAn gugu).
One method of preparing dried fish eggs (guqw
kahak") was to crush the raw fresh eggs in a wooden
mortar with an elongated cobblestone for a pestle. The
pulp was shaped into balls and "half-dried" for winter,
becoming like cheese. "It don't stink. They take the
stuff off the top [the crust?] and throw it away. It's
high tone eats." (JR)
Fish eggs were also buried in the ground to rot
(kahakw kAsix). "They just pack it away for so many
days and then they had to eat it right away or else it
would spoil. . . . Now they pack it in a barrel, but
before they used to dig a hole and put some skunk cab-
bage leaves in. Then they cover it up." Another in-
formant specified that salmon eggs were wrapped in
skunk cabbage leaves and left outdoors for seven days.
"The juice is like medicine."
A variant was called gel'. "They just put it in a jar
and leave it there maybe two or three days. . . . They
just eat it the way it is. It's cured?just like when you
put it in vinegar or something." Apparently these eggs
were only slightly fermented and had to be eaten at
once.
A more elaborate method was to make "Limburger
cheese" (kat'ixi guqwx) from coho eggs. "They hang the
eggs [i.e., the roes] two days. . . . Then they take
fresh ones from the fish. . . . After you smash the
fresh ones, put in the half-dry ones. You mash it to-
gether. Smoke it two days in the smokehouse. . . .
Smash it again. A long time ago, before the Whites,
they used them tAkt [wooden box] to smash it in. When
yana'Et [wild celery] is old, just a stick, put it in four
places in the middle." She made a sketch to show how
the hollow celery stalks were inserted into the mass of
eggs in the box to permit the escape of gas as the con-
tents fermented. "Then you make it. It's a very tough
thing to make it. It boils. Give it lots of fresh air, never
cover it. In maybe two weeks, a long time, it gets thick.
Knead it for just 2 hours, just so it comes together. . . .
[Then] we use tsa yuwii [seal stomach, to which about
2 inches of the esophagus is still attached]. . . . Put
it [the fermented eggs] inside, after you knead it. Fill
it to the top of the stomach. When you come to the
throat, tie it up, hang it up. The seal stomach gets dry
on it. When it's dry?one year?put it away. When
you want it, cut it like a cheese. It's a medium soft
cheese, red, just like this tea color. . . . Eat it with
oil." In southeastern Alaska, she added, they make it
of dog salmon roe wrapped in skunk cabbage leaves and
the resulting color is darker.
Another recipe involving salmon eggs is "rotten
fish" (tsAna'). "They dry the fish eggs, and then these
fish [salmon?]. They slice them up and let them stink a
little bit, and then they pack them with fish eggs."
FISH HEADS
There are somewhat similar methods of preparing
fish heads. Coho noses (perhaps the whole head?) were
buried in the ground to rot (kink). "Like cheese. I used
to like it. I don't know if I still like it." This, like rotted
salmon eggs, is considered by the natives and by a few
Whites to have medicinal virtues. "The White people
think the stuff will kill them, but it's only the smell,
like Limburger cheese."
Another form of prepared fish heads (xat 'AXAltin)
was mentioned, but the informant had never seen it.
The native term suggests that the fish were soaked
(Boas, 1917, p. 136, t'fn, 'to soak salmon').
Coho cheeks are said to be good eating "fresh"
(raw?), or else fried. The heads are kept fresh by thread-
ing them on an alder branch and hanging them in
running water.
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 403
HEEKING SPAWN
Herring spawn or eggs (yaw kahagu or yaw gugu)
are a delicacy, usually obtainable the latter part of
May. A number of families make trips to Eleanor Cove
to secure them. The method which has been in use only
since about 1950 is to take small hemlock trees down to
the low tide line on a steep sloping beach. These are
laid with the tops toward the shore and the butts
toward deep water, and are weighted with a heavy stone
at the butt end. At first the top floats up, but after a
few days of soaking the whole tree lies on the bottom.
A line is run from the butt end of the tree to above the
high tide line, so that the tree can be hauled up when
the herring have finished spawning on the branches.
Earlier experiments had apparently shown that if a
pile of hemlock boughs were weighted down in the
water, only the outer parts received the spawn. Now
the whole tree is used so that the herring may swim
among the branches. Only hemlock saplings are used
because the herring will not spawn on spruce.
When asked if fences were ever set up with branches
attached, one man said that this was a method used in
southeastern Alaska, "but they don't bother with that
here." Lack of elaborate preparations probably reflects
the uncertainty of the herring runs, since many came
in 1952 but none in 1953. In 1951, the people got no
eggs until very late in the season, because killerwhales
had chased the herring away. Sometimes the herring
come to one place, and when the people go there, the
fish have moved elsewhere. Then, when they do appear,
"all at once the bay is just loaded with herring. . . .
Those that have branches in the water are lucky."
(MJ) There are no proprietory rights to the spawning
grounds.
"My grandfather never said anything about putting
down branches to get the spawn. Sometimes they bring
in a feathery kind of seaweed with eggs on it. They liked
them, but there would be only a few eggs." (SJ)
That herring may never have been very numerous
in Yakutat Bay is suggested by MJ's remarks when
describing a trip up the bay about 1894. "I remember
when I was a young girl?same age as this one [a child
of 10]?my mother took me to Canoe Pass. Was first
time we know it come to spawn there. The eggs were
just white all over. My mother and the boys went up
there with canvas or anything. Can peel it from the
rocks. Augusta [an older cousin] and I, they get after
us for not bringing spawn to the canoe before tide comes.
We don't want to handle it. We're sitting around?
wash a piece in salt water?and eating it. It crackles.
Pretty near the whole town was there. But mostly
Yakutat people get it from Sitka?$5 a sack, already
cured and dried. It don't take long to dry."
A method now used to preserve herring eggs is to
put them still clustered on the hemlock twigs into a
keg of brine. The contents are weighted down with
stones to keep them submerged. The eggs are apparently
eaten from the twigs without further preparation.
The eggs may also be dried or smoked. "It's good
smoked . . . tastes like dried fish." The dried or smoked
eggs are soaked before boiling. "Then it comes back to
fresh. Cook it with oil. It's good." (MJ)
There is another saltwater fish that is said to resemble
the herring and has spots on the back. It is called
'Thunderbird's fish' (xetl xadi). It lays large eggs on
the rocks that are gathered and eaten, but I do not
know how they were prepared.
OBLACHON OIL
Oelachon oil ('ex, sak 'exi) was also preserved.
Like seal oil, it was regarded as essential to health and
little boys were regularly dosed with a spoonful of it.
Probably the fish of the first run, caught in the winter
(February ?), were eaten fresh, while those from the
spring run (middle of March) were processed for oil.
Minnie Johnson described the methods used at Situk
in the late 1880's to render the oil. The fish are piled for
two or three days on skunk cabbage leaves, and are
covered with branches to keep out the blowflies. This
was certainly in a pit, although this was not mentioned
in this connection (see however, p. 388). "When it gets
real ferment," the mass of fish is dumped into a canoe
with water, and cooked, "all mashed up." Apparently
partitions are set in to block off the two ends of the
canoe, and only the central part is used as a large pot.
Rocks are heated in a fire, picked up with tongs, and
dropped into the canoe to boil the fish. As the oil rises,
it is scooped out with wooden ladles and put into
wooden boxes or cans. "When one mess was done,
they fill it [the canoe] up again."
"Like seal oil, it's [the fish] got to start to decay.
When it's fresh, it won't last long. Tastes funny."
A friend added:
"They put up fresh hooligan oil at Saxman [south-
eastern Alaska], but they keep it in a cool place. . . .
They cook it fresh, not fermented the way we used to do.
They used to put hooligans in a hole. Line it with
sate [ferns] and stuff, so sand won't go in it."
Oelachon oil was put with boiled dried salmon. In
winter it became solid and white.
"Beach Food"
"Beach food," that is, marine invertebrates and
seaweed, has always been important. It is gathered
404 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
at low tide by the women, although men may furnish
transportation to and from the beach if it is at some
distance from the village.75 This custom has become
more necessary now than formerly, since skiffs with
outboard motors are used to go across to Khantaak
Island, and trips to the ocean beach beyond the Ankau
lagoons are made by automobile. The implement most
used to gather beach food is still the pointed stick
which serves as a digging stick for prying up clams
and cockles and for overturning crabs, and as a cane
when scrambling over rocks where the seaweed and
chitons are to be found. Gunny sacks and water buckets
have replaced the baskets formerly used to carry home
the spoils (pi. 101).
It will be remembered that Yakutat beach food was
claimed to be purer than that of southeastern Alaska
(p. 391). "Down in Southeast of Alaska you don't
take anything from the dry place [mud flats?], but here
it's different. You grab anything you want." When I
repeated the saying of the Angoon Tlingit that you
must not eat mussels when the salmonberries are in
flower or fruit, or the berries and mussels will "fight"
and make you sick, I was told: "I heard about that.
You know that trip around the southeast of Alaska
when the old man was alive? [to the ANB convention,
1929]. They try to drag that up here and say, 'You
mustn't dig no clams in March because R in it. They're
spawning then. But in February and January . . . [she
pondered the R's,] clams is pure and fat." (MJ)
Another informant said that about the middle of
March 1954, she had been getting clams, cockles, and
"gumboots" (chitons). Clams are good until April, but
after that they begin to eat some "green stuff," and
will not taste good again until August. It was in April
of that year that we were sick after eating clams which
we had dug in the lagoon beyond the Old Village.
Two types of clams are gathered: butter clams
(tsixw; pi. 100) and horse clams (gal'). These can be
dug in the lagoon by the Old Village or simply picked
up at extreme low tide in some of the smaller Ankau
lagoons. Razor clams can be obtained on the ocean
beach, but they are hard to dig and only a few people
try to get them. This is because they can be found only
at very low tide and burrow so fast that it is almost im-
possible to dig them out without a special long-bladed
clam shovel. It is doubtful whether they were ever
secured in former times, although one informant
mentioned a tradition of sticking pins through their
necks to force them to come to the surface. This
75
 Olson (1962, p. 208) defines beach food as "things derived
from salt water which are not motile. This seems to be a category
of things called Tlene di [len-'Adi ? 'things of low tide'] and
includes seaweed, clams, mussels, and the like, but does not
include fish or sea mammals."
reminds one of catching birds by putting salt on their
tails, although this method of getting razor clams was
reported as practiced by the Eyak on the Copper River
flats (MJ). Clams were not preserved, because there
were "plenty of them around."
The large basket cockles (saxw) were and are more
appreciated than clams. They may be roasted over a
fire and eaten fresh, or skewered on little spruce sticks,
dried, and put up in oil (tutlXkw). The long tough necks
are not eaten, but the bodies, especially of the very
large cockles, are tender and sweet. In describing an
excursion to one of the Ankau lagoons. MJ commented:
"Cockles so thick there?don't have to dig them. Just
pick them up. [Their squirts were] like shotgun shots.
You can't step aside."
Blue mussels (yak, yak) are probably no longer
eaten as much as they were formerly, to judge by the
middens at archeological sites and informants' stories.
The large California mussel (yis, yis) was not eaten,
although the shells were used for knives and scrapers.
"But they toast the middle-sized ones [large blue
mussels?] around the fire," apparently with tongs
(MJ).
Three kinds of crabs are recognized and eaten. The
ordinary Dungeness crab (tsaw) was usually caught in
the spring, especially around the smaller islands in the
shallow waters east of Khantaak Island. One of these
is, in fact, locally known as "Crab Island." Crabs were
caught at low tide simply by flipping them over on their
backs with a stick. They were boiled, but soft-shell
crabs were not eaten. The "spider" crab is occasionally
caught when fishing for halibut and is therefore known
as 'crab of the halibut deep' ('itki tsawu). The "king"
crab (xix, ?e"x) is like a "spider" crab, but bigger.
These are also eaten (CW and friend).
Chitons or amphineura, locally known as "gum-
boots," can be pried off the rocks at low tide. The
common, smaller type (cau) are boiled in salt water,
but not too long or they will get tough. The black skin
and the shelly plates below it are poked off with a
stick. Judging from my observations, the live chitons
may be soaked overnight in fresh water before cooking.
A favorite time to get them is in May.
The large crypto-chitons (ku, kuw) are apparently
not often gathered at Yakutat, perhaps because the
tidal range is usually too limited to expose them. Dead
ones occasionally wash ashore after storms. Once,
when MJ was out in a motorboat with her first husband,
she suggested that they stop at a reef where there were
many of these large chitons. She had never seen them
before. They took a number back to the village on
Khantaak Island where all the people crowded around,
because most of them had never seen any. They asked,
"Can I have one?" and took almost all of them. MJ
brought one to her grandmother and asked her to show
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 405
her how to cook it. The old woman built a fire out-
doors and "toasted" the chiton on a stick. Then she
scored it across the back with a knife, and rubbed it on
both sides on a flat rock. Then she dipped it into a pot
of cold salt water to clean it. This made the "bones
[shell plates] come out easy." It was then cut into
squares and dipped in seal oil to eat. Everyone tasted it
and thought it very good, but my informant did not
eat any.
Sea urchins (nis) are apparently gathered from early
spring all through the summer (pi. 100). While still
alive, they are cut in two through the vent with a knife.
The orange-yellow ovaries are scooped out on the blade
of the knife and are eaten raw without seasoning. They
have the cool delicate flavor of raw oysters, but it is a
little disconcerting to the uninitiated to see the spicules
continue to move after the animal has been disem-
bowled. The aboriginal implement (IUSA) used to remove
the ovaries was described as "just like a table knife. . . .
They used to use it. It's got a round point that goes in
the back of the sea egg and twist it open. I saw them
made of a stick." (MJ)
The squid or "devilfish" (naqw), though more often
used to bait halibut hooks, is said to be good to eat.
I am not sure, however, whether it is classed with
"beach food." "It tastes like crab meat" (MJ). It is
cleaned by reaching inside the mouth and pulling out
the entrails with, a jerk. The flesh is boiled and skinned
before being eaten. Some of the true octopus have
been found with "fingers" or tentacles 14 feet long, but
as far as I know these are not eaten.
Two or three types of edible seaweed are gathered at
low tide, from late April until about the middle of July,
although they are considered best in May. The most
tender, and to our taste the most palatable, is the black
seaweed (laKXsk). It grows on boulders on the beach
near Ocean Cape (pi. 98), and eventually turns whitish
in spots, when it is too old to be worth gathering. Of
the ribbon seaweed (xatc, qatc) two varieties(?) or
forms are distinguished: a dark kind (qatc gutlAk) and
a white (tied qatc). These grow on the sand between the
boulders. "The best seaweed is that growing under the
big seaweed. It keeps good a long time," apparently
because it is not exposed to the sun and air at low tide.
(MJ)
Seaweed is preserved by spreading it out on planks
or on the roof to dry in the sun (pi. 99). Children are
especially fond of sucking or chewing on tough pieces
of dried ribbon seaweed. We do not know whether it
is ever eaten fresh. Black seaweed, either fresh or dried,
is boiled, usually flavored with clam juice or salmon
eggs. Although MJ specified that it should be cooked
"10 or 15 minutes, until the seaweed is yellow," that
which we saw her cook was boiled for a much shorter
period and remained dark. She added to it some boiled
king salmon eggs from a mason jar. The mixture,
'dried eggs with seaweed' (kahakw tin lakAsk), looked
like spinach and beans, and was very tasty, although
the eggs were tough. It is probably the ribbon seaweed
which requires a more lengthy cooking.
MJ is one of the few women in Yakutat who still
dries a great deal of seaweed. In May 1953, she obtained
a lot from Deep Bay on Khantaak Island, and although
she sold most of it for $2 or $5 a paper bagful, she still
had some left at the middle of the following February
(pi. 100).
There are a number of taboos concerning the eating
of "beach food." We first learned of these one evening
when we had delighted two of our friends by offering
them the fresh sea urchins which we had gathered
that morning. They each ate three with relish, but
declined more, explaining, "At night time we don't
eat anything from the beach. We don't eat stuff from
the beach at night. It's hgas [taboo]. It gives us night-
mares [omens of misfortune?] and makes bad weather.
A long time ago they didn't have any salty stuff in the
house. And a young girl after she menstruates never
eats anything from the beach for two or three years."
This last restriction is so that the girl will be wealthy
in later life. "Some people don't like to eat things off
the beach because they say they always be poor. I
think it's too easy to get. I guess that's why they say
it."
Furthermore, a shaman and the members of his
immediate family, including his wife, were not allowed
to eat any beach food, except during one month of the
year (February?, March?, April?), when the mythical
Property Woman was supposed to go on the beach to
gather and eat such food. Then it was eaten ritually
by the shaman and his people to bring good fortune.
Plant Food
Although the Yakutat people were primarily eaters
of flesh, they nevertheless utilized a great range of
plants in their diet. It was impossible to make a com-
plete and systematic record of all the plants used by
the natives, yet our information, gathered largely at the
initiative and with the expericence of Dr. McClellan,
indicates that plant lore was well developed among the
Yakutat, as indeed it is among all the Tlingit. Many
plants were used for foods, medicines, and magic, as
well as for various manufactures. Edible portions of the
various species included the roots, bark, leaves, stems, or
fruit.
406 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
ROOTS
Edible roots (xat) were those of the fern, Kamchatka
lily, lupin, a plant with pink flowers called "native
sweet potatoes," and another with white flowers.
Identification of these (p. 34) has been impossible in
some cases, for we cannot be sure that the natives did
not apply the same name to several similar species, and
descriptions of the flowers given at a time when they
were not in bloom were confusing.
The leaves of the fern (sate), including the lady
fern and possibly also the wood fern, were not eaten,
but were used to line pits or vessels in which other
foods were prepared. The roots (qwAlx; Boas, 1917, p.
157, kwAlx) were dug early in the spring, before the
fronds had grown, because afterwards the taste is said
to be lost. The root is described as round, about 3 or 4
inches in diameter, with rootlets as big as the little
finger growing around it. "They grow kind of funny."
These roots were baked in a pit under the fire or boiled.
The Kamchatka lily (pi. 96) furnishes "wild rice"
(kux). Again, there is flavor in the spring, and also in
the fall when the frost comes in September, but it is
lost when the plant flowers in June (MJ). Another
informant believed, however, that the root could be
gathered as early as the middle of July. The "rice"
are the small white grams that cluster about the
yellow central core of the root. The former are said to
taste like rice, while the yellow center is described as
"sour" or "bitter" although some people like it. The
white grams may be boiled fresh like rice. Some people
mash the cooked grains and add millr and butter, "just
like mashed potatoes," A former method of preservation
was to mash the boiled grams, shape them into round
balls with the hands, and dry these on a rack-like
tray. This was apparently done in the smokehouse
while fish were being smoked. When dry, the cakes
were covered with a crust, and were put up in seal or
oelachon oil with berries.
There may be two rather similar plants, both called
by the same name (gEntAkw), which furnished edible
roots, or perhaps two varieties of lupin (pi. 96), the
blue and the white, which were called by different
names (gEntAkw or kantAkw, and gi?tis). The latter
may be a beach pea (see identifications attempted,
p. 34). It was described as having white flowers, or
purple to white flowers, and grows at Situk. "Wild
sweet potatoes" (tsAc, tsats, or tsats) are the roots of
a plant with pink flowers, which also grows at Situk.
It seems impossible without further investigation to
make absolute identifications of the plants to which
these native names are given, and since the methods
of preparing them seems to be similar, these are simply
summarized.
Informants differed as to whether the roots were dug
only in the fall, when the frost comes, or whether
they were dug and eaten in both spring and fall. They
were boiled and dipped in seal oil (MJ). Of the plant
(gi?us) it was said that the roots were dug in May,
and might be boiled, or dried (after boiling?), and put
up in seal oil. "Wild sweet potatoes" were said to have
a root that was red and as long as a finger. It seems to
have been a favorite food of the mice, and the natives
used to rob the mice nests of their stores or take the roots
which the mice had spread out to dry for their winter
stores. These roots would be baked overnight in the
hot sand under fire (JR). Or, if boiled, "they say it's
just like syrup, real thick." This informant was im-
pressed that no one had tried to make sugar of it.
All of these roots, as well as those of the fern, may
be kept in a pit cache where they would be cool but
not freeze. There were said to be many other edible
roots about which I could obtain no specific information.
BARE
In spring before the people went to sealing camp,
they used to gather the sweet inner bark (SA?) of the
hemlock (yAn).
"They shave the sweetest part of the bark, next
to the wood?nice and juicy. Oh, it's sweet! . . .
Grandpa cuts off that bark, then grandma cuts that
[inner] bark. . . . They get the bark off of the tree.
Lay it on the ground. Get a piece bigger than that
table top. Then scoop up the inner part, shave it up,
like. Get on your knees and take just shorty cuts,
going around. . . . She [grandma] goes back and forth
like a machine." (MJ)
The informant demonstrated how the kneeling
woman worked from one edge of the sheet of bark
across to the other, beginning at the end farthest
from her and scraping the shavings of inner bark to-
wards her in a series of short strokes. When she had
finished one row, she worked across the bark again.
"That knife (xftk) curls up so it won't cut deep.
She shaves off that bark and puts it in a pack sack and
ties it up with spruce roots. [This is a] tut?a packsack
made out of the outer sheet of bark to hold the inner
shavings until you can dry them. If it's a stormy day,
spread it out on that tray [an openwork wooden rack].
[Otherwise,] just chop that off, and the sun dry it
up. . . . When it's dry, put it up in seal oil. . . .
"They put it up this season of the year. [It was then
July 1, surely too late; May would be more correct.]
Sometimes the mosquitoes is just terrible. My grandma
would make a fire to keep them away." (MJ)
Sometimes a tree was cut down to get to the bark, but
sometimes, and presumably always before steel axes
were available, the bark was cut across and pried off
the standing tree with a long pole. This was a task
which required the cooperation of man and wife.
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 407
Another informant, in describing the method of
scraping, said: "When you are shaving off the bark,
you catch the thin peelings between your thumb and
forefinger as you scrape them off. You scrape the bark
on the line, and on the line, and on the line. It's the
prettiest thing inside the bark! And you can see the
juices coming out."
The shavings were said to look like cornflakes.
The inner bark might be eaten fresh. One informant
liked it with butter and sugar, another boiled the
shaving with sugar. A third told how she used to steal
handfuls from her grandmother, apparently when the
fresh shavings were out drying in the sun. The dried
bark was put with seal oil in a bag of halibut skin,
and eaten with the oil. "I used to pack a bag full
around and give it to my grandma. She knew what
I wanted and would give me a handful of it at a time."
In late winter or early spring, when there was still
not much pitch in the spruce ('as, or sit), but when
the sap had already begun to run and the fresh inner
layer was growing under the bark, this inner layer
(ciyi) was scraped off and used as a less relished sub-
stitute for hemlock bark. The usual method was to
scrape the standing tree, but "some of the people
scrape the bark off and eat it."
The knife used to scrape hemlock bark was like a
small ulo with cupshaped blade (see fig. 51, p. 422). At
one time it was presumably made of shell, for one name
for the bark scraper is the same as that for the large
California mussel (yi&).
PITCH
Although not a food, pitch (kui) may be mentioned
here. Children used to chew it like chewing gum. The
most relished variety was traded from the interior.
GEEEN PLANTS
There were also various green plants that were eaten.
Late in May, for example, the furry buds (ket) of the
salmonberry are peeled and eaten raw.
"Wild celery," cow parsnip, (yana'Et) is also eaten
raw late in May and early June, before the leaves open
(pi. 97). The stalks are cut, peeled, and eaten like
celery. It has a rather astringent taste. This is a favorite
snack of the children, who gather and eat it by the way-
side, and are scolded by their elders for burning their
lips and faces if they have not peeled the stalks properly
(MJ et al.). Burroughs noted that the natives at the
sealing camps in Disenchantment Bay were eating
"parts of the leaf or stalk of a kind of cow parsnip, a
coarse rank plant that grows all about" (Burroughs,
1901, vol. 1, p. 60). This was at the latter part of June,
1899, but the season is a little later there than it is at
Yakutat.
Another plant is the "wild rhubarb" (tl'AlwAtc),
probably the great western dock. The reddish stems
and leaves are gathered in June and July, and are
boiled. We found that it has a rather bitter and astring-
ent aftertaste, and the natives were surprised that we
did not like it as well as garden rhubarb. Some of them
prefer to flavor it with sugar, and may even use it in
pies (MJ et al.). If the plant is old and coarse, the boiled
pulp is squeezed in the hands, and the stems picked out
and thrown away.
The peas of a purple vetch were also eaten. (Is this
wild pea, Lathyrus palustrisi) "They beat those canned
peas. My husband [a White man] used to like them."
(MJ) The name 'Raven's garden' (Yel tayi) was offered,
but another woman (EV) applied this to the yellow
vetch, which has a longer vine and no peas. The same
name was also given to a yellow composite.
"Hudson's Bay tea" (sikcAltin) was apparently used
both as a substitute for tea and as a medicine (p. 657).
The leaves are dried and then boiled. "That medicine is
good for colds. It's good?like tea. Tastes more strong
than that." "It helps your stomach."
The leaves of the fireweed (lul), picked in the fall
when they are dry and red, were also used "when
we're short of tea," but apparently had no particular
virtue.
Funston (Coville, 1895, p. 332) reports that hairy
and Kamchatka rock cress (Arabis hirsuta, and
A. lyrata kamchatka) were both eaten raw by the
natives at Yakutat. He also reported (ibid., p. 330)
that the Siberian spring beauty (Claytonia subirica)
was eaten, either raw or cooked, but our informants
identified it as a medicine. The medicinal uses of plants
are described on pages 655-659.
BERRIES
Berries (tleqw) were the most important type of plant
food in the past, and the women still gather and pre-
serve quantities. Berrying grounds were formerly
owned by sibs, and I heard accusations that some
women were still attempting to exercise exclusive con-
trol over strawberry patches on sib lands, although this
may have been only unfriendly gossip. When one in-
formant was questioned about the rights to pick berries
on the Teqwedi lands at Situk and Lost Rivers, she
explained that in the old days the women of the two
Raven sibs (TluknaxAdi and Kwackqwan) could pick
berries there because they were married to Teqwedi
men. When asked specifically about Kagwantan women,
she said that any woman could pick berries there be-
cause the people knew that she was getting them to
share and give away. This may reflect only modern
practice, or may be interpreted to mean that berry-
picking privileges were freely extended to any woman
who could claim relationship to a member of the sib
403 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
that owned the territory. Usually such a woman would
be a resident of the area as a wife or unmarried daughter.
Presumably visitors were expected to ask permission to
pick berries or might be invited to join a berry party.
It is clear from the story of how Knight Island was
purchased by the ancestors of the K>ackqwan that to
gather berries without permission was considered to be
trespassing or stealing. In this instance, the basket of
strawberries was cut from the offender's back.
In the former times very large supplies of berries were
gathered and preserved, and even today most women
put up many jars (pi. 100). Berries were, of course,
also eaten fresh. The following varieties are gathered:
salmonberries (wAs^an tlegu, Rubus spectabilis); blue-
berries (kanaka, Vacdnium ovalifolium) and a second
variety with white blossoms (nana kanaka, 'up-river
blueberries,' Vacdnium sp.); red elderberries (yelJ,
Sambucus racemosa); highbush cranberries (kAxwex,
Viburnum edule); wild currants (cax, Ribes bracteosum) ;
lowbrush currants with hair or trailing black currants
(kAnEltsuk, Ribes laxiflorum or R. glandulosum);
lowbush cranberries {Vacdnium intis-ideat); lagoon-
berries {Rubus stellatus); and strawberries (cukw). The
Yakutat people are also familiar with a southeastern
Alaska variety of gooseberry with prickles (xahewtr,
perhaps Ribes lacustre), although it does not grow at
Yakutat, and with the cultivated red currant (kwek)
in the mission garden.
Berrypicking begins the latter part of July when
salmonberries and the first strawberries can be found.
Then follow the blueberries of late August and Septem-
ber, elderberries, lagoonberries, currants, and the rest,
with the last highbush cranberries (pi. 95) which may
still be picked in October, when ice is forming on the
ponds. Strawberries are and always were the most
important and abundant variety gathered, but these
do not ripen until the end of July and early August.
According to native tradition, many areas, now wooded
or overgrown with small bushes, were formerly open
sandy flats covered with strawberries.
Gathering of berries was and is primarily the task
of women, although men cooperated when large
amounts were to be secured. Thus, the whole family
or several families used to go in canoes to the head of
Situk River to pick, and sometimes a young man would
be kept busy, simply carrying the full baskets to the
canoes (p. 287). "We get berries up Situk. We line the
whole bottom of the canoe with skunk cabbage leaves
and bring in a whole canoe full." (MJ) And, on another
occasion: "We used to get highbush currants, high-
bush cranberries, white berries, and lagoonberries
[up the Situk]. The lagoonberries were one inch around.
There are too many bears up there now. Nobody goes
there. Then they used to take the day off to go get
them."
Even today berrypicking is a social affair. While
each woman and her children will pick for their own
family, parties of several women usually go out to-
gether because the noise made by many persons serves
to drive away the bears. They call out constantly when
they are among the bushes so that the bears, who
may also be picking berries on the other side of the
bushes, will not be taken by surprise and hence attack.
Sometimes a single woman may be accompained by a
boy with a gun, who also helps to carry home the full
buckets. A man who owns an automobile may drive
his wife and a party of her friends and relatives to
a berrypatch, or the owner of a large motorboat may
take those who share the cost of the gasoline across
Yakutat Bay to Point Manby to get strawberries.
Berries are now put up in mason jars by conventional
methods. Sometimes they are boiled first with sugar,
or the raw berries and sugar are put into the jars to be
cooked. Aboriginal methods usually involved drying
the fruit.
One old-fashioned method, used especially for
strawberries, but apparently also for blueberries,
highbush currants, highbush cranberries, and lagoon-
berries, produced dry cakes {'Jit ka. xwiikw, probably
'At kAxukw). The berries are first "rough smashed"
in a wide flat basket (tal) with a wooden pestle (1ie?A).
The mass is then dumped into an enormous sheet of
spruce bark ('as dayi), about 10 by 4 feet, or even 15
by 5 feet, held up by four posts (tsakw) at the corners.
The bark is lined with skunk cabbage leaves, and on
top of the berries is a layer of fern fronds. "It makes a
fine fragrance. It seems to make it kind of sweaty
like, so it won't dry." Then comes another layer of
skunk cabbage leaves and on top another layer of bark.
"They build two fires under the bark, one at each
corner [end] so it will cook evenly. They cook it until
the juice is dried up and it's ready to smash again.
It takes two days of cooking at least. They are scared
to burn it hasty, or it would burn right through the
bark. They use any kind of wood in the fire, but it
can't be a hasty fire." (MJ)
"They put the fire underneath. Sometimes it's just
boiling like this, that berries," said another.
Apparently the fire is allowed to go out at night,
and before it is rekindled in the morning more smashed
berries may be added to the mixture.
After the berry paste has boiled dry, "when it is
good, thick, no water in there, they make ' i t ka
x
wiikw out of it. Gee, it's good, that thing!" To do
this, the pulp is mashed again and the stems removed.
Then it is put into square traylike frames ('it ka
x
wtlkw qasi) to dry. These are about 2 feet square and
2 or 3 inches high.
"My grandfather made squares like the cannery
trays, but made of wood, all shaped with a knife. [She
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 409
refers to the openwork trays made of iron straps on
which the cans are cooked and cooled.] It's fixed so
the berries won't go through, like a dish drainer. You
pat the berries down with your hand. There are two
or three cross pieces in there. You put it in there so it
dries quickly. They got skunk cabbage in there [to line
the frame with leaves]. Then they got it overhead way
high up to dry. They dry it so it won't get sour. That
smashed berries is wet. They want to get a crust over
it, so it can harden and they can take the frame out.
Then they spread it [the cake] out high up above the
fire where it will dry until it gets hard."
The cakes were apparently wrapped in skunk cabbage
leaves while drying, and when cured were like dried
figs.
These cakes could be kept in a dry place or might be
put in a wooden box and covered with seal oil. In
winter, a small piece of berry cake, "a little jigger of
berries like that [about 2 or 3 inches square] would
make a big Hudson's Bay plate full of berries if you
soak them" in warm water (MJ). This recipe is tradi-
tional, even though a man born in 1914 confessed, "I
never taste any like that, never see any like that." MJ
had described the method used by her mother and
grandmother in the 1880's and 1890's, but explained:
"It's too much work making berries. That's why this
younger generation doesn't want to bother."
From the dried berry cake was made a feast dish
called 'Raven's food' (Yel 'At iayi), consisting of the
soaked berries beaten up with oelachon oil and snow.
A somewhat similar recipe was used to make "mixed
berries" (kanegwAl'), so called because it looks like
'paint' (negwAl!) when mixed with the fish eggs which
were an essential ingredient.
It was described as a kind of jelly, and was used
especially for berries other than strawberries, although
the latter might also be prepared in this way since
several kinds of berries were usually cooked together.
Highbush cranberries and red elderberries were men-
tioned as one combination, as were highbush cranberries
and strawberries.
After the berries had been cooked dry, mashed
salmon eggs were added. "It makes it stiff, like custard.
They mash the eggs and put the flour [egg paste] in
the berries. It takes the sourness out of it. It's like
cornmeal mush." And, "with salmon spawn you don't
need sugar to preserve them?big saving. When you
eat the berries you can add sugar and seal oil." (MJ)
Another woman specified that to one dishpan full of
cooked berries you should add the roe from four coho
salmon, smashed with the "strings" taken out. "Cook
it until it gets thick. The young folks like it but they
don't put it up the old way."
In describing what was perhaps a variant of this
recipe, a third woman said that the salmon eggs were
cooked before being added to the berries, and that
the mixture was preserved in boxes covered with seal
oil. As her son explained it, "any kind of salmon eggs"
are smashed and added to the cooked berries. "Put
the eggs in there and just leave it like that. As long
as they don't touch it, it don't spoil. Once they touch
it, they got to eat it up or it will spoil. . . . I used to
eat the salmon eggs out of it. They're good. They
generally get the eggs when they are prime, just loose.
Otherwise it's hard to separate them." That is, the
roes were taken just before the salmon were ready
to spawn. This dish was often served at potlatch
feasts.
The old people are said to have been particularly
fond of preserved elderberries. They used to leave
some twigs and green berries in with the ripe ones
to add to the flavor. The berries must be cooked as
soon as they are gathered or they become watery
and tasteless. They may simply be cooked until dry,
but the wife of one of the missionaries used to make
jelly of them by adding sugar and dried apples.
Some doubt attached to the use of the berries of
the clasping-twisted-stalk or cucumber-root, a plant of
the lily-of-the-valley family (Streptopus amplexifolius).
When Dr. McClellan and I picked some of the plants,
we were teased, "What are you doing with that 'dead
person's berries' [sege qawu tlegu]?" We asked if
they were good to eat, and were told, "They make
the finest kind of a jelly?only slimy like. They don't
let us kids eat it. I never see my father and mother
eat it. Plenty of berries without tapping that." (MJ)
The same kind of equivocal information was given
at Angoon, where an elderly woman told of her horror
or distaste when another had offered her some jam
made from these berries. I did not discover the reason
for this dislike, nor why the berries should be called
by such an unpleasant name. Some of Emmons'
informants said that an intoxicant was made by
boiling the roots.
Soapberries (hoktl'i, Shepherdia canadensis) can now
be found in Nunatak Fiord but are apparently a
recent intrusion. In the last century they were im-
ported from southeastern Alaska, probably derived
from the interior via the Chilkat. They were apparently
dried, and before use were soaked overnight. As with
other berries, "a tablespoon full of dried ones makes
a big Hudson's Bay dish full" (MJ). The berries are
whipped into foam with a handful of spruce root
shavings, "excelsior like. . . . You tangle it around
your hand and it beats up the berries pure white."
The dish was a distinct novelty in Yakutat. "My
mother used to get soapberries from Douglas and
Hoonah and those places. My mother's relations in
410 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Haines, my mother's aunty, put them up," and sent
them to her. "The first time I see it I was at Khantaak.
I was out playing. My aunty's husband?my aunty
on my father's side?her husband came back from
Sitka and he brought some up. I wonder what it is
after I come in from play. They eat it. They got a
big plastic [!] dish the same color as the soapberries.
My uncle wanted to treat his brother-in-law with
that strange food. He was sitting in the middle of the
floor, beating it up. I ran in and my mother said, 'I
was just hoping you would come in.' I took a big
spoonful?Ux! It taste just like the soap. My brother
Charlie and the others ran in. They didn't like it
either?spit, spit, spit!" (MJ)
It is doubtful if anyone in Yakutat now eats it,
although one woman who regularly visits relatives in
Juneau reports, "They make it taste better now. They
put in sugar and lemon or vanilla extract."
The way in which the soapberries could be whipped
up seems to have been a constant source of interest.
"Just stop to think. Who in the world show them
soapberries? Maybe they learn it from Yel [Raven]!"
(MJ) The same peculiar property seems also to have
impressed Albin Johnson, for these are the only berries
that he describes:
"Furthermore, there are dewberries and a kind
of berry that grows among the mountains called
'soapberries.' These are valued by the people because
they could be dried and pressed into cakes and be
kept and used at feasts. The peculiar thing about
these berries is that when they are put in water
and worked over, the substance becomes like soap
bubbles with a reddish color. The Tlingit people
call it 'Indian ice cream.' For a little cake of these
berries a high price is paid. At the big potlatch
feasts the best dishes are made from these berries.
A large tray is employed, fill it half with water,
and mix in a piece of the above-mentioned cakes.
Two young men work the mush till the foam flows
over the edges, beautifully rosy red, and then the
tray is carried around to the feasting crowd. Every-
one presses in the direction of the tray in order to
grab a handful of the 'ice cream.' In this way each
one is given a chance to taste the dish as long as
it lasts, which is not very long. These berries are
not delicious, but bitter, and they are eaten mainly
according to old custom and because of their
beauty." [Johnson, 1924, pp. 96-97.]
Some Native Recipes for Modern Foods
Although the missionaries tried to induce the natives
to raise garden vegetables, their efforts were not very
successful. A few men and women did make gardens
at their summer fish camps, especially on the Ankau
lagoons, but vegetables were not much relished.
Traders and missionaries also introduced flour, tea,
sugar, and other groceries; the natives were evidently
making bread with baking powder before 1886 (p. 193).
A few native recipes for such modern foods were
mentioned incidentally by Minnie Johnson.
"My mother and grandma never cooked no carrots
or turnips or other vegetables. They eat it raw with
seal grease. . . . They don't care for no potatoes.
They got native sweet potatoes."
Tea (tcayil) and the cup (t6acka) from which it
was drunk were both introduced by the Russians, and
their names were recognized as Russian. "The old
people like mountain goat tallow in their tea. . . . The
old folks don't use sugar in their tea. They use 'fifty-
fifty/ half brown and half white sugar. They call it
'old-fashioned taffy.' You make a cake of it and then
chop it up in squares. You don't pull the taffy, just
boil it until it is a syrup." Brown sugar (cuga kati)
was also served in lumps at feasts.
Bread (suknEniwu) was evidently made in two
ways. One was to boil or fry the dough in fat. "I
didn't have any mountain goat tallow . . . but I
cooked bread boiled in seal oil. You just dip it in like
doughnuts. They call it Siwash bread."
Bread was also made by more conventional methods.
"They bury it in the sand. It gets about four inches
thick. You use baking powder in it, and you bake
it in a Dutch oven. Then after it is cooked in that
[you take it out, and] you get it in a circle all around
the fire until the crust gets high."
Tobacco and Intoxicants
Native tobacco (gAntc) was formerly grown in the
Yakutat area and made into snuff. It will be remem-
bered that in 1788 Captain Colnett observed near
Cross Sound "a house & garden neatly fenced in, &
European plants growing" (quoted, p. 131), and that
in 1791 Malaspina saw some cultivated fields on the
shores of Yakutat Bay where presumably tobacco was
being grown (p. 149). Beresford recorded the use of
this plant at Port Mulgrave in 1787:
"The Indians are particularly fond of chewing a
plant, which appears to be a species of tobacco; not
content, however, with chewing it in its simple state,
they generally mix lime along with it, and sometimes
the inner rind of the pine-tree, together with a
rosinous substance extracted from it." [Beresford,
1789, p. 175.]
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 411
The plant seems to have been a true tobacco (Nicoti-
anna), although of an as yet unidentified species, per-
haps similar to N. mvltivalvis or N. attenuata (cf. R. B.
Dixon, 1933, and Heizer, 1940, and references cited).
The leaves, presumably dried, were chopped up and
ground in a wooden mortar (Ue&Ayit) with a pestle-
shaped stone (fo&A). Ashes of hemlock or alder bark
were added to it to give it a sharper taste, but it was
denied that lime from roasted shells was added (KDI).
Probably lime was omitted when commercial tobacco
was substituted. The snuff (tAwAgu) was shaped into
balls (WAC 'At, 'cheek thing') and sucked.
Men and women, and even small children chewed,
or rather, sucked snuff.
Tobacco was also smoked in pipes, presumably after
the habit was acquired from Europeans, from whom
they also obtained commercial tobacco. Since tobacco
was smoked primarily at feasts in memory of the dead
and on similar ceremonial occasions, it is not surprising
that many pipes were of wood, carved in crest designs.
For example, the pipe collected from the DAqdentan
chief in 1888 represents Lituya Bay, the territory of
this Hoonah sib, with the Frog, a bear, and the tidal
waves at the entrance (pi. 123). A wooden pipe obtained
by Emmons at Dry Bay represents the island in the
middle of the bay, with the Eagle above and a Killer-
whale below (AMNH E/229). From Dry Bay, he also
obtained wooden pipes representing the Eagle, Murrelet,
and a hand with six fingers (pi. 121; AMNH E/240 [to
Dresden, 1898]; AMNH E/235 [to Emmons, 1921]; and
pi. 122). This last is an Eagle pipe which belonged to
a chief. A pipe representing the Bear, another carved
like a ship's cannon, a bone pipe, and an ivory pipe
trimmer! with brass came from Yakutat (pis. 122, 123;
AMNH E/2746, 19/432). A prized heirloom at Yakutat
now is a meershaum pipe that was formerly smoked
by the former Teqwedi chief, Daqusetc or Minaman,
at feasts for the dead. Even small children smoked
pipes in the 1880's.
Smoking or sucking snuff was obligatory for guests
when tobacco was offered by their hosts, since it was
for the dead. Now people smoke ordinary cigarettes on
such occasions. For few use pipes or buy cigars. Some,
of course, do not care for tobacco or have given it up
because of missionary teaching.
In former days there were no fermented or intoxi-
cating beverages, as far as I know, although Emmons
reported that the Tlingit made an intoxicant by boiling
the roots of the "dead persons' berries" (p. 409). Ac-
cording to Krause (1956 p. 109), smoking at feasts
might produce "a stage similar to intoxication . . .
both sexes still chew pitch, as mentioned before, and
the root of the lupine 'kantak,' which also induces a
form of intoxication." Possibly there were other plants
which produced narcotic or hallucinogenic symptoms;
indeed, faith in the effectiveness of the native "medi-
cines," roots which were carried in the mouth, may
have been due to the effect which they produced on
the user (see pp. 659-661). However, none of our in-
formants at Yakutat mentioned any intoxicants or any
drugs before the introduction of liquor.
Liquor (nau) was relished by the Yakutat people
when it was introduced. This was evidently long ago,
to judge by the literary evidence, such as the story of
how the Eussians gave "whiskey" to Raven (p. 873).
(More probably it was brandy or vodka; rum would
have been carried by British and American ships.)
Many native songs are drinking songs or refer to
drinking.
We do not know just when the Yakutat people
learned to distill liquor. It may have been shortly after
this art was acquired by the Angoon Tlingit, a few
years after the purchase of Alaska (see p. 181; cf.
Swan, 1875, in Morris, 1879, p. 146; de Laguna, 1960,
p. 159). Such home brew or "hoochenoo" was being
made on Khantaak Island in the 1880's, when the pipes
for the still were simply tin cans soldered together, the
cracks plugged with dough. The children liked to pick
out and eat this intoxicating dough, while the adults
entertained each other at drinking parties. These would
begin with singing and dancing and "having a good
time," but too often ended in tragedy, to judge by the
many stories of killings in drunken brawls, drownmgs
or dying from exposure when drunk, or of deaths by
poisoning from bad liquor.
Although Yakutat is (as of 1954) "dry" by local
option, liquor is readily available, and drinking seems
to be a regular accompaniment of the Saturday night
dances. (More recently, sales of beer, possibly also of
distilled liquor, by the cannery store have been legal-
ized.) A number of individuals, both native and non-
native, have been privately accused of bootlegging, but
it is virtually impossible to secure testimony for a legal
conviction. Liquor from Juneau is received by plane,
and it is also carried by the fish buyers who visit the
fish camps to buy salmon for competing canneries. It
is alleged that the fish buyers offer the first drink free,
then sell the rest of the whiskey at $10 a pint. Some
local men also make and sell beer. It is almost impossible
for persons who do not want to drink to refuse an
offered cup, for to do so would be grossly insulting.
It is also difficult to stop drinking before taking too
much. At the time of a death or a funeral, when people
are sorrowing and remembering their own dead relatives
of long ago, many individuals who do not normally
drink attempt to find solace in liquor. Aside from the
hard tunes due to the depletion of the salmon runs, it
is safe to say that drinking constitutes the most serious
problem in Yakutat today.
412 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
NATIVE MANUFACTURES
Raw Materials
It was difficult to learn much about aboriginal tools
and manufactures because the Yakutat people have
become so completely acculturated. While there are
traditions about the tools and techniques of former
days, they are rather vague, and many of the archeo-
logical specimens were strange to our friends. They
expressed both admiration of their ancestors for their
skills and ingenuity, and also pity because the old
people lacked so much.
One knowledgeable elderly man summarized the his-
tory of tool materials:
"From the beginning, when people come here. . . when
the glacier that covered Yakutat melted [and] they
moved in . . . they used strong animal bone to make
things out of. Everything we have now, they made it
out of bone . . . even iftA. [knife]... . It's just like the
White people copy it [the aboriginal knife]. Before
the Russians discover Alaska, they used that. . . . After
the Russians we don't use much bone and wood, but
iron and copper.
"After the White people lived on the Pacific Ocean,
after there were boats on the ocean, there would always
be iron, nails from floating logs. People used to look
for it. Anybody who found it would be a rich person,
and lucky."
Yet with the simple aboriginal tools, the Yakutat
people manufactured things which roused the admira-
tion of the the early explorers. Thus Malaspina (see
p. 394) admired particularly the blankets (presumably
of woven mountain goat wool), the skin-covered boats,
and the baskets with their delicately colored decora-
tions and their tight waterproof weave. We have al-
ready quoted some of LaPerouse's observations and
speculations on the working of metal (p. 116), for he
observed weapons and other objects of both copper
and iron in Lituya Bay. In addition to a mention
of woven garments, presumably of Chilkat-blanket
type (see p. 433), and of woven hats and baskets,
LaPerouse also states:
"The Americans of Port des Francais know how
to forge iron, fashion copper.. . . They likewise carve
all sorts of figures of men and animals, in wood or
stone, in a very tolerable manner; make boxes of a
tolerably elegant form, and inlay them with the
opercula of shells; and cut serpentine into ornaments,
giving it the polish of marble." [LaPerouse, 1799, vol.
1, pp. 406-407.]
IRON
Drift iron (gay^s) was certainly used and worked by
the prehistoric inhabitants of Yakutat Bay, according
to the archeological evidence (de Laguna et al., 1964,
pp. 88-90). It was very precious, and the finder became
an important person. He became a big man and could
buy many slaves with it, I was told. There is a story
about a man who was left behind by his people. He
found drift iron. All the people who had left him starved
that winter, but he got lucky and found iron and made
tools out of it. The people knew how to work iron by
heating it in a fire, hammering and grinding it, because
they could already work copper in this way. I have
already (pp. 233, 256) cited the tradition that, before
the Russians themselves came to Yakutat, a schooner
was wrecked on the shore west of Icy Bay, and from
this the Qralyix-Kagwantan obtained a great deal of
iron which they made into spear points. Harrington
also recorded from GJ what may be the same story or
an account of a similar event:
"A ship get wrecked, drift ashore, lots of iron in
there, big spikes. Indians get and make into knives,
and into the blades of bear spear. Oh my, it was a rich
man who found a piece of iron in those times. The old
Indians were tough and long-lived."
In addition to blades for spears, other objects made
of iron were daggers, knives, arrowheads, awls, chisels,
and possibly adz blades, to judge by archeological
specimens and statements of informants.
COPPER
Our excavations on Knight Island in Yakutat Bay
suggested that native copper ('iq; Boas, 1917, p. 123,
'e"q') was used before drift iron (de Laguna and others,
1964, pp. 87-88, 203-204). According to tradition the
ancestors of the Kwac]iqwan brought copper with them
from the Copper River (pp. 233, 237, 242). The dis-
covery of native copper and how to work it is credited
to a poor Atna boy who received the knowledge in a
supernatural way. Copper was received in trade from
the Copper River Atna and possibly from the Nabesna,
via the Southern Tutchone on the headwaters of the
Alsek River. It was made into knives, awls (?), scrapers,
tiny nails, arrowheads, and barbed heads for sea otter
harpoon arrows.
"They used to make barbed spear heads?-kAt?out
of nails after the Russians came. Before that, they had
copper. They brought copper from the Copper River
when they moved to QAUAWAS [Knight Island]."
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 413
There is a belief that the old people knew how to
handle the soft native copper to "make it as hard as
steel. Now they can't do it. In the olden days they
claim they tempered this copper almost as hard as
steel."
Copper was, of course, very valuable, and was
prized largely for ornaments: bracelets, necklaces,
pendants, and rings for the nose.
"These things . . . they were expensive. Just rich
people had them?respectable people; 'anqawu use
them. Whoever had it would be the proudest." "Just
high people use them things. A man like me can't use
it. 'AnyAdi [nobles] is the only one that use it. Some-
times they twist it like a rope, and they make it for
their neck or for a bracelet. That's the only thing
'anyAdi use before."
Informants hazarded that an object of copper, like
a piece of iron, would be worth a slave. Copper was
said to have been beaten into plates (tfnna), the largest
of which were worth from 8 to 10 slaves (p. 354). Har-
rington's informant (GJ) was also impressed with
the value of copper. When they were out at the Ankau
cemetery on Memorial Day, 1940, he said:
"Some places in the mountains you see green spots
there; that is a sign of copper. We used to find pieces
3 feet long, and 1 inch thick. Old natives dug for it.
If you get a foot long piece you are a rich man and
can buy 4 or 5 slaves; you don't have to do anything."
BONE, HOEN, AND STONE
Bones (saq) from stranded whales, hard bone from
animal's legs, especially those of the bear, horns (lenet)
of mountain goats and moose, bird bones and eagle
beaks, the teeth ('ux) of bears, seals, and beaver, and
large mussel shells (vis) also furnished materials for
tools, weapons, utensils, and ornaments. Archeological
specimens show that bone and horn were sawed into
appropriate shapes, perhaps with sharp-edged fragments
of chert, with small chisels and burinlike tools, or with
abrasive stone "files." It was carved and ground smooth
and polished. Horn and antler were softened in boiling
water before being shaped.
Stone (tE) was used to make blades for adzes, chisels,
knives, scrapers, and weapons, as well as for lamps,
pestles, hammers, drills, whetstones, and strike-a-lights.
Most of the stones used were hard igneous or meta-
morphic rock, shaped by pecking and grinding. The
only chipping seen on archeological specimens was very
crude. Curiously enough, slate was little used. Some
minerals were used for paints. Marble was carved for
dolls' heads; limestone was hollowed out for lamps;
whetstones were of sandstone and claystone. The
materials for which distinctive names were recorded
are: greenstone (suw tE), green chert ('in)?glass and
flint are also called ('in)?white quartz (nex, nei),
mica (kAtl'ak, kAtl'aq), rock crystal (tt'et'Akw), coal,
lignite (yel xudzi, 'Raven's ashes'), gold (gun), silver
(dAna, 'dollar'), red ochre (le?w, lex"), blue-green
copper oxide for paint (nexintE), and Harrington adds
a brown native pigment dug from the ground (sAkwAt,
sAkkwaat).
WOOD
Woodworking and painting of wood was done by the
men. The local woods were chiefly spruce and hemlock,
although there was yellow cedar, and red cedar could
be found in the form of drift logs on the ocean beach
or was even imported from the south. The last was
preferred for many things since it floated well, did not
rot quickly in water, and was easy to split. Yellow cedar
was preferred for fine carvings. For many purposes,
for example, making a canoe or making planks, care
was taken to select a tree that was without branches
for some distance up the trunk. For other purposes hard
wood (gAkw) was desired. Boas (1917, p. 128) gives this
term (gAqu) as 'heart of a tree,' but my informants
specified that hard wood came from the side of a tree,
where it is bent, with "blond colors inside." It was often
obtained from the hemlock (yAn gAgu). The heart or
"middle of the tree, like a small string," was 'its inside
place' ('Atu 'iti). Bark ('as dayi, hin) used for roofing
material was presumably obtained and handled by men,
whereas brush (WAS, or MtsAn), which, might be used to
cover drying fish or as brooms, and roots (xat) were
obtained and handled by women. Burls ('as daiis; Boas,
1917, p. 129, xfs) were carved by men in making bowls.
Bamboo (?uk, tux) was sometimes found on the beach
and was considered a valuable rarity. A section of it
was used for the girl's hair ornament (tcin). MJ re-
ferred to it as "some kind of hard wood that drift from
a long ways?must be from Hawaiian Islands or some
place. That hard wood, you can't hardly cut it with a
knife. It's just hard! A bamboo tree?piece of hayik
'u^u ['below-here peg']. . . . Wherever it grows, that
kind of wood, that's supposed to be growing underneath
of the ground. . . . No, it's very seldom they find it
on the beach." The pole that holds up the earth is
supposed to be of bamboo.
Men's Tools
ADZES AND CHISELS
Greenstone and green chert were used especially for
adz blades. Another name for such rocks was "weight
on the glacier" (sitfkA xuwu or xuwu, literally 'pin or
peg on the glacier'). Supernatural precautions had to
be observed when obtaining pieces of these rocks, al-
though I did not learn exactly what they were, and my
414 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
informants at times seemed to confuse the hard green-
stone with a soft greenish shale used for whetstones.
Probably both occurred as morainic materials and
both required special observances. They were found in
Icy Bay, and probably also in Disenchantment Bay.
When taking the rock, one had to "trade for it" or
"borrow it," presumably leaving some gift in its place,
or else "steal" or "hide it away"?"otherwise, it's bad
for you. I don't know why." The penalty was, I believe,
bad weather.
Such hard rocks were shaped by pecking and grind-
ing into large heavy grooved blades for the splitting
adz (tayfs, 'stone wedge') sometimes called "stone ax"
(tB tcAnAxwayE) with T-shaped wooden handles. They
were also worked into the smaller, thinner ungrooved
blades for the elbow-handled planing adz (yolk or
xutU; cf. Boas, 1917, p. 149, yi-xut!, to pull, to chop);
and they were sometimes used for chisels (tiyi, 'patch-
ing tool;' cf. Boas, 1917, p. 136, yA-t'iy, to patch).
Specimens excavated at Knight Island and other sites
were identified by friends with considerable interest
(de Laguna et al., 1964, pp. 90-98, pis. 5-8).
Adz blades were lashed to the handles with sealskin
thongs (JR), but it is not clear whether all chisels were
hafted. The large splitting adz was used for felling trees
and chopping firewood, the planing adz for shaping
canoes, smoothing planks, and roughing out carvings,
while chisels of stone or even of bone served for finer
gouging and carving. Informants had, however, ap-
parently forgotten that in the old days trees were felled
and canoes hollowed out by means of carefully con-
trolled fires which charred the wood so that it could be
adzed away. Within historic times, of course, steel
axes, planing adzes with iron or steel blades (pi. 117)??
note how eagerly the Indians of Port Mulgrave traded
for such iron "toes" in 1787 (p. 126)?ordinary steel
chisels, carpenter's planes ('ankA yexA, 'shipboard
whittler'), and saws (XACA, 'cutter') have taken the
place of the old stone tools. Johnson (1924, p. 50) has
recorded the astonishment and joy with which the
natives received the sawmill of the missionaries, from
which they got planks to build new houses.
Stone adz blades, especially the heavy grooved heads
of the splitting adz, obviously represented a consider-
able investment in labor, and were unfortunately
broken too easily. Therefore supernatural as well as
practical precautions were taken when using them.
"The old folks used to believe that when a man is
using that ax, the women folks can't eat or it will
break. They start chopping before daylight. The old
people are like animals in the woods [because they are
abroad in the dark?]. This time [now] the people can't
cut with them; the old folks had power". "The owner
would feel bad if a stone ax were broken?maybe Mil
a slave."
A good carpenter using a planing adz would often
leave evenly spaced adz marks for decoration. "My
father used to make fancy work on his big logs. Make
a little hole?just like a finger print. Make it so pretty.
We play on it. We run around on it barefoot." (MJ)
The informant here referred to the bench around the
inside of the house and to the plank walk to the bank
of the Situk River.
The chisel of bone or stone, often made from a broken
adz blade, was sometimes held in the hand and used
with a pushing motion. Or, "when they are using a
chisel, they hit it with a wooden hammer. Sometimes
they take a piece of hard wood and narrow the end for
a handle [for the hammer]." Small adzlike or chisel-
shaped tools of greenstone and slate were very common
at the site on Knight Island. Many were notched or
grooved for hafting. There were also a few similar tools
of bone (de Laguna et al., 1964, pp. 95-99).
KNIVES
The woodcarver used a crooked or "curled-up"
knife (yukAtEn iftA) for hollowing out objects, such as
wooden dishes, the bowls of spoons, and even the
prows of canoes (JR). The blade was originally made
out of drift iron or copper, later of an old file, a piece
of a crosscut saw, or a large nail (pi. 117). In addition,
the carpenter had a straight-bladed draw-knife (t'aci
XACA, probably tia-cl-xacA, 'board-cutter'). "It's a
straight sharp knife. Old people used to make it from
a nail?used to make boards with it, too." The method
of holding both knives was the same: they were drawn
toward the user, the point of the blade down, and the
thumb held up against the handle (Jack Ellis). Some-
times the knife handle had a hollow at the end as a
thumb rest. A man might have a whole toolbox full of
knives for carving, "just like razors" (MJ).
A number of archeological stone and bone imple-
ments were identified as men's knives (IftA.); some for
carving, others for skinning small fur-bearing animals.
"Poor men like me can't handle copper. The only
thing we use is bone. I think they carve with bone. I
think they carve with bone like a wood chisel." (See
specimens described above.) Some of the stone blades
thought to be knives were poorly chipped scraps of
chert; others were fragments of ground and polished
slate and greenstone. Most carving, one suspects, was
done with the small woodworking tools compared to
chisels and burins, of which great quantities were found
on Knight Island. Informants were obviously so un-
familiar with aboriginal knives that little credence
could be given to specific identifications.
Bone knives used for skinning small animals will be
described under women's tools, although they were
probably used as often by men.
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 415
ENGRAVING TOOLS
Beaver teeth (segedi 'uxu) which we excavated had
evidently been used as tools, to judge from the signs of
wear (de Laguna et al, 1964, p. 105, pi. 16, a, b). One
informant who saw them said: "I just don't know how
they use this thing. Some of the old natives use them for
carving things, I think. I think that's what they use for
carving." That he was correct is shown by the engraving
or carving tools made of a beaver incisor set in a wooden
handle which Professor Libbey obtained at Yakutat in
1886 (pi. 117; PU 5184).
WEDGES
Wooden wedges (yis) were used for splitting out
planks. "They make a wedge out of the strongest,
hardest part of the hemlock. I seen it. They still use it
when I was young [late 1880's]. . . . They pound it
with an ax or a wooden hammer. My grandfather used
to stay outdoors at Situk and split big blocks just like
nobody's business. He came in (with) a big pile of
shaving for the fire. . . . He use two, or three [wedges],
as many as he want, for a plank. It depends on how big
a block he wants to split. He hit the wedge with a
wooden hammer." (MJ) The informant denied that
bone wedges were ever made.
HAMMERS
Hammers, as already mentioned, were often of wood
(luwu tAkl; cf. Boas, 1917, p. 130,1'uwu, wooden; p. 124,
Mql, hammer). In addition, almost any conveniently
sized cobblestone served as a hammer. A few were
found that were grooved for lashing to a handle. One
of these was carved to resemble an animal (frog?),
but this may have been intended for a club (de Laguna
et al., 1964, p. 112; pi. 10, j ; fig. 21, d). We saw no
carefully shaped hand hammers or pestles, although
they are known from Yakutat (fig. 49 and AMNH
E/97, E/446). These seem, however, to have been used
by women in preparing food.
WHETSTONES
Stone and bone tools were ground and sharpened on
whetstones. Archeological specimens varied from large
grinding slabs of sandstone to small, neatly shaped
pieces of fine claystone (yayen.i; referring to the smooth
surface, ya; cf. Boas, 1917, p. 132, yAyenA, whetstone).
A greenish type of stone, used for sharpening knives
or as a file, was called sikdax or srimAx, although this
was said not to be a Tlingit word. It will be remembered
that it was also called "weight on the glacier," perhaps
confusing it with hard greenstone.
Such whetstones are still used today; the man or
woman who is using a knife keeps a whetstone at hand
and continually sharpens the blade.
DRILLS
Drill points were made of bone, of stone, and probably
also of drift iron. The drill (tul?u; cf. Boas, 1917, p. 137,
jk-tnl, to drill) had a wooden handle, about 9 to 12
inches long, and was rotated between the palms of the
hands. Small bits were used in making holes for pegging
the sides of a box together, and larger bits for the holes
through which the thwarts of a canoe were lashed in
place. Coal beads, found at the site on Knight Island,
were pierced by very fine holes (2 to 4 mm. in diameter)
which must have been made with drill points of iron or
copper wire (de Laguna et al., 1964, p. 159). "They got
all sizes. I know my father used to have them. . . . They
use any kind of wood for the handle." (MJ)
Since the bow drill and strap drill, as well as the
strike-a-light, were used to make fire (p. 307), it seems
curious that no one mentioned the use of such mechan-
ical drills for boring holes.
PAINTBRUSHES AND PAINT
Paint (negwil';Boas, 1917, p. 144, gwli') was used for
decorating wooden objects, especially those which bore
sib crests. These ranged hi size from house posts and
house screens, canoes and paddles, to maskettes,
rattles, and little boxes. The colors used were black, red,
greenish blue, apparently mixed with grease or salmon
eggs. At the late prehistoric site on Knight Island we
found sandstone slabs and cobblestones on which red
ochre had been ground and mixed, and one stone which
had been rubbed in greasy black paint (de Laguna et
al., 1964, pp. 116-117). More elaborately carved paint
mortars were evidently made, for Emmons collected one
at Yakutat carved to represent a frog (AMNH E/1898)
and at Dry Bay, a plain one and another carved to
represent a "rock shellfish" (AMNH E/92, 93). The
paint was said to be rubbed in the dish and mixed with
either water or salmon spawn.
Paintbrushes were made of hah", lashed tightly to a
handle, and cut off somewhat at an angle to leave both
a flat edge and a point at one end. Every artist had
several; of different sizes to suit the work he was doing,
and for the different colors of paint. Emmons obtained a
set of paintbrushes in a skin case at Yakutat (pi. 139,
top).
"The paintbrush is made of brown bear hair, tied
together in a bunch on a handle. My father was a great
painter. He tied my fingernails with twine to his
paintbrush handle so I'd be a good painter and handy
with my hands." (MJ) The informant was a woman,
and this magical procedure (see pp. 506-507) was
probably intended to make her generally skillful, rather
than a painter, since painting was almost exclusively
a man's job. However, the same woman also mentioned
416 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
that her grandmother painted red stripes down the
sides of boxes (see p. 420).
Black paint (t!utic) was sometimes made of powdered
charcoal (also called fut'c) or soot. However, magnetite,
a black oxide of iron, was used on the masks and
maskettes collected by Professor Libbey from Yakutat
in 1886, according to the identification of Professor
Donald Baird (pi. 174).
The red paint was made of hematite or red ochre
(lexw), which could be found at the head of Disenchant-
ment Bay. Some lumps of pure hematite were found,
in the site on Knight Island, that showed marks of use;
there were also some pieces of clay stone which had been
burned to increase their red color (de Laguna et al.,
1964, p. 116), although Yakutat informants did not
mention this practice. Red ochre was used both for
painting objects and for decorating the face (see pp.
419-420, 447-44S).
The greenish-blue paint was made from a copper
oxide, probably azurite (nexrntE). The Yakutat people
had heard of it, but did not know what it was, for
they confused it with greenstone. One said of it:
"Blue paint stone. It's used for dye. They grind it
up on rough stones till the color comes out. Mix it up
with salmon eggs. Smash up the eggs and mix it in
the paint. It never fades. The juice of the salmon
spawn makes it sticky. Use it for painting totem poles
[i.e., any crest object]. . . . That's precious stone. It
comes from some place in Southeast of Alaska, where
the Teqwedi came from . . . where the Teqwedi get
lost because they broke a piece of it [i.e., took some
from a deposit and thereby caused a storm]." (MJ)
Another informant was also acquainted with this
story (Swanton, 1909, Tale 17), and recorded part of
the song said to have been composed by one of the
men when threatened by shipwreck in the storm (NM;
1954, 6-1-1; p. 1165).
A white powder (weyna), said to have been mixed
with red ochre in painting boxes (see p. 420) came from
Disenchantment Bay. The mixture produces a rather
thin red. "They use it [the white clay or chalk] mixed
with red paint for boxes. Can you beat it??Old people,
how wiseful they were!"
"They get white paint by the glacier across from
KWA? iat'i ['Egg Island,' or Haenke Island], There is
pure white powder at the foot of the mountain. They
call it Weyna ta, that place. You can't get it out; it
gets foggy." (MJ) "Maybe you can get it on airplane,"
suggested a friend, meaning that you might be able
to get the white paint away before the fog came.
"You make chalk out of it," continued the first. "You
tan skin with it. Skin is pure white when they get
through with it." (MJ)
The belief that gathering rare minerals or stones
(greenstone, fine claystone, blue-green paint) is likely to
cause bad weather or other misfortune has already been
noted (p. 69), and may be why the same informant,
on another occasion, denied that the "white dirt" was
used to clean skins, "It's at a glacier across from Egg
Island. It runs out like a glacier. They never try to
get it to clean skins. Long time ago people believe when
you touch it, it gets foggy for days and days." (MJ)
Despite these dangers it is obvious that such materials
were gathered.
Harrington also recorded a type of brown mineral
pigment (sAkkwaat) which was dug out of the ground
and used for painting the face and also for painting
wood. The word for brown color was the same.
He notes further that the natives obtained both
black and blue (suu, 'blue color') pigments from char-
coal made from the leaves and berries of the blueberry,
"by treating this charcoal with some other stuff."
I am not sure, however, whether we are dealing here
with a paint or a dye, since the natives often failed to
make any clear distinction.
GLUE
In addition to the waterproof paste used for calking
boxes, made of burned clamshells, mixed with salmon
eggs, seal brains, or seal blood (see p. 420), a glue was
made from fishskins (xat xasi, 'salmon skin'). I was not
told for what purposes this was used. The method of
manufacture was described :
"They make a nice glue out of fishskin. My uncle
used to make it. They used dried fish, tear the meat off.
Scrape the outside off, throw the scales away. Heat the
skin up in warm water. It gets nice and soft. Then put
it between two pieces of wood and tie them together,
and it holds them when it gets dry. My uncle used
salmon skin." (SJ)
"Native glue is fishskin. Boil it till the water gets
away and it gets sticky. They use it to glue things
together, long time ago. . . . [They used the skin of]
any kind of fish, either sockey or silver [salmon].
Silver [coho] is best. They give more juice." (MJ)
Another informant believed that halibut skin was
used for glue. "Whenever you touch those skins, they're
kind of gooey."
Domestic Utensils
The articles, utensils and tools, that might be found
in the house have been enumerated (p. 306). Most of
these, except baskets, were made by men, although
used by women.
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 417
STONE VESSELS
Stone lamps have already been mentioned (p. 306),
and numerous examples were found at archeological
sites (de Laguna et al., 1964, pp. 117-121). These
were chiefly made by hollowing out limestone cobbles,
and when well made had a groove around the rim, or
a deeper well at the bottom of the bowl. Seal fat was
burned in them for light; the wick was a bunch of
beach grass or a twisted rag.
James Skeek, one of Harrington's informants, de-
scribed a cooking pot made of stone (th6kk'wAtl, i.e., ti
qwAtl, stone pot). It was made of a gray stone; some
were darker in color. The material was too hard to
cut with a knife, although it could be ground. Skeek
though it might be some kind of slate. "They kept
chipping and chipping with a harder rock for months
and after they kept grinding it off with a coarse rock
to give it a finished shape. . . . The biggest stone pot
Skeek ever saw used for cooking was a foot [in] diameter
and a foot high, dark in color. [In it they] boiled
mussels, sea cradles (caaww) [chitons], maybe." My
informants mentioned nothing of the kind.
Harrington's informant also noted that cast iron pots
are called 'stone pot,' while white porcelain pots are
called 'horse clam shell pot' (gal' ntixu qwAtl').
Large grinding slabs were used for preparing foods,
medicines, and paints. A number of these were found
at the site on Knight Island, and had evidently been
used to sharpen or polish adz blades and other im-
plements; some of the others were smeared with red
ochre (de Laguna et al., 1964, pp. 114-115, 116-117).
MOETAES AND PESTLES
While most mortars (t'e^Ayit) were of wood, there
were also said to have been some made of stone.
Probably these were hollowed out of limestone cobbles,
like the lamps. Although we found no specimen that
could with certainty be identified as a stone mortar,
one woman said that she had seen one in Dry Bay,
shaped "like a bucket," about 12 to 18 inches high, in
which berries were crushed with a wooden "pounder."
The wooden mortar for tobacco was a wooden bowl
resting on a flat base with two projecting flanges. The
man making the snuff sat down to grind the tobacco,
steadying the mortar with his knees or legs on the two
flanges. A snuff mortar photographed at Yakutat had
the inscription carved on the bottom: "July 31, 1941,
Italio Kiver," and had been made by the late Sam
George (pi. 121). A mortar made of a whale vertebra
with a flat base (6}? inches in diameter), a height of
5% inches, and a diameter at the top of 7% inches, was
found at Dry Bay, and was estimated by Jack Ellis as
about 200 years old. The two pairs of round holes are
natural. This mortar was also used for tobacco (pi.
121).
Pestles (t'e^ A) used for crushing tobacco seem to have
been made of stone, usually elongated beach cobbles.
A carved stone object from Knight Island, representing
the Frog(?), may have been a pestle although it shows
no signs of wear (deLaguna et al., 1964, p. I l l , fig. 21, b.)
Pestles or hand mauls with a nipple top, or stirrup-
shaped with a handle like that of a flatiron have been
obtained at Yakutat (fig. 49), although we found
no examples. Emmons collected two stone hammers or
pestles at Dry Bay and one at Yakutat, identified
as mashers for berries and fisheggs (AMNH E/95, 97,
94). Informants said that such foods were crushed in a
flat basket (tal) with a wooden pestle (t'e?A), and
Emmons also had a wooden implement of this kind from
Yakutat (AMNH E/446).
L)
FIGURE 49.?Hand hammers or pestles for mashing berries, fish
eggs, and tobacco; collected by G. T. Emmons at Yakutat
before 1889 (AMNH E/94, E/96). (Smith, 1899, figs. 12,
c, and 13, / . One-fourth natural size.)
COOKING UTENSILS
Foods were boiled in waterproof baskets (xicA &WA1
or qwal) or in boxes (lAkt). These are described below.
Since these containers could not be set over the fire,
the contents were brought to a boil by means of stones
that had been heated in a fire. These stones were trans-
ferred to the basket by means of two wooden sticks
used as tongs. It sometimes took four or five stones to
bring the water in a pot to a boil. These methods of
cooking in a basket have been described by 18th-
century explorers (quoted, pp. 393-394).
The wooden tongs ('InA or 1'AfJa) were described by
my informants as "big grabbers. They are two pieces
of wood tied together [at one end]. The pieces of wood
have flat ends. You have to use one hand to open it
[left hand in the middle] and one hand to close it [right
hand at the base]." Such tongs were also used for hand-
ling the hot rocks used for sweat baths, and for roast-
ing mussels and other shellfish at the fire.
Harrington's informant also gave a good description
of stone boiling:
"They use the llht [wooden box] also for boiling
meat, fish, with boilingstones. The number of stones
418 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
varies; as soon as one cools, then another is put in;
they keep rotating, just one rock in at a time if the
quantity is small; if big quantity then several rocks
in there at a time. One rock boils the water for 5
minutes. You can get water to boil quicker and hotter
that way than you could by fire."
"I'Att'aa, wooden tongs used for taking boiling-
stones from the fire. 'AX-1'Att'Ayyi, my wooden tongs.
Made of hemlock, spruce. They generally use green
stuff so it won't burn easy. They keep sticking the
points in the water to keep it from burning. . . . He
volunteers again that they always take the boiling-
stone with wooden tong from the fire and then plunge
it for a moment into water to clean it before putting
it into a wooden trough in which things are cooked."
The boiling stone was called xweellii-ttheeyyii (i.e.,
x
weti teyi), literally, 'steam-cooking stone,' according
to Harrington. The same name was given to the rocks
used for the steambath.
Two forms of spits were used for roasting meat or fish.
One of these was simply a sharpened stick (tsil; cf.
Boas, 1917, p. 139, tsfk, spit), that was thrust through
the meat and set up leaning over the fire. It was often
used with small fish. The other form of spit (xwEna,
xena; cf. xwena, scallop) was a stick that was split
partway down, so that a sliced and spread fish could be
slipped between the two halves. This was judged to be
the better kind and was used for larger fish such as
salmon. The fish to be roasted was sliced open and held
flat by means of two cross sticks or skewers (tl'i&At!).
These sticks prevented the split fish from collapsing.
Charley White said that he had often cooked fish this
way in camp.
I have already mentioned the earth oven lined with
skunk cabbage leaves, roasting meat between two heated
slabs, and the large bark tray on which berries were
cooked.
SERVING DISHES AND SPOONS
Food was served on wooden trays or platters (qe"ia),
described as about 2 feet long and 9 inches wide, and
also on individual wooden dishes (six). Large dishes or
boxes used at feasts, were named for sib crests. They
were said to be very large, and to hold a great deal
of food which was offered to guests. Some vessels were
decorated with carvings, for Minnie Johnson reported
finding an old wooden dish "like a mush bowl. It was
oval, -with carvings on it." Feast dishes were sometimes
made of moose horn. Such dishes were very valuable,
for the TlukwaxAdi of Dry Bay were said to have killed
two Teqwedi boys who failed to return the moose
horn(?) dish in which they had been given a present
of food (p. 276). The ancestors of the Kwackqwan
emigrated after a quarrel over the inheritance of a
Copper Eiver chief, whose principal treasure was a
dish made of the horn of a giant moose (p. 231). It
was said to have been inlaid with abalone shells (tAxxe
xu teyi), and there was also a platter inlaid with dentalia
(tAxxe) (p. 238). At Yakutat, Emmons obtained a
handsome dish for serving grease, made of horn and
carved to represent an owl. It had originally been the
property of a Wrangel chief, undoubtedly KiksAdi
from the Owl crest (pi. 118).
Two feast dishes obtained by Emmons at Dry
Bay were large baskets, decorated with colored grass
(AMNH E/1870, 2457).
Baskets were also used for cups (PU 3987, collected
by Emmons at Yakutat and taken back by him in
in 1913), for dippers, and for cooking pots.
Five interesting grease containers, all carved from
a single piece of wood, were obtained at Yakutat in
1886 by Professor Iibbey: a dish in the shape of a seal,
certainly suggesting that the contents would have
been seal oil (PU 5175); a small oval bowl with flared
rim (PU 5173); an oblong dish with opercula inlaid on the
rim (PU 5174); a small dipper-bowl with a gut string,
carved fromburlwood (PU 5172); and a teapot of wood,
complete with handle and spout (PU 5169). (See pi.
119, a-e.)
Dippers (guxwA, see Boas, 1917, p. 144, kAkux^ A
'bailer') were made of wood, as were some spoons or
ladles. Emmons secured a wooden ladle at Yakutat,
the handle carved to represent a bear (AMNH 19/
1090). Spoons (ell) were of wood and also of polished
horn. Each of two photographed at Yakutat in 1949 and
said to be of moose horn (?, mountain sheep horn?),
had a wide shallow bowl and a slightly curved flat
handle (pi. 127). The owner liked them "because you
don't burn your mouth with a horn spoon" (MJ).
Spoons were certainly made of mountain sheep horn,
imported from the interior, for Emmons collected
several at Yakutat (pi. 118), including some carved to
represent a bear, a wolf, and a dead shaman tied down
for burial (AMNH 19/1105, 1106, 1107), as well as
a "feast spoon" from Dry Bay, made of the same
material, and said to have been used for drinking oil
(pi. 118). He also collected spoons made of mountain
goat horn, one from Dry Bay, inlaid with shell and
carved to represent a bear (AMNH E/293, sent to
Dresden in 1898), and another from Yakutat, carved
to represent a bear and a mosquito (AMNH E/292).
Curiously, one informant said that he had never
heard of spoons made of mountain sheep and mountain
goat horn, but described small spoons, made of eagle
beaks, but without separate handles. Emmons also
collected two of these at Yakutat; they were apparently
children's toys (pi. 118).
The wooden knife used to eat sea urchins has been
described (p. 405).
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 419
Wooden Boxes
Square wooden boxes (lAkt, or qukw; cf. Boas, 1917,
p. 128, qfuku', box or chest) were made for cooking
and to hold water, oil, preserved foods, clothing and
other belongings. The wooden boxes, for fresh water
and for urine, that stood near the front of the house
have been mentioned (p. 307). The box "with oil and
stuff in it" was called dinet. These boxes were ap-
parently of the traditional Tlingit pattern, and were
made in various sizes and were equipped with lids.
The smallest were used to hold personal ornaments,
amulets, or other small valuables.
Two small boxes were seen and photographed at
Yakutat. The larger, about 12 inches square and 12
inches in height, had belonged to Mary, wife of Lituya
Bay George (pi. 127); the second, which measured
about 4 inches in each dimension, belonged to Anna,
wife of Xadanek Johnstone, and is now in the Alaska
State Museum, Juneau (pi. 127). These boxes were
alike in being made of a single piece of wood for the
sides, kerfed and bent at the corners, with a separate
piece for the bottom. The lid, like the bottom, had a
flange to fit inside the walls of the box. The wood was
unstained except for broad stripes of red down the four
corners; the lid of the smaller box had a checkerboard
design of four red squares. The lid of the larger was
said to have been the same, but I did not see it. What
makes these boxes distinctive is that the sides are not
flat, but are gracefully rounded outward.
Professor Libbey obtained seven small boxes at
Yakutat in 1886 (pi. 120). Four are like the two boxes
described above, except that they range in size from
4 to 2 inches in each dimension, and the lids are threaded
on a loop of sinew cord attached to holes near the
top, so that they can be lifted off but not lost. The
decorations of red painted areas are almost the same.
Of greater interest, however, are three double boxes,
the largest consisting of two compartments each 6
inches square, or 12 by 6 inches, and a little over 6
inches in height. The smallest has two compartments
only 2% inches square. The central partition and
the sides are made of a single piece of wood, cut and
bent to form a squared figure 8, the piece for each
compartment is fastened to one end of the central
partition. The lids for these boxes are also double;
that for the smallest is strung on a sinew cord attached
to each end; a similar cord is missing from the others.
These double boxes are decorated like the ordinary
boxes with red stripes down the corners of each con-
tainer; the lids have checkerboard or Maltese cross
patterns.
These boxes all have the bottoms pegged on and the
sides are either sewn or pegged together at one corner.
Fragments of small boxes or dishes, found at Old
Town on Knight Island, indicate that some were oval
in outline, with the bottom fastened on with tiny
nails of native copper (de Laguna et al, 1964, pp.
175-177, fig. 23).
Although I saw no elaborately decorated boxes at
Yakutat, Harrington's informant told him that boxes
"had faces painted on them." These have been described
by Suria:
[Inside the house, see p. 312]: "Here you can see
some square wooden boxes. All their ornament is
reduced to a mask on the four fronts with the mouth
open, badly carved with the teeth inverted and in
others by way of ornament they have them placed
in a parallel line." [Wagner, 1936, p. 253.]
Grinnell in 1899 saw the women ladling seal oil
into kegs and tin cans,
"or rarely into ornamented rectangular boxes of
a primitive type. These boxes, as is well known,
are made in three pieces, the cover, the bottom,
and the sides. The thin plank which forms the sides
is cut part way through in the line where the corners
are to come, and is then steamed and gradually
bent, and at last when the opposite ends come
together to form the fourth corner of the box, they
are fitted in a tight joint and sewed together with
twigs or sometimes with cedar bark [more likely
spruce root]. Such boxes were once universally
employed to hold oil, but at present their use has
been largely superseded by articles of white manu-
facture." [Grinnell, 1901, vol. 1, pp. 159-160.]
Grinnell's illustration (p. 159) shows an "oil box"
with painted crest design on at least one side. The
top is lashed on with double and triple strands of
rope that pass twice in each direction over bottom,
top, and each of the four sides, forming on each surface
a pattern like: # knotted at each crossing. Anna
Johnstone Daknaqin's box was tied up in the same way.
Some storage boxes were decorated with inlayed
opercula (?), for MJ told how she and some other
children 60 years ago found a box full of a shaman's
paraphernab'a, cached on top of a rock in the woods.
It was a heavy box, about 3 by 2% feet, the cover
and sides all covered with "those little bones," about
the size of her finger, "just white, pure white." The
box was tied up with a heavy cord of spruce roots
(see pp. 699-700).
The grave boxes at Port Mulgrave that contained
the ashes of the dead were painted with crest designs
or decorated with opercula (pis. 59-61), according to
the descriptions of Malaspina and Suria (quoted pp.
540-542).
When traders began to bring colored chests or trunks
of camphor wood from Canton, these became prized
possessions for storing clothing or for holding the
420 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
ashes of the dead. An iron key, found at the site of
Diyaguna'Et on Lost River, was identified as belonging
to such a chest. These trunks were called 'whale bone
chests' (yay sage qukw), "just to give it a high respect
name, I guess," or 'gold chest' (gun qukw). Another
informant (MJ) recalled how stacks of these Chinese
boxes were piled up in her parents' sleeping room,
and how she herself as a child had owned a small
one. These valuable chests did not, of course, replace
homemade boxes for domestic purposes.
The Yakutat people still prefer to keep clothing
and other personal possessions in trunks and suitcases
or boxes, rather than in bureaus or chests of drawers.
MAKING WOODEN BOXES
Minnie Johnson explained how wooden boxes were
made:
"My father used to make boxes for berries and oil.
They were made of one piece of wood which he bent
[for the sides] after he measured it and made three
cuts [grooves, or kerfs] across it. He soaked it in luke-
warm water before he bent the board. The water was
not hot, just lukewarm. The bottom was pegged in
with wooden pegs, and after food was put in the box
these swelled up so you couldn't see them. The lid
fitted tight on. It had a flange that fitted inside the
box, and the lid top fitted over the top edges of the
box. [The joints or seams were sealed to make them
watertight?see below.] When the box was finished, it
was rubbed smooth with pumice [gwA<!?]. Then it was
painted down the corners with red paint. Afterwards
the box was tied up in a certain way with spruce root
ropes so a heavy pole could be run through the cords
and two men could carry it. Or, four men, two on each
pole, could carry the box, no matter how heavy it was."
In this account, certain technical terms had to be
supplied.
Two informants said that wooden pegs were used to
fasten the sides together at the corner, and to attach
the bottom; but another said that the parts were sewn
together with spruce roots. Professor Libbey's boxes
show that both methods were used at the corner of the
sides, but that the bottoms were pegged.
The seams were calked by means of a paste made of
clam shells.
"We used to take this clam shell, duck it down under
the open fire, and after it's cooked, mix it with seal
blood. You know those kkt [boxes]. Put it in the seams
of those boxes, like white lead. It never leak. . . . I
see in the encyclopedia they used to mix quick-lime
with ox blood?same thing," said one man.
The cooked or calcined shells were ground "as fine
as flour," but after the seal blood was added the mixture
was not cooked (KDI).
Another method of making the paste was described:
"They get a big pile of clam shells and burn them
till they get mushy. Then they grind them very fine,
like face powder, [using a pestle with a circular motion],
and mix it with salmon spawn. If they have no salmon
spawn, they could use seal brains." This paste was
put on the seams before the parts of the box were put
together. "Put clam shells on top of big fire. Put more
wood on it, till it turn into powder. Put inside of seal
skull mix in with it. Get brains from seal, mix in with
cooked clam shells. Make a paste out of it. Put that
in cracks of lAkt [box]. When they put seal oil [in]?
never crack a leak. I used to watch my grandma. Her
fingers be just full of that stuff. Rub just on the cracks,
and put le^w [red ochre] on it. Makes it pretty. It
gets just glassy." (MJ)
This last probably refers to the broad stripes down
the corners of the box and to the squares on the lid.
This paint is said to have been made by mixing red
ochre with a white clay (see p. 416). On another
occasion, however, the same informant was understood
to say that paint or stain made from red hemlock
bark was used for decorating boxes.
Pottery-
Jones (1914, p. 78) mentions that the Tlingit of
southeastern Alaska once made pottery "suck-a-chew,"
and we found fragments of baked clay at an early
historic site near Angoon (de Laguna, 1960, p. 103).
Abercrombie in 1884 saw the Eyak at the mouth of
the Copper River smoking tobacco in home-made pipes
with bowls of carved, baked clay (Birket-Smith and de
Laguna, 1938, pp. 76-77). It is therefore not impossible
that the Yakutat people once made somethmg of the
kind.
All of my informants, however, denied that their
ancestors made anything like pottery or clay pipes.
Pottery, specifically earthenware, is, however, called
sA-ka-djux, analyzed by one informant as 'glacier-mud
rolled-up,' and by another as 'clay put-together.' While
pottery is declared to be exclusively a White man's
manufacture, it is curious that the native term should
indicate so clearly the method by which a local type of
pottery could have been made.
"I think slkadjux is White people's. Or, maybe they
[the old people] done it once. . . . They would have to
mix something with glacier mud to hold it together."
One woman told how, as a child in 1887 or 1888, she
had found the bowl of a little pipe in the fireplace of
their smokehouse up the Ahrnklin River. It was de-
scribed as made of brown clay, like a brick, and lacked
a stem. Whether the latter had been broken off or
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 421
whether the bowl had a hole into which a wooden stem
was supposed to be inserted, was not made clear. The
pipe sounds like those made by the Eyak, except that
the informant said that it had the bearded face of a
White man modeled on it, and insisted that it had
been made by the Whites. However, her parents could
not imagine how it had gotten into the fireplace, so this
find remains a mystery (MJ).
Harrington and his informants also discussed the
problem of pottery. Clay, gray in color, is found in
various places on the beach, or in riverbeds, and is
called se1; not SA, as reported by Boas (1917, p. 155).
American manufactured pottery, "a dish of dark color,"
would be 'clay-kneaded dish' (se kkhAttchiixxu sfx; i.e.,
se kAtcfxu sfx). The same verb is used for kneading
bread. (Boas, 1917, p. 141, recorded k(A-h-djux, 'to
roll a ring or hoop'.)
One man repeated the word 'clay-kneaded dish' and
pondered. He "says he hardly knows what the word
could be, and then looking at the spittoon, he says: 'I
think that spittoon, that's the one.' " He apparently
added that se is dried mud. " 'Bricks are made out of
se, too.' "
"Skeek [another informant] heard it [pottery] dis-
cussed many times [Harrington noted]. One good
proof that the Tl[ingit] had such a thing as pottery
is the name which the Tl[ingit] still apply to dark
colored pottery of American manufacture: se-
kkhAttchiixxu six?lit. a clay-kneaded dish. This is
the noun in common use and may have been the word
for native pottery. Once when a boy, Skeek and
Clifford Wayha, made dishes and dolls out of clay.
They found that only slow baking would harden it
without its cracking. They boiled water in one of
their pots, but the water dissolved some of the clay
from the inside of the pot, discoloring the water as
it boiled. . . . It is a very common thing for kids to
play with clay?to make dishes out of it in play. It is
already wet?[they] get clay all over them[selves], go
barefoot in summer. Skeek's wife made Skeek's kids
cut it out, this playing with clay on the beach.
"[Skeek] has heard these dishes talked about many
times; some believed the Tl[ingit] had had clay or
pottery vessels. There is also a chance that they im-
ported some."
The possibility that some pottery might have been
received in trade from the Koniag or from the Eskimo
of the Kenai Peninsula was not, however, specifically
mentioned, although these peoples did make true
pottery (de Laguna, 1947, pp. 245-247). However, the
toy dishes made at Angoon and at Yakutat remind us
more of the playthings made of clay by the Chugach
(de Laguna, 1956, pp. 211, 273).
Women's Tools
Most tools used by women were employed for pre-
paring food, for working skins, and for making baskets,
the three major occupations of the Yakutat housewife.
ULOS
The woman's knife or ulo (wEkc) is used both as
a knife to flenze animals and cut fish and as a scraper
incms
FIGURE 50.?Ulos with wooden handle and iron blade, a, Outline
of ulo used by Minnie Johnson at Yakutat on August 6, 1952,
to soften baby sealskin for moccasin trims. 6, Made by Dry
Bay Chief George at Dry Bay in 1910 for his daughter-in-law,
Mrs. Annie George. Sketched on May 25, 1954.
to work skins (fig. 50; pi. 125). It has a wooden handle
about 5 to 7 inches long, and about 3 or 3% inches
wide, and is about 1 to 1% inches thick. The iron
blade with curved edge is a little shorter than the edge
of the handle into which it is inserted, and protrudes
from it about IK to 2 inches of its width. The traditional
Yakutat ulo has a hole in the handle for the index
finger, or for the index and middle finger, although
some are made without the hole. The ulo with the
422 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 1
FIGURE 51.?Curved iron scraper with rag grip, probably owned by Mrs. Young George
(1854r-1927). Shown natural size as sketched by Catherine McClellan in 1952.
hole is known to be also the Eyak style, and is felt to
be superior to the ordinary Tlingit kind with solid
handle because it can be held more firmly. According
to an amusing story, a visitor from Haines took home
an ulo with a hole in the handle as a novel curiosity
(see p. 897).
Ulos were not used at Dry Bay, and my informant
suggested that it was because men, not women, skinned
the seals there. This is in contrast to the practice at
Yakutat, where "the women don't want the men to
touch it after they get the seal," and where the flenzing
is women's work.
Archeological ulos from Yakutat had a narrow
crescentic blade of copper set into the edge of a plain
wooden handle (de Laguna et al., 1964, fig. 10). The
one complete wooden handle lacked a finger hole,
although it had a slight concave curve hi the middle,
like an ulo collected at Yakutat by Emmons (pi. 124;
TMB/WSM 1047 and one seen there in 1952.
An ulo acquired by Professor Libbey in 1886 (pi. 117)
has the wooden handle carved to represent the head
of a bear, the large finger hole serving as the eye.
The ulo is sharpened on a whetstone when used for
skinning a seal, for cutting the blubber from the hide,
or when slicing fish; the edge is made dull when it is
used as a scraper.
SCRAPERS
In former times an ulo-shaped knife or scraper was
made from the shell of the large California mussel, and
was called by the same word as the shell (yis vis).
This was the tool used for scraping off the sweet inner
bark of the hemlock. It was smaller that the ulo, and
the blade was cupshaped. Those seen at Yukatat were
made of metal, (a thin scrap of iron, or a piece of a
can), and I was told that in former times they might
be made of copper. The grip may be simply the dull
edge at the back of the blade, often folded over and
hammered down, like a copper scraper of this type
from Diyaguna'Et. Or the blade may be set into a
simple handle of wood. One had a grip made of rags,
the latter secured by a string run through holes punched
through the metal with a nail (fig. 51). This type of
knife was also used to scrape sealskins.
"I see my grandmother used to scrape with a mussel
shell. She used to scrape sealskins with it. She get it
sharp. She lay the skin on the wood in her lap and
scrape with one hand. It gets the skin as smooth as
this [tabletop]." (MJ)
These large mussel shells are said to be obtainable at
the head of Russell Fiord. A dulled ulo may be em-
ployed for the same Work on sealskins.
For softening sealskins a long-handled scraper (xwEtca
or kuwut) is used (pi. 125). The latter has an iron
blade about 4% by 4% inches, with a slightly rounded
edge. The handle is a pole about a yard long that can
be held in both hands when pushing against the skin
in the stretching frame (see below).
A number of crude chipped ulo-shaped stone tools,
found at archeological sites (de Laguna et al, 1964,
pp. 105-108), were identified by informants as scrapers
(xwEtca), although they did not say whether they
thought any of these had been hafted at the end of
a long handle, as are the modern scrapers also called
by the same name. Stone scrapers are said to have
been used for softening such tough skins as those of
bears or seals, but were never used for thin skins such
as that of the fox (MJ, JR). At Dry Bay Emmons
collected a "stone skin dresser," or "which-r," which
he identified as a scraper for dressing moose, caribou,
and goat skins (AMNH E/106).
Another stage in preparing skins demands the use
of a beaming tool, that is, a long scraper held at each
end. Nowadays, a butcher knife, the point wrapped in
a rag to make another grip, may be used, but some
women still own bone beaming tools. A man made his
wife a pair from deer and reindeer ulnae that he had
saved from some imported meat (pi. 125). The bones
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 423
were not split, hut the natural longitudinal ridge had
been sharpened. These were to work land otter and
mink skins, he said. When using the beaming tool, the
skin is hung over a slanting pole, flesh side out (see
p. 424).
BONE SKINNING KNIVES
The skins of small fur-bearing animals were taken
off whole, that is, they were stripped off like bags,
not slit up the bellies, as were the skins of bears, seals,
and goats. For skinning such animals as weasels, foxes,
mink, and so on, the Yakutat and Dry Bay people
used a small bone knife (xica). As described by a
woman from Dry Bay, this was made of the humerus
of a bear or wolf, cut across the middle and sharpened
to produce a slightly flaring blade at the end. The
user pushed it away from him. A special tool of this
kind had to be reserved for skinning mink, because of
the strong smell of the animal.
Emmons obtained several examples of such a "bone
skin dresser?'which-r'?used as a scraping knife . . .
also used as a skinning knife for small animals such as
the ground squirrel." It was held in the right hand.
Three are from Dry Bay and one from Yakutat (pi.
124; AMNH E/377, 378, 379, 2120). Only three
fragmentary bone scrapers were found on Knight
Island (de Laguna et al., 1964, p. 108).
I did not learn how such small skins were stretched
and cured, although this was presumably done by
inserting paddle-shaped wooden stretchers inside them.
SKIN STRETCHING FRAMES
Formerly the frames (fie) used for stretching skins,
especially sealskins (tsa t'ici), were not made of stiff
planks like those used today (see below), but were of
pliable branches run around the edges of the skin
('AtwAn 'Adi fie, 'frame around its edge'). Photographs
taken at the sealing camps by the Harriman Expedition
in 1899 show such frames, and they were also sketched
and described by informants (fig. 22, p. 314; pis. 77-
80). Sheldon James, who said he had once stretched
115 sealskins in this manner, explained how the frame
was made. Two rather short sticks are run through a
series of small holes cut along the top and bottom edges
of the skin. Then a longer flexible pole is similarly
inserted along each side edge. A central longitudinal
stick, with notched ends, is set on the hair side of the
skin to hold apart the end pieces. Finally, from three
to five crosspieces, similarly notched, are put on the
hair side of the skin to stretch apart the side rods.
When inserting these last crosspieces, the longest
middle one is placed first. "They use bushes for the
sides, and common wood for the middle pieces" (MJ).
This type of frame is said to have been used formerly
for all kinds of skins. One woman in 1954 made some
small frames of this type for the skins of unborn seals,
since the rectangular frames of the common type are
too large to be convenient.
OTHEE TOOLS
Other implements used by women in their work are
the cutting board (kAta kutsft'a) which we have already
seen used in flenzing seals, the awl (qenl) used in
sewing, and the various bags and baskets in which the
housewife kept her sewing things and her basketry
materials. These objects can best be described in dealing
with skin dressing and basketry.
Skin Dressing and Sewing
WORKING SEALSKINS
Since most garments are said to have been made of
sealskins (tsa dugu), and since such skins are still worked
today much as they were in the past, it may be well
to describe these methods. The first stages of flenzing
a seal have already been described (pp. 395-397), so
this account can continue from that point.
On July 29, 1952, when Minnie Johnson had cut the
fat from the sealskins, she dropped these into a washtub
of cool soapy water, while she attended to the fat and
meat. She then gave the skins a thorough scrubbing
in lukewarm water with soap and Clorox. This done,
she cut small holes about 4 inches apart all around the
edges of the skin, using her ulo for this purpose. Mean-
while her granddaughter was dispatched to borrow
some stretching frames (pi. 125). These are rectangular
frames made of four narrow planks or laths, braced by
short pieces across the corners, looking very much like
the frames for window screens, without the screening.
The sealskin was put into the frame by lacing a string
alternately through the holes in the skin and hitching
it around the wooden frame. When this was done, she
tightened the string evenly to stretch the skin. Since
the latter lacked the head, rear flippers and tail, it
assumed an oval shape. The holes where the fore flippers
had been cut off are usually skewered or stitched shut
at this stage, so that the skin may dry flat.
Although skins may be kept in the frames for 2 or 3
days, MJ was anxious to finish one small skin for moc-
casin trims, so she began to work on it the next morning,
July 30. I did not observe the first stages of work that
day, but witnessed the same processes when she worked
on another skin on August 8. This next step was to press
the water from the skin. Perhaps this was omitted on
July 29, since the skins had stood overnight in the
frames, while those on which she was working on August
424 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
8 had soaked in a tub of water since the day before, and
had only that morning been put into the frames when
I saw her extracting the water from them.
To remove the water, MJ stood in front of the frame
which was leaned against the wall of the house, and
pressed down hard on the skin with her ulo. She began
at the top and worked down and across both sides, until
all of the surface had been scraped. She told us that one
should begin with the flesh side, for if the hair side were
treated first, this would make the fat which still ad-
hered work through the skin to the hair and stain it.
At this stage of the proceedings, the flesh side of the skin
was still soft and white. As the skin dries in the frame it
becomes stiff and dark.
This was the condition of the skins on which MJ
began to work on July 30. One of these she had cut from
the frame. Possibly it was not one of those that she had
stretched the night before, but another that had pre-
viously been stretched. In any case, she hung it, flesh
side out, by one of the holes in the edge, to a nail driven
into an oar. The oar was leaned up against the wall and
she stood in front of it, scraping down the skin against
the oar, with a kitchen carving knife. This knife was held
in both hands like a two-handed beaming tool, and to
protect her hands she wore cotton work gloves. The
scraping removed the remaining fat and flesh from the
skin. The edge of the knife soon became clogged with
bits of white fleshy matter which she wiped off. She
repeatedly hitched the skin around on the pole to scrape
in a fan-shaped area below the hole, then rehung it by
another hole until the entire surface had been worked.
She was busy all morning at this arduous task, but
abandoned it in the afternoon.
The scraping was continued the next day, July 31.
A friend who had stopped to visit her, observed that
her own mother had fleshed skins faster and more
easily by sitting down, the pole laid almost horizontally
with one end in her lap. She scraped away from herself
along the pole with an ulo. It was this process of smooth-
ing and cleaning the inside of the sealskin with a mussel
shell which MJ said she had seen her grandmother
follow (seep. 422).
MJ finished scraping the skins that afternoon and
soaked them in soap and water and Clorox to remove
the smell. She left them in the tub overnight although
this was longer than was necessary. She does not use
kerosine to remove the odor, as some women do, nor
does she employ any kind of commercial tanning oil.
The next day, August 1, the skins were again laced
into their frames, and MJ rubbed the flesh side with
flour and baking soda. (Was the white clay substituted
for this at one time??see p. 416.)
MJ did no work on August 2 and 3, but on Monday,
August 4, I found her softening the skins in the frames.
She stood again in front of the skins and rubbed the
flesh side vigorously. For the nearer parts she used an
ulo, and for the rest a long-handled scraper (xwEtca or
kuwut). MJ complained that the skins were too dry,
and should have been worked while still slightly moist.
It heats up the skin too much to scrape it for very long
in one place.
The next day she completed her work of softening
the skins and cut them from the frames. The smaller
ones, destined for trimming moccasins, were cut into
transverse strips, so that when these were sewed around
the top of the moccasin, the hair would stand up. MJ
softened the strips further by holding them, skin side
down, against the table top with a dull ulo, and pulling
the strip along under the blade with her left hand.
She estimated that she could cut 10 moccasins from
the larger skin. She also told us of an old woman in
Juneau who could flesh skins by singeing them against
the top of a stove. She would dip the skins in cold
water to prevent them from burning. When she did
this for others she charged $1 a skin for her work.
At present quite a few women, including MJ herself,
send many sealskins to Juneau to be commercially
tanned. When they are returned they have to be
washed, stretched, and dried. One woman, however,
claims that factory-tanned skins look dead because
the hair is all flattened out. They smell queer and do
not wear well. She prefers the old-fashioned method of
curing, which she described as simply washing the
skin three times in soap and water, scraping it, and
rubbing it in the hands (HM). Before soap was avail-
able, skins were washed in urine (MJ).
DEHAIEED SKINS
For some purposes dehaired sealskins were employed.
To remove the hair, MJ wets the skin with soap and
water, rolls it up and leaves it for a few days in a
warm place by the stove. When the hair becomes
loose, she scrapes it off with an ulo. On the other
hand, if well-haired skins are desired, the women do
not like seals killed in September, for at this season
the mother seals have shed and have only short hair.
Presumably these skins were dehaired.
It is hard to tell how much the Yakutat people
themselves tanned skins, for although "chamoix skin,"
as they call it, was desired especially for dance cos-
tumes, these skins were usually secured in trade from
the interior.
GUT SKINS
The intestines ('At nasi), especially of large bears,
were used for waterproof jackets, for bags, and for
windowpanes for the bath house (p. 306). Minnie
Johnson explained how these were prepared.
"I used to watch my mother after my father clean
a brown bear. He gets the guts out right away and puts
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 425
them in water. And it gets just pure white. And she
soaks it in a can until the lining of the guts is loose.
Then she gets the insides out of the guts. . . . She
cleans its inside out with a stick in one end. Clean it
and scrape it. . . . [Apparently the intestines are
turned inside out at this point.] She dare not make
a hole in it. She scrape it with a knife or something.
You can use a clean shell, as far as that's con-
cerned. . . . Wash it again. She lets it lay in the water
until there's a chance to dry it in the sun. . . . [Some-
times this is the second day.] Then all the bushes has
strings of it?lik e a Christmas tree. She blow it up to
get it in shape ? . . . She uses wild celery when it's
old and dry [as a tube or mouthpiece for inflating the
intestines]. . . . And she blows it out when it dries.
It gets dry quick, too. . . . She won't let me blow it
up. She thinks I'll get sick from it. It takes powerful
breath. . . . [When it is dry] she splits it and gets
it into shape and sews it."
The intestines of a large brown bear make strips of
gut three fingers wide (MJ).
Another informant showed us a strip of brown bear
intestine of the kind used to make coats. It was about
5 inches wide, a translucent yellow, and rather crinkly.
Black bear intestines, she said, were soft and white
if properly prepared. She also explained how the in-
testines were cut into convenient lengths and their
contents squeezed out. This was done the day after
the animal had been flenzed. Then they were turned
inside out and scraped with an ulo (dulled?), washed
thoroughly in soap and water, and inflated. When
dry, they were split open.
BIRDSKIN AND FISHSKIN
For certain warm soft robes or garments, birdskins
were used. The coarser feathers were removed to leave
the down, and the skins are said to have been chewed
to remove the fat, since they were too fragile to scrape.
Presumably they were softened with the hands after
drying, although I learned nothing more about how
they were processed.
The scaly skin from the feet of swans, and perhaps
of other large birds, was used to make bags. The skins
seem to have been simply dried, with the claws still
attached.
Fishskin was also used for waterproof bags. Skins
of the largest halibuts were preferred for these, although
I believe that smaller fish were also used. The method
of preparation was as follows:
"Split the halibut for eating. When it's dry enough,
scrape all the meat off the skin. Wash the skin with
soap and water. Wrap it in a towel to keep it damp
and sew it while it's damp. It's supposed to be stuffed
with sand [while drying, to keep the shape]. When it's
265-517?72?TOL VII, pt 1 29
in shape, you can throw it [the sand] away. It's water-
proof." (MJ)
MJ's grandmother "used to make the bags in
Khantaak in the spring. She would wash it and fill
it with dry sand to get it in shape while its drying. . . .
She goes down [to the beach?] once in a while and pounds
it and shapes it. Sometimes she pours the sand out
and moves it to a dry place. Then she fills it with sand
again."
Presumably the birds' feet bags were shaped and
dried in a similar fashion (see p. 426).
SEWING
No bone needles with eyes were found in archeological
sites in the Yakutat area, although eyed needles were
made by the Chugach. That needles may have been
known to the Yakutat Indians at one time is suggested
by the word for "some kind of needle" (tagath'u[?];
cf. Boas, 1917, p. 161, fexXl', 'needle'; Harrington,
thaaxXl', 'needle,' and khA, 'to sew'). This term was
applied to some archeological points of birdbone.
Emmons' unpublished notes indicate that the Yakutat,
in contrast to other Tlingit, used to tatoo by means
of a needle and stained thread, calling tatooing "sewing
on the body."
Within the memory of the oldest Yakutat people,
an awl or 'stitcher' (qenl) was used to make the hole,
and then the thread was poked through. Awls were of
bone and were made in various sizes. Most informants
had never seen any, although they identified as awls a
number of pointed slivers of bone or pointed bird bones
found in the archeological sites.
For thread, the Yakutat people preferred to use
porpoise sinew (tcitc tAsi), although sinew from
stranded whales and mountain goat was also used,
especially at Dry Bay where porpoise sinew was not
available (MJ). According to one man "It comes from
the inside of the porpoise arm?from inside somewhere.
They split it, pull it out little by little. They twist it
between the fingers and on the thigh" to make two-
strand thread.
MJ explained, "Porpoise?big ones?my brother
used to kill just for the tAsi [sinew]. Throw away the
skin and meat. It's woman's job to get the sinew
out. . . . They cut the tail off. Take the tough skin off
just the tail part, don't bother the body at all. Cut
the meat off until the cord shows up. Then get one
end of the sinew. . . . Get it from the body down to the
tail, back side.... My grandma got a big stick, sharp
She gets a bit of the string on the stick until she gets
an end around the stick, and just twist."
The sinew was washed in fresh water and hung up
until it was nearly dry. Then it was straightened out.
"When it's straight, it's easy to split. Twist, twist,
426 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
twist?big strings of it. Lots of work to it, but when
it gets cured it makes the old people feel good."
On another occasion the same woman said: "My
mother had lots of it. She made all sizes of twine by
hand. Made it square [i.e., square sennit]. She tied
one end of it to the wall to twist it."
Her grandmother used to make thread in lengths
from her left shoulder to the tip of her right hand,
and evidently preferred this for sewing. Porpoise sinew
has the advantage of swelling when it becomes wet,
and thus made the seams of skin boots and other
articles watertight.
The Yakutat women now stitch in all the styles
familiar to us, some doing fine embroidery work. Skin
articles collected in the last century show running
stitches and overhand stitching. I was unable to dis-
cover whether waterproof blind stitching like that of
the Eskimo was ever done, for example, for skin boats
or waterproof skin boots.
Skin Containers
Bags (gwel) for various purposes were made of skin.
Many of these were waterproof. The largest were
probably the globular bags of halibut skin (tcatl xasi
gwel). Some of these were up to 3 feet in height, others
FIGURE 52.?Halibut skin bag sketched by Minnie Johnson.
were smaller. They were used as containers for clothing,
roots and straws used for basketwork, or supplies of
food to be carried on long canoe trips. The Russians
were believed to have come to Lituya Bay because
they found the halibut skin bags full of sea otter furs
which had floated out to sea after the Tl'uknaxAdi
canoes capsized in the bay (p. 275).
These halibut skin bags were made with a circular
piece for the bottom, and the sides were of alternate
strips of dark skin (from the back) and white skin
(from the underside). A drawstring of spruce root cord
ran through holes around the top (fig. 52). Some bags,
however, are said to have had a "cloth sack sewed
around the top, and a string around to tie it up" (MJ).
Minnie Johnson made a small halibut skin bag, from
"chicken halibut," as a model of the old style bags
(pi. 126). However, she made this into a "shopping
bag," with a top of tanned moosehide (traded from
the interior), and moosehide welting in the seams.
The bottom was half dark and half white skin. The
beaded designs on the panels were cut out from
moccasin tops, purchased from Helen Bremner, and
represent a Thunderbird totem pole, Raven stealing
Daylight, and Raven going down a kelp stem to steal
the fisherman's bait (p. 873).
A small rectangular bag made of alternating strips
of tan and brown fishskins, apparently used to hold
sewing materials, was obtained by Professor Libbey
at Yakutat (pi. 128).
Professor Libbey also obtained a dehaired skin bag
containing a set of gambling sticks (pi. 138). The bag
is rectangular, with a long flap ending in a point, to
which is attached a thong and a bone toggle. This
could be wound around the bag to secure the contents.
An interesting bag from Yakutat was made of the
skin of a swan's foot (pi. 116). Although it was empty,
Dr. Baird (1965 b, p. 6) hazards that it might have
served as a bullet pouch. As he describes it: "To make
this bag a Yakutat Indian skinned the foot of a swan,
removing the bones and carefully separating the scaly
skin of the upper and lower surfaces, leaving the claws
in place. This bag could be worn with the shank-flap
looped over the Indian's belt. . . . " The bottom of the
foot serves as the bottom of the bag, while the narrow
bottleneck is made of the skin of the leg. Similar bags
were made by the Copper River Eyak and Chugach.
Small bladders and lengths of intestines (nasi) served
as waterproof bags for small objects. For example,
Professor Libbey obtained a tobacco pouch at Yakutat,
made from what seems to be a piece of intestine (PU
5209). This is about 18 cm. long and 6.5 cm. wide. A
band of coarse red blanket material is sewed around
the neck, and there is a carrying loop made of buff
broadcloth. Emmons also collected several bags made
of intestines at Yakutat; one is made from the gut of
a seal or sea lion and is ornamented with red paint
(AMNH E/2044, 19/905-909).
On one occasion (May 1954), MJ saved the two
front flippers and the part with the two hind flippers
and tail from a young seal. She said she was going to
split them, take the meat out and use the pieces of
skin for a bag. She used to make bags and wall pockets
out of flipper skins.
Gutskin was also used for wall pockets?"fancy
beaded wall pockets to keep sewing things in" (MJ).
I have already described the bag of raw sealskin
used to hold seal blubber (p. 398), the container for
rotted salmon eggs made of a seal stomach (p. 402),
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 427
and have mentioned the skin quiver or skin bag for
spare arrowheads carried by the hunter of land animals
(p. 369), and the skin sheath for the dagger.
Matting and Cordage
Woven mats were formerly used but informants knew
little about them.
"They made it out of grass, some kind. They made
blanket out of it. I don't know what they call it."
Another woman (MJ), who saw a picture of a
Chugach Eskimo mat of twined grass (Birket-Smith,
1953, fig. 24) and was told that it was used for bedding,
immediately volunteered: "They get married on that,
too." She explained that the groom would sit on the
mat and the bride would come out of the back room
of the house to sit beside him.
Cedar bark mats (gate) were evidently imported
from the south, according to informants.
"Lun, they call it [cf. Boas, 1917, p. 129, Kin, 'bark
of hemlock and cottonwood']. My mother or grand-
mother never made it. My grandmother used skins.
They make the lun over here [i.e., in Yakutat, not
Dry Bay], I guess, or in southeastern Alaska. I don't
know, I just hear it. I'm not sure about it. They used
bark, I think, I hear it. They dye the bark different
colors, and some of it is just one color."
"Lax dayi [red cedar bark], I think that's it. They
made it down below, Ketchikan and Saxman," but
she knew only that the mats were made of some kind
of bark.
The shaman, Tek-'ic, who died about 1890, is said
to have had a "straw" mat (gate) with which he was
covered when performing some of his clairvoyant feats
(see p. 704). His niece, (MJ), who had lived in his house
on Khantaak Island as a small child, remembered
that she used to see him sleeping on the bench, away
from his wife, on a "West Coast Indian mat?cedar
bark mat."
The only article of this nature seen at Yakutat was a
"shopping bag" (gate gwel) obtained at Saxman, a
southern Tlingit town. The rust-colored red cedar
bark of which it was woven was decorated with black
and golden straws. "In Juneau, they use it for handbag,
just like that."
A fragment of a twined grass mat was found on the
floor of a storage house at the site on Knight Island,
suggesting that in former times the Yakutat made mats
similar to those used by the Eyak and Chugach in
their sleeping rooms (de Laguna et al., 1964, pp.
179-180). It is unlikely that the Yakutat people would
have had enough red cedar bark to make mats of this
material, although shredded cedar bark was imported;
either raw, or made up into such items as the shoulder
rope to hold a blanket in place, or the rope band for a
shaman's headdress (cf. the grave goods of the
shaman, obtained by Libbey).
Fine thread and string (tix) were made of sinew;
archeological examples are of two-ply S-twist thread.
Sinew was also braided into square sennit for bowstrings
and harpoon lines. Heavier lines were of untanned
sealskin, and ropes (dzas) of sea lion hide. In addition,
lines and ropes were made of twisted spruce root,
often laid up as two-strand rope. Archeological examples
of two-ply Z-twist cords of spruce root (?) were found
(de Laguna et al., 1964, p. 178). Some lines, especially
those for fishing, were made of kelp stems (tl'eyani).
In one episode of the Kaven cycle, it is implied that the
lids of oil boxes were tied on with such cord. "That's
what our grandfathers been using;" and "That kelp
string, it's pretty strong" (MJ).
Baskets
Twined spruce root basketry was used for containers
and hats. The Yakutat people in former days cooked in
baskets, gathered berries and shellfish in baskets, kept
trinkets, tobacco, shot, and other small objects in
baskets and even had baskets, hanging on the wall, in
which spoons were put. Baskets were used as drinking
cups, feast dishes, and as bailers in canoes. The baby
carrier or cradle was made out of half of an old basket.
Plain basketry hats were worn as protection against
the rain; others with woven or copper rings on top
and with painted crest designs were for ceremonial wear.
Emmons (1903, p. 229) reports that according to one
tradition the art of weaving spruce root baskets was
taught by Raven; according to another tradition, the
original basket was a tiny one made by the woman who
married the Sun. The Sun made it big enough to hold
his wife and their eight children, "and in it they were
lowered to the earth near Yakutat. This was the first
basket, and from it was learned the art of weaving."
Although I cannot accept his theory that the origin
of basketry was "in the vicinity of Bering [Yakutat]
Bay, under the shadow of Mount St. Elias" (ibid., p.
230), there seems to be no reason to question the state-
ment that:
"The Yakutat have always held the first place in
basketry. With them the industry has ever been of
commercial importance [their baskets traded to
Kodiak, the Aleutians, and to Puget Sound]. . . .
They produce the largest baskets, and they excel all
428 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
others in the careful selection and treatment of the
material and in the regularity of the weave. The
older work is distinctive in the beauty and the wealth
of embroidery which oftentimes covered the entire
outer surface of the walls; but of late years this has
greatly changed. Since the establishment of a trading-
post in their midst, about 1890, the increased demand
for their labor, together with the introduction of
aniline dyes, have combined to produce many more
baskets, smaller in size, and ornamented in the
narrowest lines of vivid greens and glaring yellows."
[Ibid., p. 231.]
In comparing Yakutat baskets with those of their
neighbors, Emmons finds that the basketwork of the
Indians from Cape Yakataga through Controller Bay
("Guth-le-uk-qwan") "differs only in the coarser
strands of root employed in the woof. . . ." The Eyak
of the Cordova area ("Eeak-tella") make "but a few
small, coarse baskets, ornamented in color, but seldom
embroidered with grass-stems." However, the few
families still living at Dry Bay in "Gun-nah-ho coun-
try" are so isolated that they "incline to the old cus-
toms, which accounts for the beauty of their basket-
work, both in weave and decoration" (ibid., p. 232).
Finally, among the Chilkat, ". . . for a few years back
every family of standing possessed many beautiful old
baskets which had been procured on trading-trips with
the Yakutat, back in the old Russian days" (ibid., p.
233).
Malaspina had been impressed by the firm close
weave of Yakutat cooking baskets and by the patterns
of colored straws in the small, delicate baskets (quoted
p. 394). Of basketry seen in Lituya Bay, LaPe"rouse
wrote that "Hats and baskets of rushes [sic] are no
where woven with more skill; and they ornament them
with pleasing figures" (1799, vol. 1, p. 407).
The Alaska Steamship Company, as publicity for
the tourist trade, featured Yakutat basketry (Mc-
Dowell, 1907), and the chance to buy some was one of
the attractions of a voyage to Alaska (Higginson, 1906,
p. 19).
Informants were also aware that Yakutat baskets
were famous for the fineness of their weave and sturdy
quality, so much so that inferior products were adver-
tised as Yakutat work. As one woman (MJ) reported:
"Once I went down to Seattle. We went by a place
and they got a big basket. [The label] said 'Yakutat
basket.'?That's not Yakutat! It's so soft. The Yakutat
baskets is just like wood. But the southeast Alaska
ones are kind of irregular like, less shape. They use
spruce [roots] and finger [hi tightening the weave].
We use mouth?more sturdy to it. But southeast
Alaska use finger." Again she observed: "Longtime ago
down in Southeast of Alaska, the women weave baskets,
just use their fingers, so their baskets wobbling. But us,
we hold the roots with our mouth when we put the
colors in there [put in the colored straws], . . . [That's
why the store claimed that was a Yakutat basket].
We can use it for bucket and we can use if for pot. But
Southeast of Alaska baskets is just like a piece of rag?
can't stand up straight."
This informant on various occasions described the
processes required in making baskets. The spruce
roots (xat) were gathered in the spring and early
summer.
"This time of year [June 6] they used to go to the
island [Khantaak] to get roots. Camp there until they
get enough. You have to go out and gather the spruce
roots. Some places is easier to pull them right up?
where the trees are big in the deep woods, you can pull
them right out."
Actually, the only roots we saw her gather were
those of a young spruce at the edge of a small stand of
immature trees on Khantaak Island. In referring to
her early childhood at a camp near the head of the
Situk River, she said:
"My mother is putting up roots before it is too late?
before the middle of summer. If you don't pick your
roots right away, it turns red quick, and it's no good.
My mother and aunts sit up all hours of the day and
night to get them. There's not much money in basketry,
but they do it just the same.
"Curing roots is a lot of red tape. It's pretty hard.
When you dig the roots, it has to be a certain kind, not
crooked, but nice straight ones. You get more benefit
out of it. You have to shave the crooked ones straight.
"Then they have to toast the bark off. Then they
split the roots in two with their mouths. Then they
soak them in water. After that, you split it fine to suit
you. You sort it into fine and coarser ones. . . .
"All they do is sit around scraping roots. They hold
the roots with then: teeth. If your hands aren't steady,
you get it apart [i.e., split the root crookedly so that it
breaks]. They scrape it with yis, a big mussel shell."
(MJ)
In splitting roots, the knife or scraper of shell, or of
metal shaped like the shell, was held with the thumb
parallel to the cutting edge, and one end of the root
was held between the teeth.
"You have to steam the bark off the roots right
away" within a day or two after they are gathered.
"They cook the roots and take the bark off and
spht the roots in half, and then split them some more."
The pieces from the outside of the root that are shiny
on the outer surface were used for the weft of the basket,
the smooth shiny part on the outside of the basket
where it would show. The pieces spht from the interior
of the root were used for the warp which was hidden by
the weaving.
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 429
Roots were often split on winter evenings, when some
old person would be telling stories by the fire. Women
in groups of two or three would sit near the seal oil
lamps in the corners of the house. Behind them were
wooden racks on which the split and sorted roots were
hung.
While the larger watertight baskets were usually
plain, or decorated only by variations in the twined
weave, smaller baskets had designs made by dyeing
some of the weft strands and by introducing plain and
colored straws. "You couldn't see where the straws
were woven in from the inside."
After the roots had been gathered and peeled, "then
you pick the straws. The straw is just right now [July
22]. Later on it's coarse and breaks easy. Then you
color the roots [and straws]. You do it this time when
things are ripe."
The following dyes were used:
The roots of the wild "rhubarb" made a "kind of
gold color," "yellow," or "a kind of yellow."
Hemlock bark gave a "kind of dark gold color," or
"a kind of reddish color."
Both of these colors were also used for staining
wooden armor and for dyeing the wool used in weaving
Chilkat blankets.
Red was obtained from small red berries called
'dog's earrings' (ketl tu ?u kadjacg, or keti gukw
kAdjaci, Rubus pedaius and R. charnaemorus).
The black, inedible part of the sea urchin, or the
"juice" of this animal made a "pretty color, kind of
brownish," or a "pretty shiny dark brown color."
"Blueberries' color can be navy blue, but they like
to have it dark because the blue fades quick. You have
to boil the berries." When dark, the color was described
as "black" (MJ). The color of the blueberry dye was
also called "dark purple" as well as "navy blue."
"Blueberries mixed with hemlock bark makes a dark
reddish, brownish blue."
"I never seen green?only from Diamond dye [the
commercial product]."
The dyes were prepared by boiling these materials,
some of which also required mashing or squeezing.
Then the split roots or basket straws were boiled in the
dye and left to soak in it.
"They soak it for days and days until they want it.
They do the same way for roots and straws. There is a
different dye for each set. Some of the straws they leave
white." "They used kwAS [urine] right in the dye. I
never see that, but I heard about it. Then they wash it
ever so often because we use our mouth for weaving
baskets. . . . You boil the straw hi the dye. Leave it
there for days. Then wash it over and over again until
no more dye comes out. . - . Wash it in salt water,
like any ordinary dye. . . . They color the roots first
because it takes a long time to color the straw. . . .
Because the straw's slippery and shiny. They use the
shiny side [outside] for the basket." (MJ)
Dyed roots and straws were hung to dry on racks,
then put away until they were to be used, the roots in
hanks or bundles?in halibut skin bags(?)?the straws
in gutskin bags.
Roots and straws were moistened before weaving,
and had to be kept damp during the making of the
basket. Apparently the end of one of the two weft
strands was held in the teeth, to keep the weft tight
while the woman manipulated the other with her fingers.
Aside from its firmness and finess, Yakutat basketry
was much like that of the other northern Tlingit.
Weaving started hi the center of the bottom, and for
the usual flat-bottomed basket additional warp ele-
ments were inserted with each round of weft until the
bend for the side was reached. In making the large,
shallow, and slightly rounded basketry trays, fewer
additional warps had to be added for each round, but
the addition was continued up to the rim to make an
even curve.
Baskets which were to be rendered watertight (pre-
sumably plain ones) had to be rubbed and smoothed
to flatten the stitches and close the interstices between
them.
"They shine up the basket so it won't leak." "They
wash the basket, let it partly dry, and smooth it with
a bear's tooth" (MJ). "They keep the bear tooth . . .
the big front teeth [canines] . . . and when they make
Indian baskets they smooth it out where they're lumpy.
They smooth it inside and the place where they put it
together. They used to do it. . . . The bottom of the
basket is flat. And when it gets watertight, it gets like
it's sealed up. If they rub it with the tooth, its like it
just swells up. It comes even," a man reported.
Often the tooth used for this work was grooved for
suspension. Some informants believed that beaver
teeth were also used for this purpose, but identified a
bear canine found at the site on Knight Island as a tool
for smoothing baskets (de Laguna et al., 1964, p. 179,
pi. 16, i).
The Yakutat women made large plain baskets hold-
ing up to 3 or 5 gallons. These were provided with two
small loops through which a shoulder strap could be
passed. A simple decoration might be made by varying
the weave. "They used that for packing berries in. . . .
It's easy to pack on your back." Smaller plain baskets
were also made, and both were called "without the
grass, without the color" (??kisAt) or qakw (cf. Boas,
1917, p. 128, q'Ak"', basket for berrying). Baskets with
open weave, "like a net," used to hold dry things and
carried like a bucket, were called kat. A basket for
cooking was 'basket pot' (xicA &WA1'). Flat traylike
baskets into which blueberries were picked, and which
430 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
also were used as mortars in which berries were crushed,
were plain or had a simple decoration of one or more
encircling lines of dyed wefts (pi. 129). These were
called tat. Decorated or "fancy baskets" (pis. 130-133)
were called caktuqagu. Small baskets with lids, woven
with rattling pebbles or beads inside the knob (pi. 132),
were called yEnax qAkA 'agi. These might be decorated
both with false embroidery and with variations in the
twined weave (pi. 132). The patterns of the false
embroidery in straw are those described by Emmons
(1903).
Although my informants did not mention the type,
Professor Libbey secured at Yakutat two double
baskets, that is, narrow and relatively tall, almost
cylindrical baskets decorated with false embroidery,
each provided with an outer basket as a cover. The
smaller (pi. 128&), labeled "needle case" and "shot
pouch," is only 2% inches tall, and has a plain cover.
The larger (pi. 128ffi), a "work basket," is 6% inches tall,
and the cover is decorated with a patterned weave.
If baskets were still being made and used at Yakutat
it would doubtless be possible to obtain more specific
information about types and about methods of manu-
facture. I did not have an opportunity to observe any
basketmaking, for this has been given up as unprofit-
able, despite the high prices offered by curio dealers.
MJ claimed that she had made a large basket for a
museum for which she received only $60, although she
had worked on it all summer. "I was young and foolish
then?nobody home!" She also used to cover bottles
with twined basketry for sale, and even managed to
cover a teapot in the same way, although she "nearly
got stuck figuring out how to do the spout." Her
White husband pointed out that at $10 to $12 a covered
bottle she wasn't making anything. Another woman
received $50 for a large basket in 1912. "The last one I
made I sell it for $25, just a small one. . . . My
goodness, I used to make lots! I still got something to
make it with, but I don't want to get my hands wet
[in moistening the strands continually while weaving],
and I'm sick." Her daughter-in-law had never made a
basket: "There's too many [strands]?'just like hairs."
One type of basket (t6ak djini qAkw, 'eagle's foot
basket') made at Katalla and Yakutat just for sale
to the Whites had a single bird's foot for a stand. The
style was not aboriginal, but evidently represented a
fad of the early 1900's. The bird's foot, usually that
of an eagle (although a blue heron and an Arctic owl
were mentioned) was cut off at the first joint of the
leg. It was soaked in warm water to make it soft,
set on a board to spread the claws, and nailed(?)
down. The leg was held upright by a string, appar-
ently until it had dried in position. The basket was
then built up on the leg by tying or wrapping the
warps for the bottom of the basket to the upper end
of the leg. Some of these baskets were as big as water
buckets.
"There are no more baskets in Yakutat any more?
only the little one in the church. This was the last
basket made by Mrs. Joseph [1867-1950], who did
very fine work before she went blind." (MJ) This
statement is unfortunately only a slight exaggera-
tion, for a few women still treasure a basket or two
as heirlooms. Certainly no one makes baskets any
more, and with the death of the older women it will
become a lost art.
BASKET-MAKING AT TAKUTAT
Tlingit basketmaking has been thoroughly and
authoritatively described by Emmons (1903) and Paul
(1944), but it may be of some interest to compare the
accounts given by my informants, not with Tlingit
procedures in general, but with the observations of
basketmaking at Yakutat which were apparently
made by Professor Edmond S. Meany of the University
of Washington early in the first decade of this century.
The following account, although written by a purchas-
ing agent of the Alaska Steamship Company for
advertising purposes, credits Professor Meany with
one quotation, and in general seems to be based on
bis information.
"The Yakutat Indians obtain these [spruce]
roots from the younger trees, and the task of gather-
ing them falls to the women. Each root is taken
from the ground separately, and many are from
five to fifteen feet in length. Root gathering for
the manufacture of the pretty and costly baskets
is looked upon as an outing for the squaws, and
the old women often form a party and live for days
in the woods collecting a supply that will last them
for months. After the spruce roots reach the native
camp they are first scraped and then parboiled,
after which they are placed in pans of water and
left for two or three weeks at a time. When in the
judgment of the experienced weaver the roots are
finally ready for use they are soaked in a pan of
lukewarm water. The next move on the part of the
weaver is to loosen from the root a fibre of desired
size. A peculiar little knife blade fitted into a bone
handle is used by the weavers. After the slender
fire [fibre] has been separated from the root one end
is fastened to a stick set firmly in the ground.
With a crude copper instrument or mussel-shell
it is scraped until it has a fine, glossy or smooth
appearance.
"This is a long and tedious task, but the weaver
cannot commence her work until hundreds of the
slender strands have been secured. In each instance
the bottom of the basket is first woven. It is held
in shape by crossed sticks temporarily sewed to
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 431
the circle of fabric while the sides or walls are
slowly built up. Collectors say that one of the
many reasons for the superiority of Yakutat baskets
is the fact that weavers use every possible care
while engaged in the work of weaving. Each piece
of basketry is wrapped in silk or other clean cloth,
and this invariably follows to completion. Those
who have visited the Yakutat villages tell how
the women wrap the basket in cloth to prevent
dirt from working its way in between the strands
and spoiling the effect of the color work. After
the basket is finished it remains covered until sold
to the tourist or dealer. Many persons who have
made the trip to Alaska will recall how the Indians
came out to the steamer in their canoes to display
their wares, and it was a noticeable fact that each
basket was neatly wrapped." [MacDowell, 1907,
pp. 187-188.]
The illustrations, supplied by another purchasing
agent of the Alaska Steamship Company, show a fine
series of baskets of conventional shapes and traditional
decorations, a covered and footed basket, and three
very beautifully woven baskets painted with crest
designs (Eagle, Wolf, Killerwhale). They are not
definitely identified, however. Covered bottles are also
mentioned, and prices quoted as ranging from $2 to $50
for Yakutat baskets (ibid., p. 188).
Chilkat Blankets
Although modern Chilkat blankets seen at Yakutat
are almost certainly the work of weavers at Klukwan,
Yendestake, and other Chilkat towns, there is some
evidence that such blankets were also once made at
Yakutat. MJ claims to be able to make them, "but
they are too much work."
"My grandma learned how to make Chilkat blankets
because she married into the Chilkat Tribe. Then she
came back here and taught my mother. . . . You
pluck the coarse hair off?use the fine hair off the
skins [of mountain goat]. . . . There's only mountain
goat here, you need mountain sheep wool [sic]. My
mother used to help my grandma. She twisted the wool
on her right thigh. She didn't change hands. She kept
using her right hand." (MJ)
Her mother apparently had baskets full of wool
dyed pretty colors: "red" from cedar bark, yellow from
a special kind of moss, and a dark color from blue-
berries. Quite possibly some of this information applies
to basket straws, rather than to wool. The informant
said that wool was dyed yellow with wild "rhubarb."
I was able to learn only the most sketchy details of
manufacture. For example, the wool of the warp was
just hung down over a bar. It was strengthened by
mixing cedar bark with it. The edges of the blanket
that received the most wear were also woven of wool
reinforced with bark, but one couldn't see the bark.
The informant gave no further information, and it
seems likely that she had forgotten the details of this
difficult technique. (See pi. 72 for part of a loom.)
No pattern boards exist at Yakutat at the present
time, and their use was not mentioned. In fact, it is
doubtful that the crest-patterned blankets were ever
woven at Yakutat. Even those who now own such
Chilkat blankets are unable to interpret the designs,
knowing only what they are meant to represent (pis.
15, 148).
Fragments of a woven goat wool blanket, found in
a shaman's grave on Knight Island which probably
dates from the Russian occupation, has been analyzed
by Carolyn Osborne (de Laguna et al, 1964, pp. 187-199,
fig. 25, pis. 18 6, 19). It is trimmed with an upper
border of sea(?) otter fur, and is woven in a purely
geometric pattern of dark brown wool against a back-
ground of (undyed?) light brown wool. There are zig-
zags and a series of concentric rectangles, with heavy
tassels hanging from the corner of each rectangle in
the body of the blanket, and heavy fringes along the
sides and bottom. On the basis of careful comparison
with other geometric patterned blankets, Carolyn Os-
borne has established that such blankets were being
made by the northern Tlingit in the late 18th century.
Quite possibly the Yakutat blanket was of local
manufacture.
An incised pebble, found in a late prehistoric section
of the site of "Old Town" on Knight Island, may be
a rubbing amulet. I have interpreted the design as
representing a shaman, wearing headdress, mask, fringed
dancing apron, and on his back a blanket with a design
identical with that of the blanket from the later grave
(de Laguna et al, 1964, pp. 168-172, fig. 21 a, a'). This
argues for the manufacture of such blankets at this
period.
Furthermore, LaPerouse noted cloaks woven of ani-
mal "hair" (wool) mixed with slips of sea otter fur at
Lituya Bay in 1786, Ismailov and Bocharov noted a
cape of wool (lined with fur?) and "woolen clothes of
their own manufacture" at Yakutat in 1788 (p. 134),
and Malaspina in 1791 remarked at Port Mulgrave
blankets of bark with otter fur on one side (see pp.
433, 434, 435). For none of these woven blankets or
capes are stylized crest figures mentioned; they would
surely have been noted had they been seen. On the
other hand, the sketches by Suria show men wearing
long robes of what appear to be woven materials,
liberally tasseled like the Yakutat blanket from the
432 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
shaman's grave (pis. 50, 60, 61). I have already noted the
distribution of plain or geometric decorated blankets
from Sitka (1804), the Copper River Eyak (1884), and
Prince William Sound (1778, 1783, 1786) (de Laguna
et al, 1964, pp. 180-181), to which should be added the
specimens studied by Carolyn Osborne.
All this evidence makes it extremely unlikely that
the Yakutat and Eyak, and also the northern Tlingit,
were ignorant of the art of weaving goat wool blankets
in the late 18th century, even though with the intro-
duction of crest designs a monopoly of blanket making
seems to have shifted ultimately to the Chilkat.
DRESS AND DECORATION
Aboriginal Clothing
It was difficult to secure information about aboriginal
dress since this was replaced by White man's clothing
at an early period. In 1880, the Yakutat people were
already wearing ordinary American shirts, trousers,
coats, dresses, and rubber boots, although some people
still had gutskin shirts and sealskin footwear, and
preferred a woolen blanket to an ordinary overcoat
as a wrap in cold weather (pis. 62-65). It was im-
possible to discover whether any undergarments were
worn under the old-style clothing, for my oldest
informant could remember only cotton underwear.
Aboriginal clothing at Yakutat was made of skins,
and garments for everyday wear were said to have
been of sealskin, although other furs were also used,
as were birdskins and the intestines of bears. My
informants mentioned shirts and trousers for men,
dresses or frocks for women, boots, skin stockings,
hat, caps, and mittens. In addition, elaborately dec-
orated garments and blankets were worn at potlatches
and other ceremonial occasions. These are described
as fully as my information permits, but for an under-
standing of truly aboriginal dress and personal dec-
oration we must turn to the reports of the 18th-century
explorers and traders.
LITUYA BAT, 1786
LaPerouse has given us spirited descriptions of the
appearance of the natives encountered in Lituya Bay,
some details of which have already been quoted.
As is characteristic of Tlingit in the summer time, no
moccasins or boots were worn: "Though they go
barefoot, the soles of their feet are not callous, and
they cannot walk over stones; which proves, that
they travel only in canoes, or on the snow with snow-
shoes" (LaPerouse, 1799, vol. 1, p. 400). Their difficulty
in walking over rough ground might also help to ex-
plain the behavior of the guides who undertook to
lead some of the French officers to where one of the
bodies of the drowned seamen had washed ashore.
It will be remembered (p. 120) that the party had
to walk 7 or 8 miles over stones, that the guides
repeatedly demanded more presents on the way, and
eventually disappeared into the woods.
The Indians at Lituya Bay lacked beards because
they plucked out the hair (p. 122). The appearance
of the men is further described:
"The men of this country bore holes through the
cartilages of the nose and ears, and append to them
different little ornaments. They make scars on the
arms and breast with a very keen iron instrument,
which they sharpen by rubbing it on their teeth r.s
on a whetstone. Their teeth are filed down to the
gums, by means of a rounded piece of sandstone in
the shape of a tongue. [This is evidently a rubbing
amulet intended to prevent hasty or insulting
speech.] Ochre, lamp-black, and plumbago, mixed
with seal oil, are employed by them to paint the
face and the rest of the body, which has a frightful
appearance. On occasions of high ceremony, they
wear their hair long, braided, and powdered with
the down of sea-fowl [probably eagle down]. This
is the height of their luxury, and perhaps engrossed
by the heads of families. A simple skin is thrown
over their shoulders, and the rest of the body is
left naked, except the head, which they commonly
cover with a little straw hat, curiously woven;
though sometimes they wear on their heads caps
with two horns, eagle's feathers, and entire heads
of bears fitted on a skull-cap of wood. These kinds
of head-dresses are greatly diversified, but their
principal object, like that of most of their customs,
is to render them frightful, perhaps to awe their
enemies.
"Some of the Indians had complete shirts of
otter-skins; and the common dress of the grand
chief was a shirt of tanned elk-skin, bordered with
a fringe of deer's hoofs and beaks of birds, the
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 433
jingling of which when he danced was not unlike
that of sheep's bells. This dress is well known to
the savages of Canada, and to other nations which
inhabit the eastern parts of America. [This tanned,
fringed shirt was undoubtedly traded from the
interior Athabaskans.]
"I saw no appearance of tatooing, except on the
arms of some of the women." [Ibid., pp. 401-402.]
[In describing manufactures in general, woven
garments are mentioned. Thus, the Indians of
Lituya Bay know how to] "spin the hair of divers
animals, and form with the needle, [76] of the thread
thus procured, a stuff not unlike to French tapestry.
They intermingle with this slips of otter-skin, which
gives their cloaks a resemblance of the finest silk
plush. Hats and baskets are no where woven with
more skill; and they ornament them with pleasing
figures." [Ibid., pp. 406-407.]
We have already read LaPerouse's observations on
the dirty, disgusting appearance of the women, who were
not even dressed in tanned skins, and whose labrets
caused an unpleasant flow of saliva (pp. 121, 123). The
women's labret certainly held a horrid fascination:
"These [women], however, have a custom, which
renders them hideous, and which I could hardly have
believed, had I not seen it. All without exception have
the lower lip slit close to the gum the whole width of
the mouth, and wear in it a kind of wooden bowl
without handles, which rests against the gum, and
which the slit lip serves as a collar to confine, so that
the lower part of the mouth projects two or three
inches. The drawing made by Mr Duche" de Vancy,
which is extremely accurate, will render more plain
than any description this custom, the most dis-
gusting perhaps that exists upon the face of the earth.
[The charts and plates, Nos. 23 and 24, are plates
38 and 39.] The young girls wear only a needle in the
lower lip: the married women alone have a right to
the bowl. We sometimes prevailed on them to lay
aside this ornament; but it was with difficulty; and
they made the same gestures, and testified the same
embarrassment, as an European women on dis-
covering her bosom. The lower lip dropped on the chin,
when the piece of wood was removed, and this
second exhibition was scarcely more agreeable than
the first." [Ibid., pp. 402-403.]
I have already quoted the passage (p. 116) in which
copper collars, bracelets, and "various other ornaments"
are mentioned, as well as necklaces of beads, presumably
trade beads. Illustrations show that men sometimes
wore necklaces of beads, or an amulet[?] hanging from
the neck, as well as the dagger in a sheath. Women
76
 This is probably patterned twined weaving, not tapestry or
needlework.
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 30
wore, besides the labret, a string of beads hanging from
the lobe of the ear, and two bracelets on the wrist
(apparently like those excavated at Knight Island,
Yakutat Bay; see de Laguna et al., 1964, fig. 19).
Apparently some of the ornaments were of amber,
for we are told that: "Among their trinkets I found
pieces of yellow amber: but whether it be a production
of their country, or procured, like their iron, from the
ancient continent, by an indirect intercourse with the
Russians, I am ignorant" (LaPe'rouse, vol. 1, p. 407).
The amber, I assume, was procured in trade from the
Indians of the Gulf Coast to the westward, since
Chugach informants told us that "amber, which was
prized for ear ornaments, was found on the beaches of
Kayak Island in Controller Bay" (de Laguna, 1956,
p. 6), and this was, I suspect, the nearest source.
The native copper, tanned skins, eagle feather
headdress(?), and some other furs indicate trade with
the interior Athabaskans. The cap with two horns,
rendered by the engraver as a bishop's mitre (pi. 38),
seems to be the peculiar headgear ('bear's ears') worn
sometimes by Tlingit warriors and shamans. We shall
also encounter at Yakutat the ordinary basket hat and
fur robe of the men, although these were equally com-
mon in southeastern Alaska. The women's labrets are,
of course, Tlingit, not Athabaskan or Eyak. The bear
head worn by some of the men (pi. 37) would appear
to be headgear denoting the totemic crest of their sib,
which we may venture to identify as Teqwedi or
Kagwantan, since both of these sibs in southeastern
Alaska claim the Bear as a crest.
YAKUTAT 1787 AND 1788
Unfortunately we are given little information about
the clothing, worn at Yakutat, which Beresford and
Colnett must have observed. The natives certainly
wore fur robes; while Beresford (1789, p. 176) mentions
cloaks of marmot skins and Colnett observed a man
with a "dress trim'd with Chinese money" (quoted
p. 131), the cut of the garments is not further described.
Fortunately, Ismailov and Bocharov appear to have
brought back somewhat more specific information, as
reported by Shelikhov:
"The men do not shave their hair, but bind it in a
knot on the crown of their heads. They daub it with
red paint, by means of a pencil made of wool, and
ornament it with feathers. They cut their beards,
and paint their faces, with stripes of various colours;
they bore their ears, but not their lips. Some wear
caps, like those of the grenadiers, with brass orna-
ments which they procure from Europeans [is this
the mitre illustrated by LaPe'rouse?], others cover
their heads and necks with cloth made from the
filaments of roots, and the back part ornamented
with eagles' feathers.
434 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
"Their upper garment, the outside of which is
woollen, is thrown over the shoulder, and like the
Tunguses they sometimees tie round their necks a
kind of apron [dancing bib?], ornamented with beaks
of birds, and other trifles, which make a rattling
noise." [Coxe, 1803, p. 326.]
There is also mention of "garments of different
skins, woolen clothes of their own manufacture" which
they offered to the Kussians in trade (quoted p. 134).
In addition, the Chilkat chief who came to Yakutat
gave them six shirts of sea otter fur, presumably ob-
tained locally, although again the cut is not described.
The Yakutat people and the Chilkat chief also seem
to have had (worn?) amulets of iron shaped like the
heads of crows or ravens (p. 134, see also p. 377).
"The dress of the women is similar to that of the
men. They part their hair with a wooden comb into
tresses, which they bind together in a tuft. They
make a slit in their upper lip, parallel to the mouth,
and of the same length, and place therein a piece of
wood shaped like a spoon, two inches long, and one
inch and a half broad. They bore five or six holes in
their ears, and some of them tatoo their chins."
[Coxe, 1803, p. 327.]
[Beresford also gives us a description of the woman's
labret:]
"An aperture is made in the thick part of the
under lip, and increased by degrees in a line parallel
with the mouth, and equally long: in this aperture,
a piece of wood is constantly wore, of an elliptical
form, about half an inch thick; the superficies not
flat, but hollowed out on each side like a spoon,
though not quite so deep; the edges are likewise
hollowed in the form of a pully, in order to fix this
precious ornament more firmly in the lip, which by
this means is extended at least three inches horizon-
tally, and consequently distorts every feature in
the lower part of the face. This curious piece of
wood is worn only by the women, and seems to be
considered as a mark of distinction, it not being
wore by all indiscriminately, but only those who
appeared in a superior situation to the rest." [Beres-
ford, 1789, p. 172.]
As already suggested, the labret was probably worn
only by women of aristocratic position, probably
Tlingit women who had married into Yakutat, or
perhaps members of already resident Tlingit sibs
(Teqwedi, Tl'uknaxAdi) who felt superior to those
of Eyak or Athabaskan derivation.
YAKUTAT, 1791
We already have an impression of the appearance
of the natives of Port Mulgrave, for Surfa's description
of the Ankau and his son has been quoted (p. 145).
Some men wore full beards, and their faces were painted
with red ochre and black soot (p. 144). The captured
crest hat or helmet of the Ankau also has been de-
scribed (p. 145).
Malaspina (1849, pp. 286-287) summarizes the
dress of the natives :
"The clothing of the men is regularly a cape of
nutria [otter] pelts, of wolves or of martens over
the body, with a band (sash) on the lower part of
the abdomen. They cover their heads with hats
of straw [spruce roots] in the form of a truncated
cone. The women are decently clothed with a kind
of under tunic of tanned skin, and on top wear a
cape of nutria or marten which is very well sewn
together with threa,d. The men have the septum
of the nose perforated, and in the perforations
put a nail or some other ornament. In the ears
they are accustomed to have five holes from which
hang various baubles. The women have under the
lower lip the aperture in which is placed the piece
of wood which we will describe in another place."
Suria offers a much fuller description, while remark-
ing that the children are all naked, as are some of the
men (Wagner, 1936, p. 254). It is not clear, however,
whether this is as common outdoors as in the huts
(see p. 143).
Referring to the men in the two canoes that came
out to meet the Spanish vessels (cf. p. 141), he writes:
"They were dressed in skins of various colors, well-
tanned, large and flexible. With one which hangs
from a skin tied around their waist [i.e., an apron]
they cover their private parts and the other which
reaches to the knees they hang from the shoulder
like a cape. The skins seem to be those of bears,
tigers, lions [identified by Wagner as Alaska brown
bear], and some of deerskins, and of marmots, with
the hair outside. Their aspect would not be so dis-
agreeable, although always wild, but the crude colors
with which they paint themselves disfigure them
entirely, as it seems that their idea of gala dress is
to make themselves look as horrible as possible.
Their hair is very thick and flaccid without any
dressing or care, loose in the wayward natural man-
ner, and covered with the greatest abundance of red
ochre and grease, which according to the odor must
be deer grease [or rather, mountain goat tallow]."
[Wagner, 1936, p. 247.]
"The dress of the men is as I have stated [see
above], of various skins, the most ordinary being of
black bear, and very hairy. When it rains and they
have no hats they cover their heads with the same
skin of the head of a bear, which makes them look
like Hercules. The rest of the skin they gather in at
the waist by means of a piece of leather and what is
left of the animal, claws and tail, etc., hangs down
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 435
to the middle of the leg. From this it may be inferred
that the arms, breast, stomach and belly are un-
covered except the shoulders and the rump. In order
that this skin may not get loose they sustain it on
the right shoulder by means of another connecting
piece of leather. Some besides this wear another skin
which we can call a cape or cloak, as it serves the
same purpose. Others go entirely naked with a breech
clout. Their hair is loose (among the women also)
but groomed with more care on one side than the
other, leaving the parting of the hair uncovered,
covered with red ochre, and their faces painted with
it which makes them look horrible." [Wagner, 1936,
p. 255.] [The passage concludes with a description of
armor (see p. 586).]
"The dress of the women is very modest. It con-
sists of a robe of tanned skin and without hair which
covers them from their throat down to their feet,
and the breast and arms, down to the wrist. There
is a sleeve which is wide but modest. In all, this tunic
has the same form as that which they put on the
effigy of Jesus Nazareno and tie around the waist.
Besides this robe they wear a cape or square cape
also of skin which is held on the right shoulder by a
piece of leather and some living on the banks of the
sea wear [only] * a fringe. Some use these cloaks
made strictly of marten skins." [Wagner, 1936, p.
255.] [* Inserted by Wagner.]
Not all the robes were of fur, for Malaspina observes:
"Finally among the woven materials, special atten-
tion is merited by the blanket made of pine bark, spun
and woven, on which is inserted on one part with good
symmetry the fur of the skin of an otter." [Malaspina,
1885, p. 348.] This would appear to be a blanket of
Chilkat-like twining, probably similar to that observed
by LaPerouse in Lituya Bay (see p. 433).
The Spaniards were inevitably interested in the
labret and nose ornaments and in the tattooing. Thus
Suria writes:
"As soon as they are born they pass a very delicate
feather through the cartilege of the nose for the
purpose of making a hole in it, and in consequence
the hole gets bigger so that when they are grown
up they can put a nail of considerable size through
it as they do, as they all have holes in their noses.
The women in addition to the hole in their nose
make one in their lower lip horizontally in which
they place a roll of wood of eliptical form, hollowed
out on one side and the other, and thick enough
to hold it between the teeth and the lip. The size
of it appears incredible as well as the custom of
wearing it. Clasping this roll with the lip, they
talk, eat, and do everything. We do not know if
this is distinctive of the married women, although
to me it seems so, because I have not noted it in
other than these, and the unmarried ones do not
use it. All of them tattoo their arms and hands in
lines of various designs and so remain forever."
[Wagner, 1936, pp. 254-255.]
It is not clear whether tattooing is restricted to women.
Malaspina writes about the labret and nose ornament:
"The incision of the lower lip differs a little from
that observed by Captain Cook and Don Salvador
Hidalgo at the entrance to Prince William Sound
[i.e., among the Chugach Eskimo]. The tribe at
Port Mulgrave substitute for the false teeth or
other subdivided ornament of the same incisions,
a kind of eliptical pulley-wheel (roldana), which
is attached to the lips by both rims, and, placed
in a horizontal position, serves as ornament only
for the women. This roller [Footnote: "An example
of this ornament has been sent to the Royal Cabi-
net."], very well polished on all sides and made of
pine wood, is two inches and one English line in
its major axis, one inch in its minor axis, and
seven lines thick from one edge to the other. The
men usually have the septum of the nose pierced
for the insertion of some ornament, but we have
never seen this composed of anything other than
bones or nails, instead of the rings, strings [of beads]
or rows of shells which the inhabitants of Prince
William Sound are wont to wear." [Malaspina,
1885, p. 344.]
The sketches by Suria, however, suggest that one
woman, at least, is wearing a nose ornament and ear
pendants of dentalium shell, and the elaborate nose
ornament of the Ankau may also have been made of
dentalia (pis. 44, 45, 56).
Dress at Yakutat
As reported by my informants, sealskin garments
were worn at Yakutat on ordinary occasions. Thus the
man wore sealskin pants (l'ukwatal) and the woman
wore a long sealskin dress (1'ak; Boas, 1917, p. 156,
tl'ak'). The latter, at any rate, had the fur turned inside
for warmth, and apparently had a high neck and long
sleeves. The man's shirt (gudAs; Boas, 1917, p. 128,
kudis) might be of sealskin, although shirts of fox or
mink fur and of eagle and swan skins were also men-
tioned. Birdskin jackets were worn in cold weather and
had attached hoods.
Men and youths, however, were supposed to go with-
out clothing in order to be strong. This was particularly
436 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
enjoined when they were performing hard work in the
early morning as part of their toughening exercises.
On such occasions they rolled up their shirts (MJ) or
went clad only in a "belt" (sik). The latter may have
been a breechclout. In summer, men went barefoot and,
in all seasons, when going hunting took only a minimum
of warm clothing and blankets, often "just a piece of
canvas or something." In describing a bear hunt, we
remember that the informant mentioned how one of
the men stripped naked in order to "fight" better
(p. 365).
The most valued furs for clothing in the old days
were sea otter, wolf, and beaver, while "marten is the
highest class of fur," used for clothing by the rich and
noble. Other valuable furs were those of the ground-
squirrel or gopher (tsAlk), obtained from the interior.
Mink is a "low class skin," because the mink is asso-
ciated with the evil land otter (see pp. 745,751, 754), and
some informants even denied that mink was worn in
the old days. However, an elderly man mentioned
jackets and caps of mink fur (CW), and one woman said
she had even made such a cap for her 6-months old son.
Tanned skins were also used for clothing, especially
at Dry Bay where moose and caribou skins were more
readily obtained in trade or on trips into the interior.
Such skins were also traded from the Copper River.
Deerskins were imported from southeastern Alaska.
Tanned skins were left white or might be smoked with
rotten wood and pine cones to make them brown
(MJ and friend).
Moosehide was favored as a "strong skin" for the
man's shirt worn under wooden armor (p. 590; pi. 161),
but lighter skins, especially white ones, were used for
dance costumes. The latter were often fringed, beaded,
or decorated with porcupine quills. Since the porcupine
is not found in the Yakutat area, the quills must have
been obtained from Controller Bay or the upper Alsek
River; more likely, however, finished garments were
imported, since they are described as being in Copper
River Atna or in Alsek River Athabaskan styles.
What purports to be an Athabaskan dress was copied
for a doll made by MJ in 1952 (pi. 134).
The shaman wore an apron of tanned skin when he
practiced. This was fringed around the edge and orna-
mented with rattling bones. At other times he dressed
in ordinary clothing.
GUTBKIN COATS
Jackets made of bear intestines were almost the only
garment, other than moccasins, about which we received
any detailed information. These were called 'animal
gutskin shirts' ('At nasi gudAs).
"They used to have coats just like plastic coats, with
hood and drawstring fastening at the collar. They sew
the hood right on. The shirt reaches to the knee. And
the sealskin boots comes up to the hip. My mother and
father use high boots, and they use it in the canoe to
paddle around. . . . That's why long ago they got the
biggest brown bear. They got the guts." (MJ)
The processing of the bear intestines has been de-
scribed (p. 424). The waterproof jackets were made by
sewing the strips of gut together so that these ran
vertically on the body and on the sleeves (fig. 536). It
was denied that jackets were made with the strips
running horizontally around the body as on Chugach
gutskin coats (Birket-Smith, 1953, fig. 3). The seams
were sewn all on the same side (overhand), and one
informant believed that they were welted and that two
threads of porpoise sinew were used (i.e., that the seams
were double?). According to most informants, the hood
was stitched to the jacket; only one woman described
it as separate. There were drawstrings at the neck and
wrists. The coat reached either to the knee or to below
the bulge of the calf. Such jackets had been seen or
made by informants at Dry Bay, Yakutat, and Katalla.
FIGURE 53.?Sketches by Minnie Johnson to illustrate (a) her
grandfather's rainhat of spruce root and (6) the shoulder detail
of his rain shirt of gutskins.
HATS
In rainy weather, a conical basketry hat (saxw)
woven of spruce roots was worn. This had a sloping
brim and was tied with a thong under the chin but
was not otherwise described (fig. 53a). Similar hats
painted with crest designs and topped by a series of
basketry or copper rings, from the summit of which
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 437
some ermine skins hung down, were treasured heir-
looms worn on ceremonial occasions. A few of these are
represented in old photographs or by specimens in
museums (pis. 143-145). The only crest represented
seems to be the Killerwhale.
The seal hunter also had a cap (saxw) of sealskin, with
flaps which could be turned down over the ears and the
back of the neck. Presumably caps of other furs were
similar in design. The small baby had a cap which was
supposed to mold the ears close to the head (MJ).
Since the infant was completely covered in the baby
carrier, and the latter was under the mother's blanket
when she took the baby outdoors, only the child's head
needed protection. The cap, then, was probably the
only garment made for a baby. We do not know what
women wore on their heads before kerchiefs, woolen
caps, and hats were obtained. The most popular head-
covering for girls and women at Yukatat in the 1880's
and today is a large silk kerchief (cad a t'ayi), "some-
thing over your head." These are of various colors, but
widows always wear black. In winter, woolen kerchiefs
or scarves are used.
MITTENS AND GLOVES
The seal hunter wore long mittens of sealskin, that
"look just like long socks." These were tied up high
on the upper arm. They were called "ice gloves"
(xatl xu ?AX) because they were used especially when
hunting seals among the ice floes. Undoubtedly both
sexes wore mittens during the winter, although we
learned nothing about them except the name tca?
(t'Ax ?); gloves are called kAl'na tca&E (TJ). It is
probable that women wore some kind of work gloves
or mitts as protection against sunburn when working
outdoors, since they valued a white skin. At one period
(but not now) they used to cut the fingers from knitted
gloves and wear these as mitts when working outside
in summer.
Dancing gloves were mentioned by one informant
(JK) and are illustrated in old photographs (pis.
2111,214). Skin gloves ("kar-kahk-kate-sark") were
worn by the shaman when he cut out the land otter's
tongue that gave him power (see p. 677). A pair were
found by Emmons in the outfit of a ^aflkA'ayi shaman
on the Alsek River (AMNH E/1615).'
BOOTS AND MOCCASINS
Native footgear, especially at Dry Bay, seems to
have survived longer than almost any other article of
aboriginal dress, and we were therefore able to learn
more about the cut of boots and moccasins. Further-
more, moccasins which are still made by most of the
women for sale to tourists partially reflect the ab-
original patterns.
There seem to have been two types of footgear in
former tunes: high-topped boots (iwAn, or xwan
kutayBt), and ankle-high moccasins (?usket, 'foot-
cover'). It should be remembered that men tradi-
tionally went barefoot except in winter.
One informant (MJ) described the boots as follows:
"Waterproof boots were made in the old days out
of sealskin sewed with porpoise sinew. You used a seal
that has been shot in the head, so there will be no holes
in the skin. They sew it so tight you can blow it up
like a balloon. If air is coming out, they sew it up
tighter."
The complete skin of a male seal was required for
each boot. The skin was not tanned. "They don't
scrape it, just rub it and wash it. They just soften the
rough part of the skin with some kind of stone. If they
rub the skin the water goes through." "You dare not
tan or scrape the sealskin?just rub it with mountain
goat tallow. . . . Rub and rub and rub and rub."
The boot was made in two pieces: sole (xwincu
till) and upper (xwtrn; probably xwAn or xwan). The
piece for the sole was cut rounded at the toe and
straight across at the heel. Two slashes were made
at the heel and most of the "trailer" between these
was cut off. The two side flaps of the heel were then
brought together to make a T-shaped seam. The upper
was of one piece seamed up the back. It was rounded
at the lower end to fit over the top of the foot. There
was no separate piece for the instep, like the "top" of
the modern moccasin. When boots made with such
a piece were described, informants recognized them
as Eskimo. In order to fit the sole to the upper, the
former was gathered at the toe, and sometimes at the
heel also, but no bootsole creaser was used, and this
Eskimo implement is not used for moccasins today.
The upper was first basted to the sole at the toe and
at the sides, to be sure that it was properly fitted, and
the final seam was begun at the toe, with the boot
held so that the sole was toward the seamstress.
The boot was stitched inside out, that is, with the
fur side out, but we could not discover whether blind
stitching was employed. When finished, the boot was
turned right side out, so the fur would be on the inside.
The upper over the top of the foot was shaped after
washing.
In addition, "they made stockings with the hair
side in. And then there's moss around, and then the
boot. . . . They used moss for socks, just pad it
around the foot. They made it just like a sock. . . .
The moss socks are up to the ankle. . . . Sometimes
my father woujd come home and take his boots off
and his feet is as dry as chips. Even if he wade in the
deep snow in the mountains, then- feet don't get wet."
(MJ)
438 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
The moss used was probably the variety used for
diapers and found on the limbs of trees (p. 31).
Possibly the "skin stockings" correspond to the deer-
skin leggings ("qwun") which Emmons obtained at
Yakutat (AMNH E/1120).
The high boots reached to the hips, and were worn
both by men and women. As a little girl, MJ was given
high-topped boots of young mountain goat skin to
keep her feet warm.
The other type of footgear (iuskut), more properly
called a moccasin (til), was worn both by men and
women. It was said to have been made of untanned
deerskin, but almost certainly other skins were more
commonly used. A cord attached to the front was tied
behind the ankle. The cut was not described, except
that the upper part of these moccasins or boots was of
strong white "cable" cloth. This probably formed the
ankle flap. In all probability this footgear was an ordi-
nary ankle-high moccasin, of the type made by the
Athabaskans, and is that represented on the doll made
by the informant (MJ; see pi. 134). These moccasins are
made in three pieces: sole, "top" over the instep, and
ankle flap.
Some women now make "mukluks" to sell, although
these are probably not of native Yakutat pattern.
Each of these boots requires four pieces of skin and
four pieces of felt for the lining: sole, side, instep, and
ankle.
One woman made a pair of high boots for a White
man, but again the pattern was probably not completely
aboriginal. These had soles of imported tanned moose-
skin cut moccasin-fashion with T-shaped seam at the
heel. The front (instep and tongue combined) was a
long piece of sealskin, fur side out and decorated with
an applique design of beaded green felt representing a
killerwhale eating a salmon. The rest of the upper
consisted of two panels of furred sealskins at the back,
and a panel of mooseskin on each side. The outer one of
these on each foot has a beaded applique design on red
felt representing a bear. The seams were all welted
with mooseskin, and the top had a cuff of furred
sealskin. For these handsome boots she charged $25
(MJ).
Moccasins (til), as already mentioned, are now made
for sale. They are usually purchased from the makers
by one of the native storekeepers and forwarded by
her to a wholesale firm. The latter specifies the numbers
wanted in each size. Moccasins are also sold directly
to the two stores, and are made on order for the White
residents of Yakutat. I did not see any natives wearing
moccasins, as I did at Angoon, but some beautifully
beaded ones were worn at a potlatch in 1916 to judge
from a photograph of the guests (pi. 214). It is hard to
tell how closely the modern commercial pattern follows
an aboriginal model.
Moccasins are made of two pieces of sealskin: sole
and instep. The latter is actually covered with a piece
of beaded felt, the so-called "moccasin top." The sole
is cut with a T-shaped seam at the heel, is puckered
at the toe, and comes up over the sides of the foot.
The hair of the sealskin is outside, pointing back.
Around the top of the moccasin, just below the ankle,
is a trimming of fur, usually of commercially tanned
imported rabbitskin. A few women use the fuzzy white
fur of unborn seals for trim. The moccasins are lined
with cotton outing flannel. In cutting out the skins,
the women use patterns of heavy brown wrapping
paper, labeled according to our standardized sizes, and
when sewing, put the moccasins over wooden lasts
FIGURE 54.?Patterns for beaded moccasin tops, traced from
brown-paper patterns made by Minnie Johnson at Yakutat.
o, Represents a copper (tinna). 6, Represents the spirit of the
shaman, Tek-'ie, dressed in his master's crown of horns, stand-
ing on the box in which his master kept his "uniform." The
box is a separate stencil and the spirit is put on it "for the
pattern"; he did not really stand on it. Minnie Johnson made
this pattern "just to remember" her uncle, the shaman.
with very turned-up toes. These lasts are also graded
according to size. Most women have several sets of
patterns and lasts, and lend or borrow freely.
The felt "tops" are in every imaginable color and
are sewn with very fine beads. For this work, two
threaded needles are used, one to carry the beads and
the other to catch this thread to the felt between
every pair of beads. Patterns for the designs are ex-
changed between friends. There is also a very wide
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 439
sale of moccasin tops; women at Yakutat may buy
them not only from each other, but from friends and
acquaintances in southeastern Alaska. They cost 50
to 65 cents a pair. These tops are not nearly as heavily
beaded as those made by the Athabaskans on the
upper Alsek or Copper Rivers, but some are very
beautiful. One man works out designs for his wife to
bead, while her mother stitches up the moccasins.
Most women have a fine collection of design patterns,
boxes and strands of beads of all colors, and finished
tops.
Most moccasin tops now have ALASKA spelled out
in letters. A great many have floral patterns; others
may represent bear's heads, totem poles, eagles, blue-
birds, Indians in feather headdresses, and other themes
(pi. 134). The most interesting, however, are those
which illustrate myths. Thus, a popular design is that
of a killerwhale surmounting a human face in a tri-
angular frame. The latter represents Raven who turned
himself into a woman in order to marry the Killerwhale
(kit 'axugudi cawAt). Another, of a woman's face very
much like that on the post of the Whale House at
Klukwan (Emmons, 1916, pi. 4, R), is that of the
woman who nourished the Woodworm (Swanton, 1908,
p. 408). Another beautiful design is of a whale and a
raven superimposed, derived from the myth of Raven in
the Whale. A devilfish design is said to represent a
shaman's spirit. Others are a "copper" (fig. 54a), a
ChUkat blanket with the Tl'uknaxAdi's Frog crest, a
man (Teqwedi?) wearing the Wolf Hat, and so on. One
very interesting design (fig. 546) represents the spirit
of the Teqwedi shaman, Tek-'ic, and is called "shaman's
spirit" ('ixt; xAn yegi). The figure is squatting on a
decorated box, in which his "master," the shaman, kept
his regalia. The spirit wears the shaman's crown of
mountain goat horns, here said to represent the rays of
the sun, since the spirit is the "Sun's Children." The
niece of the shaman made this pattern, "just to re-
member" (MJ).
Formerly the patterns for such beadwork were cut
out of heavy paper and were stitched to the felt as a
guide in sewing. Now the design is transferred to the
felt with carbon paper.
ROBES
Fur robes served as wraps and as bedding in former
days, but were gradually displaced by ordinary woolen
blankets. Only a few people have robes of gopher skins
(tsA& xuw), imported from the interior. One woman
who has one that came from Whitehorse via the Chilkat,
wanted me to photograph it as background to a carving.
Robes formerly were made of many different skins.
"Brown bear skins?not big ones, just pup.?It's
warm in winter, like blankets. We line them with Hud-
son Bay blankets." (MJ) The man who went to the
sky, LqayaE:w, had a bearskin cape.
"My father got all kinds of robes?lynx robe, fox
robe, swansdown robe?for my grandmother. . . . He
had fox paw robes, lined with gopher skin." (MJ)
"My mother made a swansdown blanket for her
mother. It was the prettiest thing you ever saw. Just
the down was used. They cut the swan down the back
and they just used the breast part. Sometimes they get
a one-foot square piece. They cut them all the same
size. You could never tell it's sewed. And they line it
with gopher skins on the other side. . . . When it's
real cold you put the swansdown side against you."
(MJ)
The informant remembered how her grandfather
chewed the swanskin to get the fat out, for it was too
thin to be scraped. The coarse feathers were plucked
out to leave only the soft down. She also mentioned
her grandmother's robe of mink fur, and another of lynx
fur on one side and eagleskin on the other.
Emmons obtained an eagleskin robe at Yakutat,
which he recorded was worn by both men and women
as a ceremonial robe (AMNH E/2298).
When woolen blankets were procured, the favorite
ones were, naturally, those of the Hudson's Bay
Company.
Ceremonial Costumes
A number of ceremonial costumes, worn at potlatches
in the past and treasured as heirlooms, have been pre-
served at Yakutat until fairly recently. Some were seen
and photographed there in 1949,1952, and 1954. Others
that had been sold or lost are represented in photographs
taken between 1886 and 1920. Some of these specimens
are now hi museum collections. These items of dress
consist of masks (for dancing, not shamanistic per-
formances) , feather headdresses of various kinds, hats,
caps, helmets, coats, shirts, vests, blankets, gloves, bibs,
and bandolier-style bags. Other ceremonial garments
we learned about only throughj descriptions given by
informants.
FOREIGN STYLES
The man's dance shirt worn especially at Dry Bay
by the TmkwaxAdi who claim an Athabaskan origin,
was described as made of tanned white moose or
caribou skin, with "porcupine quills all over." A
sketch (Fig. 55) made by Emma Ellis indicated a shirt
with a beaded collar, a slit in front down to a V-shaped
beaded and fringed yoke, beaded and fringed straps
like epaulettes from the collar to the shoulders, and
similar decorations around the bottom. The under-arm
seam was sometimes fringed and there was beading at
440 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
the cuffs. These fringes were said to have been made of
beads with tufts of yarn at the ends. (Some were
obviously cut into the tanned skin itself, to judge by
such jackets in photographs.) The Dry Bay men wore
boots that came up to about the knee and that were
also decorated with procupine quills. Probably this
dance costume represented an elaboration of the
ordinary man's dress at Dry Bay.
On the other hand, Copper Eiver Atna dress was
favored by the KTackqwan of Yakutat, because of
their traditional origin. Possibly the Atna dress was
once worn more commonly here, although recently it
was described only for potlatches. The man's shirt is
said to have been decorated with dentalia (tAxxe). A
Tl'trknaxAdi man from Yakutat, who attended a pot-
latch in Sitka given about 1901, was described as
"dressed like genuine Copper River?them tAxxe
FIGTJEE 55.?ThikwaxAdi man's dance shirt of tanned white
moose or caribou skin with beaded ornamentation, as sketched
by Emma Ellis.
business all over. Just pretty. He had tight pants and
a belt, slip shirt over, and tAxxe sewed on the side, and
a fringe is hanging, and the tAxxe business right up to
the hip on the side." (MJ)
The "Copper River woman's dress," also worn at
potlatches, is represented by a doll (pi. 134) made by
MJ for Dr. McClellan. The dress is a long frock of
tanned skin, reaching below the knees, with a high
neck and long sleeves. It is belted at the waist and
trimmed with fur at the hem and cuffs. A strip of
fringed skin runs from the armpits across the chest to
form a V, the point of which is at the waist in the
middle. The yoke above this is beaded. There are also
fringes along the underarm seams. High-topped moc-
casins that cover the ankles are worn, made in three
pieces: sole, instep, and ankle flap.
With such Athabaskan costumes, the women were
apt to wear their hair in braids, with beaded head-
band and feathers, and the men also adopted feather
headdresses (pis. 210-212, 216). The face paint was
also supposed to be in Athabaskan style, or a dancer
might wear a mask purporting to represent an Atha-
baskan's long face.
The Yakutat people have apparently been eager to
adopt other foreign styles of dress for ceremonial
occasions. Thus, at one potlatch at Dry Bay, the
women cut their hair in Japanese style and wore
kimonos. A Japanese ship that had been wrecked
nearby was said to have been the inspiration for the
costume. The Kagwantan at Sitka once adopted the
American Navy, and therefore Kagwantan women
there and at Yakutat sometimes wear middy blouses
or dresses with sailor collars. Some Yakutat men and
women at potlatches in 1904 and 1916 wore wide flat
brims (without crowns?), trimmed all around with
long beaded fringes (pis. 210-212, 214). This style of
headdress was said to have been "captured from the
Russians."
CREST SHIRTS
Other ceremonial garments were crest shirts. One of
these is a magnificent garment of Chilkat weave
representing the Brown Bear (pi. 145), which had
belonged to the Teqwedi house head, Situk Jim, who
died in 1912. The coat is trimmed at the neck and
cuffs of the long sleeves with land otter fur, and two
gussets of the fur have been let into the sides because
it was too tight. In addition to the main overall bear
pattern, there are three faces down the center represent-
ing the bear husband, his hitman wife and, at the
bottom, then1 cub. On the back of the shirt is an in-
verted face, signfying that the wearer would promptly
invite his host to a return potlatch.
Another crest shirt of the Teqwedi was of cloth,
with the outline of the Bear stitched on with dentalia.
It was worn at the dedication of the Golden Eagle
Screen in Drum House (pi. 213).
A Mount Saint Elias coat acquired by a private
collector in 1946, and now in the Alaska State Museum
in Juneau, is of cloth ornamented with buttons and
beads that form floral designs on the cuffs and hem
and has the conventionalized figure of the cloud-ringed
mountain in the middle (pi. 147). This was a crest of
the KwacUqwan, and the coat was probably worn by
a man.
In addition, there was a sleeveless cloth shirt with
beadwork outlining the mountain, within which is a
squatting figure with enormous head (the spirit of the
mountain?) and various faces (pi. 144). This was
named as the^Mount Saint Elias "Blanket" (yase t'a ca
hi), even though it is a shirt, perhaps because it
replaced a blanket of that name.
The Kwacls:qwan also had a Raven shirt, worn by a
woman (pi. 144). This was a loose fitting cloth shirt
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 441
with long sleeves, and decorated with a beaded design
that included the Raven.
OTHER COATS AND VESTS
Photographs (pis. 210-212) of Yakutat guests at a
potlatch in Sitka, December 9, 1904, show both men
and women wearing similar beaded cloth garments,
with long sleeves and without belt, some with floral
designs and others with beaded crests figures (Eagle,
and Raven?). Other cloth shirts or frocks evidently
copied the Dry Bay Athabaskan costume with beaded
yoke, neckband, shoulder straps, belt, cuffs, and hem.
The fringes on the yoke were of buttons and beads.
There were also coats of whole ermine skins, including
the tails, and one of groundsquirrel fur. These were
decorated with elaborately beaded shoulder, neck, cuff,
and hem of flannel, usually bright red. Some of these
were caught at the waist by a beaded belt. The designs
on these were floral (pis. 1, 141, 146).
An ordinary cloth vest, decorated with floral bead-
work, was traditionally worn by one of the Teqwedi
song leaders, and is now in the Alaska State Museum.
With it he wore a head ring and shoulder rope of cedar
bark, evidently a style imported from the south (pis.
140,147)
BIBS
Over these fur or cloth coats, shirts, and frocks,
beaded cloth neckbands were often worn. These had
two or three rectangular tabs hanging down in front
or over the shoulders, or had a large bib in front.
Again the designs might be floral patterns, but more
often depicted sib crests. For example, the Kwackqwan
had one representing the big rock at the Humpback
Salmon Stream, and above it, a Raven that became
drunk, flew upside down, turned white, and fell down
(pi. 1). The CAnkuqedi have a bib with a Thunder-
bird in the center and stars in the corners (pi. 15).
The Teqwedi had a number of bibs with the Eagle, a
double-headed Eagle, two Killerwhales chasing a seal,
a single Killerwhale, and so on (pi. 214). A bib with a
Frog probably belonged to the Tl'uknaxAdi, although
it was not specifically identified by my informants.
BAGS
Men and women might wear one or two beaded
cloth dance bags, slung bandolier-fashion over one
shoulder and under the other, (pi. 141). These ended
in four wide finger-like appendages, and were therefore
called 'devilfish finger bags' (naqw tl'eyi [tl'eqxi] gwel).
In one photograph (pi. 214) taken in 1916 a number
of young Teqwedi men, guests at a potlatch, wear such
bags as caps, but this may have been only for a stunt,
since one man is wearing a woman's hat and the two
white feathers of the Peace Hostage.
BLANKETS
On these ceremonial occasions men, women, and
children might wear blankets, often together with
bib and headgear. The blanket was usually pulled over
the shoulders, fastened at the throat with a short
beaded strap that ran across the neck, with the straight
edge falling down in front over the arms and body (pi.
213). In former days, thongs were used instead of the
strap. The song leaders who needed freedom of move-
ment to wield the paddles or batons with which the
singing and dancing was directed, wore the blanket
wrapped around the body, sometimes under the
armpits, or over one shoulder and under the other.
These blankets were Chilkat blankets, beaded crest
blankets, and button blankets. To judge by the old
photographs these blankets were worn over ordinary
shirt and trousers or dress, not over a decorated shirt,
but this may have been because there were not enough
costumes to equip all members of the family in full
regalia.
CHILKAT BLANKETS
Chilkat blankets (naxen) were imported from Kluk-
wan and Haines. They were made on order, and were
therefore of different sizes to fit adults and children.
The desired crest was specified, but the purchaser
had to rely on the maker to carry out the order, since
the Yakutat people were apparently not able to in-
terpret the designs. Two men in the photograph taken
at Sitka in 1904 are wearing Chilkat blankets (pi.
212). Jim Kardeetoo owned the Teqwedi Brown Bear
Blanket (xuts naxen) and Ms Kwacl;qwan daughter
wore a child's Chilkat blanket, design unidentified
(pi. 143). The Tl'uknaxAdi wife of ^adanek Johnstone,
Anna, had a Chilkat blanket that represented the
Raven (pi. 148); Sam George, CAnkuqedi, owned one with
a Thunderbird design and the words "Chilkat Blanket"
spelled out in the weave at the neck (pi. 15). A child's
blanket, collected at Yakutat in 1914, but with un-
identified design, is in the Washington State Museum
(pi. 149).
CREST BLANKETS
There are two important beaded crest blankets at
Yakutat. These are made of heavy dark blue cloth
and are trimmed with red borders across the top and
down the sides. One of these was made for Jack Peter-
son, CAnkuqedi (1870-1938), and has the figure of
a Thunderbird in the center, two wolves(?) in the
corners, and a face with protruding tongue below the
Thunderbird, all executed in beads on red felt applique
(pi. 150). The border is trimmed with very, large
pearl buttons, said to have belonged to Jack Peterson's
father, the famous shaman, Gutcda.
The second crest blanket represents the Ahrnklin
River, and belongs to the Drum House Teqwedi (pi.
442 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
151). The beaded figures on red applique represent
the river, with the spirit at its head and another at
its mouth. Above on each side are two faces (clouds?);
farther down are two large eyes or faces (mountains?)
and two small wolves.
A modern crest blanket, representing Mount Saint
Elias, is a fine white Hudson's Bay four point blanket,
on which the mountain with a face inside the peaked
outline and clouds about the summit, four moonlike
faces below, two Humpback Salmon, and a double-
headed monster (the mouth of the Humpback Salmon
Stream ?), are all outlined in colored machine stitching
(pi. 152). I t belonged to Young George, Kwackqwan,
who drowned in 1915.
BUTTON BLANKETS
Whereas these Chilkat or beaded crest blankets seem
to be worn only by chiefs, house heads, and the im-
mediate members of their families, other persons
chiefly women and young girls, wore button blankets
(xai kawut xuw). These blankets are of dark blue
woolen cloth, preferably of lightweight broadcloth, "so
they won't sweat so much when they dance" (MJ). It
is said to take 2 yards of such cloth, at $10 a yard, to
make a blanket for an adult. The blanket is trimmed
with a wide border of red woolen cloth across the top
and downj the two sides (fig. 56). The more ordinary kind
is called the "four stripe blanket" (da&undati), because
there are two additional vertical stripes of red inside
the side borders. The more expensive kind has these
and also another cross stripe of red near the top,
making three red-outlined squares on the upper part
of the blanket, and is therefore called "crosswise over
the shoulders" (tl'icaki Mxib). A little girl's blanket
might have only two vertical red stripes (pi. 166).
\
I
I
I
?" 1
(
1 .
I
, I
\
?mm
rs /
i
1
/
a
i
i ?
V
V
1
1
\
\ 1
_
\ V
I
I I
*? t
V
Li ij
l
i
FIGURE 56.?Button blankets sketched by Minnie Johnson,
o, "Four-stripe blanket." b, "Cross-wise over the shoulders."
These blankets were of blue broadcloth with red stripes. Three
rows of mother-of-pearl buttoms are supposed to be sewn on
the blue cloth next to the red stripes.
These blankets are further decorated with one to three
rows of old-fashioned commercial shell buttons (mother-
of-pearl) sewn on the blue background next to the inner
edges of the red stripes. On some of the older blankets
these buttons may be as big as dollars, but more recently
small buttons were used, either because they were pre-
ferred or because they were the only kind available.
Men also wore button blankets, for the shaman,
Gutcda, wore one when he came to Yakutat. Two
older men among the Yakutat guests at the Sitka
potlatch in 1904 wore what seem to be elaborate button
blankets (pis. 210,211). One has a light background
and dark stripes and appears to have several folds of
material; the other blanket is dark but seems to be
decorated with a fringed silk scarf on which Chinese
coins are sewn.
GLOVES
Dancing gloves or mittens were mentioned but not
described. They are perhaps represented by a pair of
white cotton gloves, ornamented with tasseled fringes
from the tip of the little finger to the wrist. These were
worn by one of the Yakutat song leaders at the Sitka
potlatch in 1904 (pi. 211?). Perhaps the cotton work
gloves worn by young Teqwedi guests at a potlatch
in 1916 served the same purpose (pi. 214).
HEADGEAR
The most common headgear for men and women
consisted of black silk kerchiefs, wound like turbans,
and ornamented with cockades of dyed chicken feathers,
of the type brought by the Hudson's Bay Company
into Yukon Territory (pis. 1, 127, 153). These were
called 'Canadian feathers' (nmgEnin t'awu).
At the Sitka potlatch in 1904, a pair of feathers, like
those worn by the peace hostage dancer, might be
thrust into a beaded headband or be worn with a head-
band of alternate dark and light colored down (or fur?).
An elaborate headdress worn by one man had a maskette
on the forehead and a crown of stiff white feathers.
There were also beaded caps of soft cloth with tassels
(pi. 210).
The Tl'uknaxAdi formerly had a cap of red felt,
trimmed with ermine, and 31 braids of human hair
(pi. 153). It is said to have come from Gusex, and had
been owned by Dry Bay Chief George, and then by
Lituya Bay George. "It was a cap with braids on it for
every slave killed" (MJ). It is now in the Alaska State
Museum.
Other headgear included a cedar bark ring with
tassels, worn as crown by a Teqwedi song leader,
apparently a southern Tlingit fashion.
HEADDRESS WITH MASK
Dancers, men or women, and even children, might,
wear the square wooden masklike headdress, sur-
mounted by sea lion whiskers and flicker feathers, and
trailing a veil of ermine skins (pis. 62, 142). This
type of headdress (CAki'At) was probably made by the
Tsimshian although it was referred to as a "Haida
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 443
head piece," because it was worn when dancing at a
potlatch to "Haida mouth" type songs. It was also
worn on other occasions; for example, Chief Yen-aht-
setl posed for Professor Libbey in 1886 wearing such a
headdress. Dick Manson, a TcukAnedi man from
Hoonah, is apparently wearing the same headdress in
a photograph (pi. 2l5d) of a funeral group in Thunder-
bird House, Yakutat, taken in 1918 or 1921. One
wonders whether this was the "Bear Head piece" that
Bund Dave Dick offered as bride price for MJ when
she was young (p. 459), although the figure seems to
be more like a Golden Eagle. The Teqwedi also had a
headdress of this type representing a Golden Eagle on
a rock. It formerly belonged to Jim Kardeetoo, but is
now in the Portland Art Museum (pi. 156). Another
headdress representing the Golden Eagle, made by a
Tsimshian Indian before 1886, belonged to the Drum
House lineage, and was photographed at Yakutat in
1949 (pi. 157c; fig. 57). A Golden Eagle mask for a similar
headdress was also seen and photographed (pi. 157a).
ion whiskers
abalone
ermine
skins wood
FIGTTKE 57.?Headdress sketched by Edward Malin at Yakutat
in 1949.
It was said to have come from the grave of Kaxdaxetl
(either Chief Minaman or his predecessor). It is not
the same as that worn by Chief Yen-aht-setl (Minaman)
in 1886.
The flicker feathers (kun t'awu) used in decorating
these headdresses were very valuable. They were not
obtainable at Yakutat, but are said to have been im-
ported from the Tsimshian, and presumably were
already incorporated in the cAki'At.
CREST HATS AND HELMETS
The most important headgear were the crest hats
(saxw) and helmets (xis) worn by chiefs. There have
been several woven spruce root hats collected at
Yakutat and, as far as I know, all of them have the
Killerwhale crest, painted on the twined weaving or
embroidered in straw. The original model is supposed to
have been one acquired by the shaman, ^atgawet, on
a visit in spirit to the Tsimshian (see p. 711). Libbey
collected two fine old hats at Yakutat in 1886. One has a
design in red and black paint, suggestive of a Killer-
whale and other figures (pi. 155); the other, with four
woven cylinders on top, has a red, blue, and black
Killerwhale painted as if coiled around the brim (pi.
154). The Portland Art Museum has two hats which
belonged to Jim Kardeetoo, the Teqwedi chief. One
is a very old one with painted Killerwhale decoration
(pi. 145); the other, a much newer hat with the Killer-
whale embroidered in green, black, and orange straws
(PAM 48.3.598), is said to have been modeled after a
wooden Killerwhale hat or helmet, of which I have no
record. The older hat is now topped by six cylinders,
three covered with hardwood, three with copper, but
it is exident that these were taken from some other hat.
Photographs taken at Yakutat some years ago show
the same set of cylinders, topped with a panache of
ermine skins, on the newer hat (pi. 143). The older hat
is supposed to have been found in a box on the beach
at Situk River, where it bad floated as part of the
wreckage from tbe canoes that capsized in Lituya Bay
(p. 270). The hat was unfinished, but when given to the
chief, he ordered it finished, paying five slaves for the
work. Afterwards, the chief gave a feast and added the
top. To put on tbe three copper rings represented the
cost of two valuable slaves. In another statement in the
catalog, we are told that the first chief added only one
ring, and his two successors the other two. The copper
represented slaves killed over the hat, which also was
said to "have the spirits of the drowned owners."
Although the Tl' oknaxAdi claimed a Raven Hat, this
may have been owned by the chief of the sib in Sitka.
However, in the photograph of dancers at the potlatch
in Sitka, 1904, there are two older men wearing wooden
hats or helmets (pi. 212). One of these has a carved
figure of what appears to be a Raven, and is topped
by two basketry cylinders; the other has the figure of
what appears to be a bird of prey (Eagle?), and is
topped by four cylinders. Unfortunately, I have not
been able to identify the wearers. At Dry Bay, in a
shaman's grave house, Emmons found a crest hat
woven of spruce root and painted to represent the
Frog (AMNH E/1082). This was for "general dance
occasions," that is for potlatches, not for shamanistic
practice; the crest indicates the Tl'uknaxAdi or
ThikwaxAdi.
In a 1918 or 1921 photograph of Thunderbird House,
Yakutat, one of the CAnkuqedi youths (Sam Hen-
ninger, Sr.), is wearing a wooden helmet carved in the
444 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
shape of an animal (pi. 215c). The face at the front
suggests a Bear, but the high crest might be the fin of
the KUlerwhale. The carved wooden helmet representing
an Eagle, formerly owned by Tanu? (Jim Itinesku of
Golden Eagle House in the Old Village), is now in the
Alaska State Museum (pi. 158). Curiously enough it
was collected by Axel Rasmussen from Billy Jackson,
Kwacliqwan, brother-in-law of the Teqwedi house head.
A wooden helmet, unfinished, representing a Frog on
top of some other animal, was at one time owned by
MJ, and seems to have been Tl'uknaxAdi sib property
(pi. 158). With this specimen, however, we seem to pass
from ceremonial sib regalia for potlatch wear to the
crest-decorated helmets worn in fighting (see pp.
590-591).
MASKS
Not all Tlingit masks were reserved for shamans. A
few from Yakutat were definitely used in dances at
potlatches. For example, the Alaska State Museum
now has a wooden mask, carved and painted by Tom
Coxe, and used by the Teqwedi for dancing (pi. 157).
The eyes are pierced and the face is that of a man with
gaudy face paint. There was also an Eagle mask, made
by B. A. Jack for Ned Daknaqin, for a big potlatch
given by that Teqwedi chief. The eyes of this mask
are not pierced (pi. 157). In the U.S. National Museum
there is a fine mask of copper, decorated with inlays of
abalone shell, and brown bear fur for the hair. It repre-
sents a Brown Bear (USNM 332,801). It was collected
in 1926 by the late Ale? Hrdlicka, at "Yakutat River,
British Columbia." That this may well refer to Yakutat,
Alaska, is suggested by a photograph taken in Thunder-
bird House, in which a CAnkuqedi woman (Mrs. Jenny
White), holds in front of her face what appears to be
an identical mask, except that this is painted and lacks
bear fur (pi. 2\5g). The mask was said to be used for
an Athabaskan dance. (JW)
Personal Adornment and Grooming
To judge by the archeological evidence, ornaments
worn in the Yakutat area were large and medium-sized
beads of coal, a few pendants of animal teeth, beads of
birdbone, nose pins, and danglers, bracelets, and rings
of native copper. The last were evidently too large to
have been worn on the finger. The labret was not repre-
sented in the archeological collections, although it was
described by explorers of the 18th Century (de Laguna
et al., 1964, pp. 154-165). The labret remained fashion-
able for women until about 1875. Only a few old women
were wearing them near the end of the century. In this
connection, Emmons noted that the Kwacl:qwan women
wore no labrets and that the men of that sib wore long
bone pins in the septum of the nose. The original Drum
House Teqwedi (whom he believed were Athabaskans
from the upper Alsek), and the now extinct L'u^edi, or
"Muddy Water People" of the Situk area, did not wear
labrets. The archeological evidence would support the
hypothesis that the original non-Tlingit inhabitants of
the Yakutat area followed Athabaskan style in not
wearing the labret, although this is not conclusive,
since many labrets were of wood. Presumably this orna-
ment for women was introduced by the Tlingit.
LABRETS
Minnie Johnson, who was born in 1884, remembers
as a child that there was an old woman who wore a
bone labret (saq #entk?a) as big as the end of her
thumb. It was probably hat-shaped. There were ap-
parently none of the large dish-shaped or pulley-shaped
wooden labrets being worn at that time, like those
described by Beresford and LaPerouse, and sketched
bySuria (pi. 52). This informant's own mother (1847-
1912) wore a small silver pin in her lower lip, called
"smart pin" (?AJIUXW), which she could suck into her
mouth and poke back into place with her tongue. For-
merly all high-class women wore labrets. When the in-
formant's father and grandfather wanted to have her
lip and nose cut for ornaments, her mother and aunt
refused to allow it. "My daughter ain't going to cut
up her face for it"?which indicates the change in
fashions. A woman born in 1900, for example, does not
remember ever seeing a woman with a labret.
Emmons obtained five sandstone labrets and one of
bone at Yakutat (AMNH 19/317-321, 549), probably
in the 1880's, when these had already gone out of style.
Professor Libbey in 1886 obtained a very small labret
like a pin, made of some white metal (zinc?, German
silver?; pi. 135).
Harrington renders the word for labret as 'mouth-
wart' (?eent'aaxwaa, or xe'entaaxxaa) from 'mouth'
(ieen, or xAn), and 'wart' (tiaaxw). The small pin used
as a labret is (xwAnniiux), possibly 'mouth-nut,' al-
though he does not offer that etymology.
He also records the following information, obtained
from Jack Ellis:
"When asked about labrets, he says that a small
slit was cut in a woman's lip?(gest. at %" or more
below the edge of the lip) and on growing older, this
hole was stretched larger. A plug was worn in this
hole. This custom was employed so that women would
not talk too much. A high-born Tl[ingit] woman talked
very little. The high-born Tl. people had had experience
of women talking too much and thereby causing gossip,
dissentions and WARS, and that was why they made
the women wear plugs."
I heard similar folk-explanations of the custom.
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 445
NOSE ORNAMENTS
Yakutat men and women wore noserings (hinas) of
silver, and presumably before that of copper. Arche-
ological copper rings were identified as "Copper River
noserings," worn while dancing (MJ and friend). The
old style of ring required a slit in the septum, because
the rings were closed (de Laguna et al, 1964, fig. 19, c),
but the silver rings worn in the present century were
broken hoops of silver that could easily be slid over
the septum. These hung down to the upper lip, or
even over the mouth (pis. 1, 140, 210). In a photo-
graph taken of "Sheet ahn do tin' and his family in
Yakutat, 1886, both the man and his baby are wearing
very small noserings (pi. 63).
At least some men wore nose pins, for Jim Kardeetoo
(1862-1937) is wearing one in a photograph taken in
1916 (pi. 214a). In photographs taken at Sitka in 1904,
Sitka Charley, head of the Tl'uknaxAdi Whale House
at Sitka, and a song leader identified only as George
Dick, "Don-nah-icth" (DAna'ic, 'Dollar Father'?),
both wear nose pins (pis. 210, 212). These ornaments
were painted by Suria (pi. 56). Two bone bodkins
which may have been nose pins were found on Knight
Island (de Laguna et al, 1964, fig. 19, e,f).
EAR ORNAMENTS
Rings were sometimes worn in the ears (EE), but
ear ornaments were usually of other shapes. Some
earrings (gukw kA dJAc, or gukw 'At) were pendants of
fossil (?) shark teeth (cAxdAq 'uxu), obtained in trade,
or copies of these in silver. Some earrings worn by
Tl'uknaxAdi women were described as made of abalone
shell (tAxxe xu teyi), shaped like crows (MJ). Earrings
worn by women when dancing at potlatch festivities
were long strings of beads (gukw tleni). Earrings of
more recent make are all of gold, and these are still
worn by women and girls with pierced ears. The gold
earrings which I saw at Yakutat all seemed to be of
White manufacture.
BRACELETS
In prehistoric times, copper bracelets (kis) were worn
by the rich and noble, and each is said to have been
worth one big sea otter skin. These are represented by
specimens from the site on Knight Island (de Laguna
et al., 1964, fig. 19, a, b, d), and also by two specimens
from the Yakutat area collected by Emmons (AMNH
E/1295, 2563). Later, bracelets were made of coin
silver, engraved with crest designs or floral scrolls.
A silver bracelet with "dog fish design," probably the
Teqwedi's Shark, and another with an American
Eagle; and three with floral or scroll designs come from
Yakutat and Dry Bay (pi. 135, from Yakutat;
AMNH E/2429, 2431, 2432, from Dry Bay).
Professor Libbey also purchased a bracelet of bead-
work at Yakutat in 1886, along with a beaded cord
and long beaded band (pi. 135; PU 5197, 5196), but
these may all have been made for the tourist trade.
The bracelets at Yakutat most highly prized at present
are ofjgold, carved or incised with crest designs. Most
of the'older women at Yakutat have these, inherited
from their mothers.
BEADS AND NECKLACES
Necklaces (sed, SAILA. 'At, or sAkA kawut) were once
made of twisted copper. To judge from archeological
examples, these were cylindrical spirals of copper,
strung like beads (de Laguna et al., 1964, fig. 19 h).
Probably the beads of other materials, coal and bone,
were worn as necklaces (ibid., pi. 17).
Glass beads (kawut) were among the articles of trade
obtained at a very early period by the Yakutat people,
and were used for necklaces, earrings, hair ornaments,
and for decorating clothing. One of the earliest kinds
of beads were of pale blue glass, like those seen by
Captain Cook in Prince William Sound in 1778 (de
Laguna et al., 1964, pp. 202-203). Specimens of these,
found at the early historic site of Nessudat on Lost
River, were called 'smoke [colored] beads' (seq kawut).
They were said to be very precious, and could be worn
only by "owners of slaves." Other glass beads, obtained
from the Russians, and also found in historic sites,
including the shaman's grave, were dark blue, red, and
white, and were called 'Russian beads' ('Anuci kawudi).
Necklaces were described as made of red and blue
beads, or of red and white beads with brass pendants
interspersed at intervals of 2 inches. The latter ('At
kanudji) were like beads with small projecting claws??
"It's like a diamond ring when the diamond came off"?
and were said to have been worth a sea otter or a slave!
Scratching amulets of stone, carved in various shapes,
and incised with designs, were worn around the neck
(seep. 666).
Dentalia (taxxe, tAixe) were used for ornaments, and
were certainly obtained in trade. They were described
as shiny little things that look like abalone shell. They
get them from the bottom of the water, by sinking a
piece of meat for bait. The taxxe are supposed to be
alive, so they "clean out the live things inside."
"The thing they called taxxe was just like beads,
about an inch, I think, or an inch and a half long. It's
white but it's a live thing. They call them almost the
same thing as the [teredo worm] that eats the wood in
the dock. . . . There's a shell on it, and when they
take the inside out it's like beads. But it's more like
a pearl, all shiny. . . . They get them from the water?
around Hydaberg someplace, in the deep water."
Abalone (haliotis) shell, used for earrings and inlays,
was called taxxe xu teyi, and was said to "come from
446 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
the same thing [as dentalia]. It's green, almost square.
It's a good stone. It's pretty expensive."
No one remembered any tradition of making beads
from coals.
HAin AND HAIR ORNAMENTS
Except for shamans who wore their hair in very long
tangled locks and braids, men in former times wore
theirs to the shoulder. It was cut by putting a board
behind the hair and slicing the latter off with a knife.
Women let their hair grow, since long abundant hair
was much admired. An Athabaskan style, assumed at
potlatches, was to wear the hair in two braids falling
over the shoulders, with a band around the head,
trimmed with beads or porcupine quills, hi which two
feathers might be thrust. Dry Bay women also wore
their hair in two braids on ordinary occasions. Yakutat
women wore their hair in braids, or coiled high on their
heads. In both areas, women frequently let then* hair
down, to hang loose. Sometimes this was done on festive
occasions, sometimes when the women "get tired of
braids." When Mrs. Frank Dick, from Dry Bay, posed
for her picture, she brushed out her long hair over her
shoulders (pi. 4). MJ remembers how her mother's
long hah: used to reach to the floor when she was sitting
and how it moved back and forth as she wove baskets.
The hair was dressed with combs, some of these
evidently carved in crest designs. Thus, a wooden comb
from the site on Knight Island, is crudely carved to
represent a Raven (de Laguna et al., 1964, fig. 20, c).
Professor Libbey obtained Chief Yen-aht-setl's wooden
comb (pi. 136). This is carved to depict a Bear(?),
between whose ears peers a spirit's face. The animal's
body is sketchily indicated on the back of the comb,
with an inverted face where the tail is turned up.
It is thus evident that combs were not restricted to
shamans.
Little girls wore a long heavy hair ornament (t6in)
at the nape of the neck. (There was also one type of
headdress worn by the shaman that was called by the
same word.) The girl's ornament hung down hi back,
and "when you move, it's like the wind is waving the
bushes. It makes you grow." (MJ) The hair on each
side of the head was braided into two or more braids,
and these were drawn into a big braid behind that was
pulled through a ring of driftwood bamboo or rawhide.
The ring was shaped like a napkin ring and was covered
with beadwork. The hah* was evidently folded back into
a bundle to make this secure.
" [Bamboo]?they used to use it for the tcin, for the
body part. They put beadwork on it. It's only that long
[3 or 4 inches]. It rolls back and forth on my neck. I
swing my head back and forth to feel it." (MJ)
From the ring hung a netlike arrangement of moose-
hide, covered with beads or dentalia, and ending in a
beaded fringe. Such an ornament might be 6 inches
wide and 24 inches long. It was lined with soft tanned
skin, or with cloth purchased from Canadian Indians.
It is not clear whether ornaments of this kind were made
in Yakutat, or were always imported. One which had
been worn by a young Dry Bay woman about 1900
was supposed to have been made by the Tsimshian
Indians or by the "Flatheads." Actually, the article as
described must have been very similar to that worn by
the adolescent daughters of Nootka chiefs (Drucker,
1951, fig. 16). MJ had worn one as a child in the late
1880's, which her father's sister had brought from
southeastern Alaska, but said she hated it because her
mother had to braid her hair so tight that it hurt and
the big bundle of hair to which it was attached would
fall down when she played.
Such an ornament might be worn by a little girl, or
by a young girl after her puberty confinement. It was
normally provided by the father's sister, who received
a handsome gift in exchange. Thus, the ornament was
reserved for the daughters of the well-to-do. It should
not be confused with the hood which was worn by the
adolescent girl, and which was also decorated with
dentalia, beads, or porcupine quills, depending on the
wealth of the family.
After the death of a relative or husband, a woman's
hair was cut. While the Angoon Tlingit remembered
that men cut or singed off their hair when mourning,
my Yakutat informants made no mention of this
tradition. The cutting of women's hair for mourning
was abandoned some time early in the present century.
However, the shaman and his wife never cut their hair.
THE SKIN: TATTOOING AND PAINTING
Upper class women were tattooed, and a few women
at Yakutat still have simple designs tattooed on the
back of the hand, on the fleshy part between the bones
of the thumb and forefinger. The designs might rep-
resent a "copper" or the crest of the woman's sib.
In one case, an Owl was noticed on the hands of a
Kwackqwan woman.
Women prized a clear light complexion. For the young
girl, this was achieved by her long puberty seclusion
when she was shut up in a darkened room, and when
finally allowed out, had to cover her head with a big
hood that shielded her face. Women used to smear a
dark paint on their faces when working in the sun at
sealing camp or when picking berries, and such paint
was also worn by men and children when exposed to
the strong sunlight. Melted pitch or spruce gum (Unix)
was mixed with an equal amount of mountain goat
tallow (yAnesf). This was mixed with charcoal made
from powdered bark (sigwit) of the red cedar. The
latter was obtained from the beach where it drifted
ashore, and was prepared by grinding it on a rough stone.
IN THREE PARTS MAKING A LIVING 447
FIGTJEE 58.?Face stamps with Teqwedi crests carved by Sitka Ned about 1910. a, Killerwhale, enlarged from
enlarged from 3% inches. (Portland Art Museum no. 2094 and 48.3.217.)
inches. 6, Wolf
One woman thought that the bark was obtained from
the interior. I was told that this dark application not
only kept the skin from burning or tanning, but
actually bleached it and made it smooth.
Men, however, were more likely to apply powdered
charcoal (and grease?) than the powdered cedar bark
as a protection when hunting on the water. Harrington's
informant (Jack Ellis) said that this was made with
spruce pitch (?6i) and charcoal made from pitch-
wood. When going above Point Latouche to the
head of Yakutat Bay, men would paint charcoal rings
around their eyes. While undoubtedly useful against the
glare on the water, it was believed to prevent rain.
On ceremonial occasions, men and women both
painted their faces with red ochre (le"xw). This was
obtained from Metlakatla, or from between Turner
and Hubbard Glaciers in Disenchantment Bay. It was
ground up to make paint, and kept in a little tanned
skin bag. According to Harrington's informant (GJ),
such paint was very scarce in 1939, and no one at
Yakutat had any. When he was a boy he used to see
such paint used for dancing. "It was a powder, and a
very little water was dropped on it and then one with
one's finger painted one's face. Then you were ready to
go to the dance." Women might apply it with wooden
stamps, carved to represent the totemic crest of their
sib. Two such stamps, both carved by Sitka Ned,
and used at Situk "thirty years ago" (i.e., 1910), were
obtained from Billy Jackson, who, I think had them
from Situk Jim or some other TeqMredi man. One is
carved to represent the Wolf, the other the Killerwhale
(fig. 58). Such stamps were dipped in the paint and
448 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
then pressed against the cheek. Some of the women at
the Sitka potlatch in 1904 (pis. 210-212), probably
all Tl'uknaxAdi, have a "copper" stamped on each
cheek, from the edge of the nostril to the ear, with three
vertical stripes on the chin, or with a heart-shaped
figure on the forehead. Teqwedi men at the same
potlatch had large oval patches on the cheeks and a dot
at the root of the nose. At potlatch in 1916 (pi. 214),
the male Teqwedi guests wore various patterns of face
paint, one of which consists of a canoe on each cheek
(cf. Swanton, 1908, pi. Li, i); another is simply a broad
horizontal band across the eyes and nose, and another
across the mouth and jaws. At a performance in the
ANB Hall, the performers, dressed in Athabaskan
costume, had horizontal lines through the eyes, from
the nose across the cheek, and from the mouth along the
jaws (pi. 216). Other patterns were mentioned, but not
described. Special patterns in red paint were used for
peace hostages (see p. 600).
Black paint was smeared on the face in time of war,
or when facing any dangerous undertaking.
CLEANLINESS
Urine was used in the old days, for washing the
hair, skins, and probably other things also, since it
will cut grease. However, this practice was given up
as soon as soap became available. Black hair, without
a trace of gray, was desired by the old people, and some
of the rites performed at a girl's adolescence and at
a woman's widowhood were to prevent her hair from
turning gray. On the other hand, snow white hair
has also been cited as evidence of White ancestry.
Fresh seal oil, put up with cottonwood buds, was
not only good for waterproofing boots, but if rubbed
on the hair before washing it, is said to make the
hair soft and silky.
No doubt head lice were bothersome, and the combs
may have been employed primarily to remove them
and their eggs.
Frequent bathing seems to have been stressed, in
cold water early in the morning for boys and men,
and hot steam baths for women and older people.
The new clothing acquired from White people
had to be washed, and methods suitable for caring
for the old skins and furs may not have been effective
in dealing with woolen goods.
" I watch my mother how she wash blankets one
time. She got blankets way down in the salt water
and stamp on it. Get soap and water ready and pound
it in. Rinse it with fresh water."
"They wash the red blanket in salmon eggs, mashed.
It looks just like it just come out of the trunk, the way
it looks?so new."
Washing blankets in salt water was said to prevent
them from fading. "Wash them in the juice of any fish
eggs that ferments. This keeps the wool fluffy. Then
rinse them out two, three times in fresh water."
BEING ADORNED
Cutting the labret hole, piercing the ears and nose,
tattooing the hands, and applying face paint for
ceremonies was supposedly done by members of the
opposite moiety, who were paid for these services.
Thus, a slave was said to have been the proper fee
for cutting the labret hole in a chief's daughter.
"My grandfather's sister cut my mother [the operator's
brother's daughter]. He [the grandfather] paid her a
slave right there." The labret was inserted at "a
party" (MJ). The labret hole was normally made for
a girl when she emerged from her puberty seclusion.
It was cut with a mussel shell knife. A board, shaped
to fit the chin, was held against the lower lip, and the
cut was made into this. Every day the wound was
dressed with seal fat to prevent infection.
On the other hand, the brother CW said that his
own mother had pierced his nose and ears with a needle
when he was a little boy. While this should have been
done by a paternal aunt, perhaps some member of
his father's sib inserted the ornaments when he first
wore them. A small ring would be put in the septum
of the nose to keep the hole open.
Holes were made in the nose and in the lobe of the
ear a few days after birth in former times, but holes
in the rim of the ear were made later, at potlatches
(cf. Emmons' notes). This rule was evidently changing
during the period remembered by my informants.
Thus, one woman told me that she was 21 years old
when her ears were first pierced, and this was only
in the lobes. It was done at a special potlatch by a
woman of her father's sib, to whom her mother paid $85.
Other women of the opposite moiety pinned gold
brooches in her sib crest design on her dress. Her
sister was similarly treated on the same occasion,
and the total cost to her mother was $1,000. Threads
were tied in the ear holes to keep them from closing.
Although I learned of recent instances in which
girls had their ears pierced by a girl friend in the
opposite moiety, no mention was made of payment
for this service.
Naturally in the old days before there were mirrors,
persons had to rely on others to put on their face paint
and arrange their hair. Often this was done by slaves,
who were then freed. Thus, when SZatgawet had his
slaves comb the snarls from the hair of his sister-in-law,
he freed them or her people set them free. Since the
freeing of a slave is equivalent to giving one away,
or killing one, combing out the hair of Dux's sister
was being treated as a ceremonial service of adornment
(see p. 246).
The Social World
450 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
SIBS AND CRESTS
Sib and Moiety
The Yakutat people, like all other Tlingit and like
their relatives the Eyak, are grouped into two matri-
lineal moieties. Because these divisions are exogamous,
their members stand toward each other in the relation-
ship of husband and wife, father and child, spouse's
siblings and siblings' spouses, between whom are
reciprocal ceremonial obligations. Thus, at all the life
crises of members of one moiety, services were rendered
by their "opposites"?who, in turn, had to be repaid.
Such repayments were generally made at potlatches,
when the debtors as hosts entertained the others as
guests, each side honoring and sustaining the other.
Within the moiety, individuals are related to each other
as brother and sister, and as father's father and son's child.
Whereas wars might be fought between any sibs regard-
less of moiety affiliation, in Yakutat (but not universally
among other Tlingit) peace could be formally made
only between moiety opposites; that is, only sibs in
different moieties could be parties to a legal settlement.
It should, however, be emphasized that the moiety
as such was not a social group. It had no organization
of its own, but was simply an arrangement for regulating
the relationships between persons, because it ranged
the sibs to which they belonged on one side or the
other. The sib organization remained primary. In any
given situation involving intermoiety reciprocity, a
particular sib or even a lineage or small group of
relatives within that sib were the persons who func-
tioned as opposites (gunEtkAnayi) to a particular
individual or group in the other moiety. In Tlingit
thought the moiety division was something to be
accepted or taken for granted, perhaps similar to the
fact that human beings, like most living things, are
divided into two sexes.
I do not know of any abstract term for "moiety"
as such. The two divisions among the Tlingit are
named Tiaymedi (for the Ravens) and CAnkuqedi
(for the Wolves or Eagles), the latter being the same as
the name for one of the sibs. Swanton (1908, p. 407)
gives CAnkuke'dl for the sib, and Cengoqedina for
the moiety. The literal meaning or origin of these
terms could not be explained by Yakutat informants.
The feminine form, Tlayi-ca, was freely translated as
"sitting down ladies," but from the context it seemed
that the informant was referring to some occasion on
which the Raven women were actually sitting down.
The use of the sib name, CAnkuqedi, for the moiety
implies that all the sibs of this division at one time
formed one group for which this was the original
designation. It should be remembered that the par-
ticular sib called the CAnkuqedi is also known as the
DAqestina.
These two moieties are each represented by their
respective crest or crests, and may be designated in
Tlingit, as in English, by the names of these crests:
Raven, and Wolf or Eagle.
Except for the despised and hated "Aleuts"
(Chugach), all the native neighbors of the Tlingit
had matrilineal sibs. One reason why the Chugach
were such anathema to the Eyak, Tlingit, and Atna
was because they mated promiscuously like animals,
without regard to sib affiliations. They also reversed
the proper appearance of the sexes, since Chugach men
wore the labrets which the Tlingit reserved for their
women (cf. Colnett, quoted p. 130).
The Tlingit could assume that the moiety organiza-
tion of sibs was ancient and fundamental because
matrilineal moieties are found among many of their
neighbors: Eyak, Atna, Southern Tutchone, Tahltan,
and Haida. Although the Tsimshian matriJineal sibs
form four phratries, in Tlingit thought these were
grouped into two. (The more remote Athabaskans of
the upper Copper, Tanana, and Yukon Rivers have
matrilineal sibs, not moieties, but the Yakutat and
Chilkat Tlingit knew little about such backward
Gunana.) Intertribal marriages and trading relation-
ships (which were often accompanied by marital alli-
ances) were all based upon moiety affiliations, and the
Tlingit were able to equate foreign sibs with their
own and to assign them to one division or the other
for marital arrangements. In making these assign-
ments, sib crests were of overriding importance, in
contrast to those of the moiety as a whole, providing
the foreign group had crests (Swanton, 1908, p. 423).
So important is the sib as the fundamental unit
in the social system that the Tlingit tend to conceptu-
alize any foreign group, regardless of its internal
structure, as a sib, and as such accord it a place in
the Tlingit social universe.
Thus, the American Eagle, first made known to the
Tlingit through naval insignia, could be interpreted
as a crest, permitting the fiction that Americans
belong to the Eagle moiety. This explains why the
Sitka Kagwantan could "adopt the Navy as brothers,"
which they did at a potlatch, and perhaps also why
the Teqwedi chief at Yakutat, Yen-aht-setl or
Daqusetc, could so easily appropriate Captain
Merriman's name ("Minaman") as his own. This
process of assimilation of foreigners has evidently
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 451
been much more thoroughly carried out on immigrant
groups from the interior who have joined the Tlingit.
To judge from the historical traditions, there have
been many such groups who have become Tlingit
sibs. This is undoubtedly the case with the NexA'd!
of Sanya among the southern Tlingit who are still
somewhat uncertain about their moiety affiliation,
since they themselves use Eagle names, yet inter-
marry with both Ravens and Wolves (Swanton, 1908,
p. 409). According to tradition, the Kwackqwan were
already Ravens before they left the Copper River,
yet the incident of how "brothers" and "sisters"
married each other (or were saved from sib incest
in the nick of time), suggests that the immigrants
were actually a mixed or incompletely structured
group at that time. What is significant here is not
the historical accuracy of the tradition so much as
the way it illustrates the overriding tendency for the
Tlingit and the foreigners they have assimilated to
read all history in terms of sibs.
Sib Individuality
Each sib jealously prizes its own individuality.
Each is composed of a group of people who consider
themselves brothers and sisters, or, if differences in
generation are stressed, as mothers, mothers' brothers,
grandmothers, and great uncles, and the descendants of
these persons in the maternal line. All are bound together
by the possession of important prerogatives: a common
name, a body of historical and mythological traditions,
possession of territories for hunting, fishing, and berry-
ing, house sites and houses in the villages, and by a
treasure of nonmaterial rights, together with their
material or symbolic representations.
The oldest living member, their 'head' (na-cadE-hani)
or 'elder' (cuqadeqa), is the most revered member of
the line; their 'big man' (lingit-tlen), or chief, is the
custodian and trustee of the common inheritance.
His is the responsibility of "taking care of" the group's
territories, allocating their resources fairly among his
people, and preserving them against trespass by out-
siders; he often exercises the privilege of gathering the
first fruits with which to feast his own people or en-
tertain their "opposites." He is responsible above all
for the potlatches and ceremonies that establish and
maintain the status of his sib in the eyes of the world,
just as he has the right to enjoy or display in his own
person the sib's most precious ceremonial prerogatives.
In all these characteristics, the lineage is like a sib
in miniature, enjoying its own particular share of sib
possessions and prerogatives, as well as those to which
it makes its own exclusive claim. Its headman, 'house
owner' (hit sati), stands as councilor to the chief of
his sib.
The most precious rights of sib (or lineage) are those
that give it its own character and that express its place
in the world of men and of living begins. These include
the personal names of its members, both those given
at birth and the honorific titles that may be assumed
later. In addition, as we have already seen, important
material possessions (houses, canoes, weapons, cere-
monial paraphernalia, and costumes) may also have
proper names belonging to the line. Songs, dramatic
dances, potlatch calls and war cries, even the spirits
that come to shamans, are felt to distinguish one sib
from another. Some if, not all, sibs are felt to have
their own particular characteristic ways of behaving.
These distinctions and prerogatives are for the most
part, and in the most important instances, felt to be
associated with the totemic crest or crests of the sib.
Indeed, these crests are, from the native point of view,
the most important feature of the matrilineal sib or
lineage, acquired in the remote past by the ancestors
and determining the nature and destiny of their
descendants. One might almost say that the members
of the sib (or lineage) are the human embodiments of
the totemic entities.
Crest objects are the manifestations in material form
of these same entities, and therefore represent the sib,
its ancestors, and their descendants. The fundamental
principles of the Tlingit social system may be under-
stood in terms of these objects and the significance of
their emblems, the ways in which they are used, and
the purposes for which they are employed. Crests and
crest objects represent a symbolic dimension of Tlingit
social life, an understanding of which can shed light
on the fundamental structuring of kin relationships
(see pp. 475-476), and social class or rank (see pp.
461^169). The history of the fundamental units of
Yakutat society can be read in the history of their
emblems.
Sib and lineage houses of the Yakutat people have
already been discussed, their crest decorations de-
scribed, and their fates traced (pp. 288-291, 315-
327). Particular crest hats, headdresses, blankets, and
shirts are described on pp. 439-444; song leader's
batons and drums on pp. 618-632; the peculiar crests
associated with peace ceremonies on pp. 599-600; and
such names as could be translated are given on pp.
785-790). If a complete listing of all crest objects could
be made for each sib and major lineage, and their
histories could be traced, we should be better able to
understand the importance of these objects from the
native point of view as well as the nature of the social
units that claim them.
452 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Yakutat Crests
The crests claimed by the various sibs are given
below. The ways in which these crests are represented
are also indicated, as far as the latter are known. The
list cannot be complete, for many crest objects dis-
appeared long ago and probably have been forgotten.
HAVEN MOIETY
TJ'uknaxAdi:
Coho salmon (tl'uk); sib name, hat, blanket, house
screen, house in Sitka, personal names
Raven (yel); house, hat, songs, personal names
Frog (xixt6); house, screen, headdress, hat, songs,
personal names
Whale (yay); house (in Sitka), hat
Sleep Bird (ta); house
Devilfish (naqw); song leader's pole
Crane (dul); canoe and song
Sea lion (tan);?
Mount Fairweather (Tsalxan); house, boat(?), song
Ocean and Breakers(?) (see p. 461)
Kwackqwan:
Humpback Salmon (kwack); including the stream
and rock at mouth; blanket, drum
Raven (yel); house, hat, blanket, shirt, drum
Owl (tisl:w); house, drum, cry
Moon (dis); house
Crane (dul); canoe and song
Mount Saint Elias (Yatse ta ca); house, blanket,
shirt, personal names
Crow (tsAxwel); cry
Copper River (Tq hini); song leader's pole
Sea Gull (ketlAdi); canoe
TlukwaxAdi:
Raven (yel); personal names
Canoe Prow (cAka); house
Gateway Knob (mountain on Alsek) (K'itca);?
EAGLE-WOLF MOIETY
Teqwedi:
Bear House line
Bear (xuts); house, coat, feast dish, personal names
Killerwhale (kit); drum, song leader's pole, hat,
names
Petrel (ganuk); song
Mud shark (tus); house
Eagle (teak); on house post, headdress, mask
Murrelet (?cit); song
Drum House line
Golden Eagle (gidjuk); house, headdress, song
Wolf (gutc); on blanket
Thunderbird (xetl); house
Ahrnklin River fAntlen); blanket
Tlaxayik-Teqwedi:
Eagle (t'eak); fort
Bear (xuts); petroglyph
Kagwantan (Box House):
Eagle (t6ak)
Wolf (gutc); house (in Sitka, reported in Dry Bay)
Halibut (tcatl); canoe?at least in Sitka
Killerwhale (kit); helmet
Galyix-Kagwantan:
Eagle (tcsik); house
Wolf (gutc); house, personal names
Beaver (se'gedi); house, song
CAnkuqedi:
Thunderbird (xetl); house, blanket, song
Wolf (gutc)
Killerwhale (kit); helmet
As we have seen, the KiksAdi of Sitka are recognized
as possessing the Frog (pp. 288-291). The daughter of
a XaflkA'ayi man claimed for her father's people the
Coho Salmon Hat (saxw), Blanket (iu), Screen (xin),
and House (hit). They still have a Coho House in
Sitka. "For everything, they got a song for all these."
The same sib was also credited with the Swan (guql),
and a personal name derived from that bird was cited.
The TcukAnedi of Hoonah have the Porpoise. The
DAqdentan of Hoonah are recognized as having a
claim to the Whale Hat, Devilfish Pole, and Raven
Hat, shared with the Ti'uknaxAdi.
As can be seen from the above list (see also Swanton,
1908, pp. 415?123), crests are derived from animals,
birds, fish and natural objects such as the Moon, Big
Dipper constellation, natural phenomena such as Thunder
or Sleep (both birds), or a particular mountain or river.
"Ownership" of a particular crest, such as Raven, Bear,
or Wolf, implies the right to symbolize this in a variety
of ways for public display. Such representations may
range from a house and its decorative screen and posts,
to a feast dish or a blanket. There are both traditional
and specially composed songs to accompany the display
of these objects at a potlatch, just as the participants on
such occasons may acquire ancient or newly coined
"potlatch names" referring to the crest. The crest is also
symbolized by the designs painted on their faces or
tattooed on their hands. This is what is implied when the
Tlingit says that the Bear is 'our crest' (ha 'ituwu), or
the Raven is 'their crest' (hAs-du 'Atuwu) (cf. Boas,
1917, p. 157, 'it'ii, 'emblem'). One of our informants
also translated 'itu as "totem," and kutiyE, its embod-
iment in the form of a carving, as "totem pole," specifi-
cally a decorated house post, grave post, or memorial pole.
(Boas, 1917, p. 137, dut'iyi, 'his imitation'.) Harrington
analizes the word "khuuthlyyaa" or "totem pole" as
derived from "thli?to whittle with an axe or an adze"
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 453
and "yaa?an effigy, duplicate of an object, what it
represents."
The crest was represented in material form more or
less realistically or conventionally, according to the
cannons of Tlingit art and as the medium permitted.
It might be carved and painted on wood, pecked into
or sculptured in stone, carved in horn or bone, painted
on hide, painted or beaded or woven on garments, and
even occasionally woven as a basketry pattern. Such
specific articles as the carved pole or post are crest
objects. Some were heirlooms, associated with a long
line of ancestors; others might be new. Just as we have
seen old lineage houses replaced by modern structures
that bore the same names, so old crest hats or blankets
that wore out or were destroyed at a funeral were re-
placed by new items called by the same names, such
as the Mount Saint Elias Blanket or the Thunderbird
Blanket. The new object was not necessarily a duplicate
of the old; it was only a symbolic equivalent. I do not
know to what extent individual artists strove for
originality in rendering crest designs, but the two sibs
that might share the same crest, Raven for example,
would attempt to display it in distinctive ways and on
distinctive types of articles. As we have seen in the
case of the GanAxtedi and their Raven Hat (pp. 274-
275), they might be as jealous of their own way of
rendering the crest as if the crest itself were their ex-
clusive prerogative.
Ownership of Crests
Each moiety as a whole has its own crest or crests.
Thus, among the Eyak, these are the Raven or Crow
(the native word is the same for both species, tcila),
and the Eagle. The. Tlingit stress Raven and Wolf,
although the northern Tlingit, including the Yakutat,
also make a good deal of the white-headed Eagle.
These crests may be used as names in English, as when
a native may tell us that "Ravens always marry
Eagles," or "the Ravens and Eagles played against
each other in games." The term "Wolves" was rarely
used in English, but in Tlingit songs "your Wolf" or
"that Raven" are the poetic metaphors employed.
Although all Wolf-Eagle sibs are said at Yakutat to
possess the Killerwhale as a crest, the name of this
animal is not used to designate either a particular sib
or the moiety as a whole. The Teqwedi, however, are
not infrequently called "Bears."
Since the Crow is closely associated with the Raven,
little crows being indeed designated as 'his nephews'
in mythology, so the Raven women may be called
'Crow Women' (tsAxwel-ca). The term 'Seagull Women'
(kelsw-ca or ?eqw-ca) was also recorded, possibly applied
to women of the opposite moiety (?), and carried the
connotation of "pretty white ladies picking up things
on the beach." (The bird was either Bonaparte's gull,
or the kittiwake; see p. 45.)
In the minds of the Tlingit, the moiety division
dates "from the creation of the world," or perhaps
from its primeval ordering by Raven. Thus, the myths
would indicate that all or most of the various animals,
birds, and other beings that now serve as sib crests were
already ranged in the two fundamental groups. This is
usually expressed in the form of the relationship of
these creatures to Raven. Human beings became
separated into different groups or sibs after the Flood,
each of which eventually acquired its individual crest
in addition to retaining the moiety crest. Those sibs
that now hold certain crests hi common do so by virtue
of their common origin.
Although moiety crests, and some others, are shared
by several sibs, what is far more important for the
Tlingit, as we shall see, is the distinctive emphasis
which each sib tends to give to the common emblem.
Of paramount importance is the particular totemic
crest which each sib assumes as its chief emblem or as
its own exclusive prerogative.
Most sib and lineage crests are believed to be very
ancient, and their origins are usually recounted in the
form of a myth. I have already given or cited examples
of these explaining the origin of the Garyix-Kagwantan
Beaver (p. 254), how the Kwackqwan acquired Mount
Saint Ellas and the Humpback Salmon Stream (pp.
232-237), explanations of the Frog claimed by the
Tl'uknaxAdi and the KiksAdi (p. 289), why the
Tl'uknaxAdi claim Mount Fairweather (p. 274), how
the Drum House Teqwedi obtained the Arhnklin River
and the Golden Eagle (p. 253), and why the CAnkuqedi
own the Thunderbird (p. 249). These tales are sufficient
to indicate the range of incidents leading to the acquisi-
tion of crests. These stories were included in the "his-
tory" of Yakutat, albeit with some misgivings, since
in character they could as well have been considered
"myths." Other sib crests were believed to have been
obtained so long ago that the incidents took place
before the establishment of the sib on the GuJf of
Alaska; these stories would seem clearly to belong to
mythology. Such tales are found on pp. 844-894. For
other sib crests, no explanatory tales were recorded.
A sib is believed to obtain the right to a crest because
of some adventure or encounter of a remarkable nature
with the animal or bird, etc., from which the crest is
derived. This may involve finding the creature, killing;
it, marrying it, or living with it. Sometimes only a visit
between man and the totemic animal is cited, or the
454 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 1
animal is befriended. In other cases, the human being
may be transformed into the animal. This supernatural
adventure may entitle the sibmates of the man or
woman involved not only to utilize the creature itself
as an emblem, but to adopt as prerogatives other
features associated with it.
If one asks how or why the Tlayinedi sibs come to
have the Raven, the answer will simply be "because
Raven is the head of us." There is no Wolf, or Eagle,
or Killerwhale in mythology comparable to Raven,
and I heard no stories at Yakutat about the origin of
these as crests. This seems to be in contrast to the
story of the Eagle crest of the NexA'dt, or that of the
Killerwhale crest of the DAql'awedi told at Wrangell
(Swanton, 1909, Tales 70, 71). Even though the Yakutat
people, I assume, are familiar with the last story (in
which a DAql'awedi?or Teqwedi??man carves the
first Killerwhale; see the figure on a Teqwedi song
leader's staff, pi. 163), they themselves might think this
episode irrelevant because the Killerwhale was already
associated with the CAnkuqedi moiety, appearing in
Raven tales as an "opposite" to Raven. Thus, the
Killerwhale was Raven's "father," and Raven's "hus-
band" when Raven turned himself into a woman;
Killerwhales were hosts at a potlatch to which Raven
was invited as guest.
In addition to moiety crests, one or more sibs may
possess the same particular crests, and this may be
interpreted as proof of their common origin. This is
the explanation given by the Ti'uknaxAdi at Yakutat
for the fact that the DAqdentan and I&atkA'ayi possess
crests similar to their own: they say that the latter sibs
were simply branches of the Ti'uknaxAdi. The Galyix-
Kagwantan (Eagle-Wolf) were no doubt puzzled to
explain why the Decitan (Raven) of Angoon also
claimed the Beaver and sang a Beaver song with the
same melody as theirs, although with different words.
In this case, the little Beaver was felt to be "active,"
and had evidently traveled widely. Since the Galyix-
Kagwantan and Decitan live so far apart, they have
probably never, or at any rate very rarely, appeared
at the same potlatch, so no difficulties have arisen from
the confusing fact that the same crest belongs to these
two sibs in different moieties. There is evidently a
similar situation with respect to the Golden Eagle
(gidjuk). At Yakutat this is a Wolf-Eagle emblem,
but according to Swanton (1908, p. 422) the "hawk
[sic] (kfdju'k)" is a common crest on the Raven side
among the southern Tlingit.
Possession of the same crest, or attempts to claim it,
may, in other cases, as we have seen, provoke bitter
hostility. In the case of the Ti'uknaxAdi and the KiksAdi,
it made no difference that the Frog claimed by the for-
mer was "a different Frog" from that belonging to the
latter, and that the two rival sibs told quite different
stories to explain the acquisition of the Frog crest. In
the eyes of the KiksAdi, the Frog belonged to them
exclusively even though they themselves had two quite
conflicting explanations of their Frog. (Or did they
claim two frogs??a question they probably never asked
themselves.) I have already noted (p. 274) how the
Ti'uknaxAdi display of a Raven Hat led to a war with
the GanAxtedi of Chilkat. In this instance, presumably
both sibs had equally valid claims to the Raven moiety
crest; it was the display of this as a hat (and the insulting
remarks of the Ti'uknaxAdi) that provoked GanAxtedi
wrath.
A similar difficulty arose over the right to name a
canoe for the Crane and to sing the associated song
(dul yAkw dacfyf), claimed by both Ti'uknaxAdi and
Kwacl:qwan (p. 274). I was told that there had been a
"war" over this, in which so many had died that the
Kwackqwan did not like to hear mentioned either the
Crane Canoe or the song. "Both tribes own it, and
they tried to take it away from one another. There's
no more peace between them when they mention it,"
said an informant, citing an early-20th-century attempt
to settle the dispute.
Since sibs in the same moiety are rivals, possession
of a common crest is always a potential source of
friction. Thus, two of our Ti'uknaxAdi friends to whom
we showed the pictures of crest objects and facial
paintings in Swanton's book (1908) were outraged that
the DAqdentan should have claimed all these crests
without explaining that they shared them with the
Ti'uknaxAdi. They admitted that the DAqdentan, as a
branch of the Ti'uknaxAdi, were entitled to these
emblems, but still felt that there must have been some
of the real Ti'uknaxAdi at Sitka or Hoonah at the time
of Swanton's visit in 1904, who should have made clear
their claims. It was concluded that these people were
probably too shy or too obstinate to speak up. One of
the informants therefore dictated a list of Ti'uknaxAdi
crest objects to keep the record straight. These were:
Whale Hat (cf. Swanton, 1908, pi. XLIX, a), Raven
Hat, Frog Screen, and Devilfish Cane or Pole. It was
interesting that the embodiments of the crests were
mentioned, not the crests as abstract emblems. When
questioned 2 years later about the DAqdentan, the same
informant explained: "They claim Yay saxw [Whale
Hat], Devilfish Pole, Yel saxw [Raven Hat]?but they
are ours. We can't say they don't belong to DAqdentan,
but we can say they belong to Ti'uknaxAdi. If we say
they don't belong to them, they make trouble for us.
Xixt6 cAki'At [Frog Headdress]?we got it from Gusex."
There are also certain occasions when the crest of one
sib is offered, on a temporary basis, to members of an-
other who are spouses or children of the owners. Thus,
one's sib crest may be proffered (symbolically, or as
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 455
temporary loan) to persons or groups of the opposite
moiety, as a gesture of high respect. As such, it is partic-
ularly appropriate when assuaging the grief of one's
potlatch hosts. In a reciprocal manner, the hosts may
honor their own children in a potlatch (see pp. 634-638).
For example, the children may be asked to sing their
fathers' songs or dance in their regalia. The last custom
explains why so often a man's children (or sib-children)
are photographed with the heirlooms of which he is
custodian (cf. pi. 143).
Sib crests are also employed by hosts to keep the
peace between their guests at potlatches (p. 615).
These crests, and other specially chosen sib symbols,
play an important part in the ritual of peace ceremonies
(pp. 599-600) when they are actually given to the
hostage taken from the opposite moiety. They remain
his or hers, although they do not become the property
of the sib of the hostage.
Types of Crests
While there are evidently several orders of crests,
those derived from the major totemic animals are of
primary importance, since these offer the most varied
types of representation; in graphic art, in masquerade
and dramatic mimicry, in cries, and in personal names.
Although it was the right to the crest, that is, to use the
emblem, that was most valuable, rather than the pos-
session of a particular heirloom or crest object, we must
not assume that all representative decorations are
crests. Thus, floral designs in beadwork are common on
fine articles of dress, but have no significance. The
paraphernalia used by shamans was often decorated
with carvings depicting their spirits, but although many
of these were in animal form (land otter, mountain goat,
kingfisher, etc.), they were not necessarily the same as
the totemic crest. Neither were the designs carved on
halibut hooks or floats. I suspect that there were other
carved objects that did not portray crests, even though
they might represent animals. The geometric designs
on baskets very rarely had crest significance, even
though designs might have names suggesting crests,
such as "teeth of the killerwhale" or "raven's tail"
(cf. Emmons, 1903, pp. 263-277). These designs were
free for any woman to use, just as a man might be free
to carve or paint any animal that was not the crest of
some sib.
Moreover, even if we analyzed the designs on crest
objects we would find elements that were not themselves
crests. Thus, on the screen in Wolf Bath House at
the Old Village (pi. 85), the Galyix-Kagwantan
Beaver chews a willow branch, but this is because
willows are the food of beavers, not because the Willow
"belongs to Kagwantan." Similarly the Golden Eagle
on the screen of Drum House (pi. 213) holds two
groundhogs; and at Angoon, the Killerwhale may
chase a seal (de Laguna, 1960, fig. 18, a), but the seal
is not itself an emblem of the DAql'awedi. On the
Kwackqwan's Eaven Screen in Moon House (p. 323),
Raven was depicted using a green stone (nexmtE) to
lure the king salmon ashore, but while the design
illustrated an episode in the Raven cycle (p. 847), it is
the Humpback Salmon, not the king salmon, that is a
crest of the Kwackqwan. The green stone is, if any-
thing, more closely associated with the Teqwedi, for
this sib has a song about the dangers of fetching such
a stone, and NexmtE is also a personal name (cf.
Swanton, 1909, Tale 17, p. 46; song recorded 1954,
6-1-1).
I am less certain, however, about the status of the
beaver dam on which the Beaver sits. Is this a crest,
or is it a design that is coming to be one? The Teqwedi
own the Bear as a crest and, because bears make their
dens in valleys, both the Bear Den and the Valley
have come to have a semi-independent status as house
names. What about the Milky Way?that is, the
snowshoe tracks made by the Galyix-Kagwatan hero,
tqayakw, which are depicted on the Beaver Screen?
And are tqayaKw and GosnA!w, the CAnkuqedi boy who
was rescued by the Thunderbird (pi. 91), used as
crests or emblems? Or are they represented on house
screens only to illustrate the sib stories? An examina-
tion of the symbolic representations alone will not
answer these questions. Unfortunately, they were not
ones that occurred to me in the field.
We should certainly distinguish between the crest
object (Bear Post, or Golden Eagle Screen), the Bear or
Golden Eagle as crest or emblem (JAtu), and the totemic
entities from which these emblems are derived. The
totem, that is the Bear or Golden Eagle about whom the
story is told and from whom the rights to use the crest
were obtained is called ha cAgiin, which I have trans-
lated as "our origin and destiny." One informant trans-
lated this as "totem," another as "forefathers," still
others indicated that it was both like the past from
which we are desended and the future which is coming
but which we cannot change because it is ah-eady set in
the past. I suspect that the concept is either not clearly
defined, or at present no longer clearly understood
(see p. 813). Raven, as creator of mankind, as "head"
of all the Raven sibs, as authority for the Raven crest,
is both "ancestor" and "totem." The rules which he
established (another meaning for CAgun) still hold today.
Much the same is true of the she Bear that was married
by the Teqwedi man, Kats. This is one of the episodes
involving bears which the Teqwedi cite to justify their
rights to the Bear crest (p. 879). The Golden Eagle is
the CAgun of the Drum House Teqwedi, but as "totem,"
456 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
not as "ancestor." The relation of the living members
of the totemic species (bears, ravens, eagles, wolves,
and so forth) and the human members of the various
sibs are discussed on pp. 825-826. We may anticipate
by pointing out that there is, for example, a degree of
identification of bears with Teqwedi, and that in some
respects men and totem animals belong to the same
social order.
In addition to crests derived from totemic animals,
there are those which symbolize places. The most
prominent of these are the two mountains, Saint Elias
and Fairweather, of the Kwackqwan and Tl'uknaxAdi
respectively. The Humpback Salmon Stream is also a
crest or, if not yet fully one, is on its way to so becoming.
In addition, I believe that the Ahrnklin River and the
mountains at its head can be considered as a crest (or
crests) of the Drum House Teqwedi, since they form
the major design on the Ahrnklin River Blanket (pi.
151), and the Ahrnklin valley between the mountains
appears on the Golden Eagle Screen from Drum House
(pi. 213). The Bear House Teqwedi, in a somewhat
similar fashion, tend to identify themselves with both
Lost River and Situk River, but I do not know if either
stream, or the 'Mountain at the Head of Situk' (p. 70)
was ever symbolized. The TmkwaxAdi also felt a special
proprietory interest in Gateway Knob (p. 87), a
mountain on the Alsek River. Although Kulthieth
Mountain was as important historically to the Galyrx-
Kagwantan (p. 101) as Mount Saint Elias was to the
Kwackqwan, we know too little about their crests to
speculate on its possible symbolic significance.
With the exception of Mount Fairweather (Tsalxan),
of 'Silver [Dollar] Mountain' (DAna ca, a peak in
Russell Fiord of no symbolic importance), and of Gate-
way Knob (Kitca or YAdagwAl), mountains in the
Yakutat area have no proper names of their own, as
was clearly noted by Harrington. Rather, mountains
are designated as standing 'at the head of some im-
portant body of water, such as the great fishing streams,
Ahrnklin and Situk Rivers, or the rich sealing grounds
of Icy Bay, guarded by Mount Saint Elias.
The use of specific geographical features as sib crests
is related to the derivation of sib names from some
locality connected with their history. It is also related
to the legal claims made by sibs over the territories
which may be symbolized by geographical crests. In
such cases rights to use the crest involve, or are de-
pendent upon, rights to control the territory. When the
Drum House Teqwedi exhibit their Ahrnklin River
Blanket at a potlatch, the story of how they acquired
title to this area would be told, or alluded to in oratory
and song, and the guests who accept their hospitality
would be witnesses to the validity of their claims to
both territory and crest. The same is true for the
Mount Saint Elias Blanket or Shirt (pi. 144) and for
the Raven Drum with the Humpback Salmon Stream
symbolized on it (pi. 166). Perhaps the Beaver Dam
on the screen in Wolf Bath House is not simply an
appropriate setting for the Galyix-Kagwantan Beaver,
but may symbolize some particular area, perhaps
Bering River. It should also be noted that the DAqden-
tan of Hoonah, who now own Lituya Bay, symbolize
this bay on a pipe (pi. 123) and also use Mount Fair-
weather, the most prominent peak in the area, deriving
their claims to the latter from the story of Qakexwte
(Swanton, 1908, p. 418, pi. LVII, a). The variety of
geographical crests claimed by the DAqdentan is well
illustrated by their face paintings (ibid., pis. L and LI).
The Kwac&qwan have a song leader's baton sym-
bolizing the Copper River (pi. 163), in memory of
their ancient home, although in this case, of course,
they no longer have territorial rights in the area.
The use of mountains (less often of a prominent
rock or island) as crests by the southern as well as
by the northern Tlingit may be a trait of Athabaskan
origin. Among the Atna and Tanacross Athabaskans,
for example, each community, often identified with
a particular sib (or treated as such in inter-tribal
potlatches), was associated with a striking hill or
mountain in the vicinity. In potlatch oratory, this
mountain was referred to as the "grandfather," or
ancestor, of the community whose hunting grounds
included its flanks or summit (de Laguna and McClel-
an, 1960 field notes). In Yakutat songs, mountains
also evoke thoughts of one's own ancestors or of one's
father's people. Dry Bay Chief George, in a song
composed for the dedicatory potlatch of Far Out or
Frog House, gazes at his "grandfather's mountains"
at the head of Dry Bay, for a moment imagining that
the dead are still alive (1954, 2-1-G).
Attachment to the sib ancestral territory, symbolized
by the geographical crest, is also more directly ex-
pressed. For example, a Ga-lyi?-Kagwantan woman,
speaking about native claims to oil lands in Controller
Bay: "If that case is lost, I don't care about losing the
money. . . . 'Atxagudulu, 'Make It Smaller,' a big
man, is buried some place there. My son is named
for him. My sons are named after them [the ancestors].
It's like selling them, to sell the land."
These geographical crests are obviously rather
different in nature as well as in origin from those based
on totemic animals, even though the Tlingit do regard
mountains and glaciers as alive or as the abodes of
their own indwelling spirits (p. 818).
A third type of crest is based on some unique natural
feature which has no purely local significance. Such
would be the Big Dipper constellation (yAxte) of the
Juneau L'enedi, and the Moon (dis) of the Kwackqwan.
Although there is only one Moon, for example, it may be
symbolized in various ways or by various media, and
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 457
is in every sense a true crest. It is also a character in
mythology, for Raven's jealous uncle is the Moon, in
the Yakutat version.
Of a different nature, however, is the unique object.
Although this may be regarded as a great treasure, an
heirloom that in itself symbolizes the sib, we can hardly
speak of it as a crest. This would be the case of the cane
called "anku carved like a man," which the SliknaxA'dl
(Eagles of Wrangell) captured from the Tsimshian
(Swanton, 1908, p. 417), or the sword cane captured by
the Yakutat Teqwedi from the Russians (pi. 144).
Other examples might be the "mother basket" of the
Chilkat GanAxtedi (a very large basket) or any other
unique manufacture or trophy (cf. the actual skin of a
bear killed by an ax; ibid., fig. 105). In time perhaps, if
hallowed by many potlatch displays and by the elabora-
tion of traditions about them, such objects might come
to be considered as crest objects, that is, as representa-
tions or copies of some architype of supernatural or
extraordinary nature. For example, the Whale House of
the Chilkat GanAxtedi contained a copy of the design,
"Man Cooking Eels" (an anthropomophic figure with
elongated arms and legs, painted on the front of the
bench); this is said to be copied from the decorations
of the house up in Heaven (kiwa'a) seen by a Chilkat
visitor (p. 773). Compare this with the faces represent-
ing raindrops, hailstones, and black clouds on the
Yakutat Thunderbird Screen, not only all appropriately
associated with thunderstorms, but here supposed to be
copied from the decorations in the Thunderbirds' cave
abode in the mountains (pi. 91).
Another trophy turned crest object may be the
Teqwedi Killerwhale Hat. Thus, according to one
account (p. 711), the first hat of this kind made
at Yakutat was a copy of one "seen" by the shaman
Xatgawet in Tsimshian country and "given" to him
to imitate. According to the traditional history asso-
ciated with the very old Killerwhale Hat now in the
Portland Art Museum (pi. 145), this was the actual
specimen found washed ashore from the canoes wrecked
at Lituya Bay long before the Russians came. The
Teqwedi also had a modern Killerwhale Hat (pi. 143).
In addition to the ordinary Raven, the KwacH:qwan
claim an albino (?) raven, or 'White Raven' (yeltled).
(Possibly Steller's mysterious "white sea raven"?
[Golden, 1925, vol. 2, p. 237].) This is said to have been
found at Ahrnklin, flying upside down, drunk or dizzy.
The skin was saved. This bird, not white but spotted
with white, is represented on a dancing bib, flying
upside down above the "Kwac& Rock" at the mouth of
Humpback Salmon Creek (pi. 1). Situk George
(Teqwedi, a "cousin" of Situk Jim), was given the
name 'White Raven' by the Kwac?qwan when he was
captured as a 'deer' for a peace ceremony. This par-
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 31
ticular white raven could be more readily transformed
into a crest from a unique heirloom, because Raven
already suggests the precedent. In fact, the design on
the same bib was interpreted on another occasion by
the same informant as Raven flying upside down when
he was trying to fly south with the swans.
Validation of Crests
The right to the crest, that is to display it, and in
some cases the right to the particular type of repre-
sentation, requires validation in a potlatch. On every
such occasion, the owners of the crest, whenever they
are hosts, must pay their guests of the opposite moiety
for their services in "listening" to them, and in witness-
ing the display of the crest in visible form. At the
same time, members of the hosts' own moiety, though
in a different sib, also give tacit approval to the owners'
claim by assisting them in giving the potlatch. When
both of the former host groups are guests in their turn,
the peaceful toleration of each other's crest displays
also serves as a quasi-legal acknowledgment of their
rights. While it is the other sibs in one's own moiety
that may dispute one's rights to use a crest (especially
when the rival sibs live in different geographical areas),
yet it is the opposite moiety that confers these rights.
This is because all crest objects were (in theory, at
least) made by members of the opposite moiety, pref-
erably by persons (gunEtkAnayi) in the particular sib
or lineage to which the new owner's father or spouse
belongs. Ideally, therefore, the wife's brother paints
his brother-in-law's house screen, while the wife and
her sister make the costumes which the husband will
wear. At the first potlatch in which these objects are
displayed, these ceremonial services will be acknowl-
edged and the craftsmen paid for their work. In the
event that there is no artist available in the right group,
the work might actually be performed by someone in
one's own moiety or sib, but the fiction of commissioning
"the opposite tribe" would be maintained by paying
the craftsman's spouse. This was what was done when
Daniel Benson (Teqwedi) painted the Beaver Screen
for Yakategy John (Galyix-Kagwantan) (p. 323).
Without such public compensation, the objects them-
selves would be valueless. It is obviously in this way
that rights to new crests were actually obtained, that
is, through the purchase of new crest objects even
though the purchase took the form of mutual giving
between host and guest. Rights to a crest, together
with the crest object, must always come from an oppo-
site or even an alien group. Thus, the Tl'uknaxAdi
obtained the Sleep Bird as a crest because Qakex"te,
458 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
who had killed it, gave it to his wife and her people.
Then they built Sleep House, in which the posts were
carved to represent this bird (see p. 271; Swanton,
1909, p. 154). But the narrator does not have to explain
that it was Qakexwte and his sib who also were paid
for working on the house and who were guests at its
dedicatory potlatch.
The more often a sib crest was exhibited, or the more
often a traditional sib song was sung in potlatches, the
more valuable these became, because on each occasion
the guests were paid as witnesses. "Hundreds of dollars
spent on that song," commented an informant, in tell-
ing the history of the Killerwhale Drum and its accom-
panying song (MJ; 1954, 5-1-D; p. 1167). Crest objects
were inherited as heirlooms, doubly precious because
of the wealth lavished on them and because of their
associations with distinguished chiefs of the past. Such
heirlooms were inherited in the same way as the lineage
house or the honorable name of its head. Some objects,
especially the crest hats and the crest blankets, were
part of the sib property which "belonged" to the chief,
since he would actually keep and wear them. Others,
such as the wooden headdress called CAki'At ('some-
thing on the head'), he might also wear, but such an
object had to be displayed in the potlatch by a man
vigorous enough to dance in it (pi. 62), a young relative
of the chief if the latter were too old. The song leader's
baton or paddle usually belonged to a junior relative
of the sib chief, since it was used only by a young man.
Thus, while all the members of a sib (or lineage)
presumably had a right to some use of the sib (or
lineage) crest, in practice only the person who had
inherited a crest object or could afford to commission
the manufacture of a new one could make much use
of the privilege. However, I was told that even the
poor and lowly were always enabled (by charity if
they could not afford it) to make some contribution
to their chief's potlatch, so we assume that all probably
had some appropriate ceremonial garments to put on,
even though not the precious heirloom treasures. In
contrast, we have seen the nouveau riche of the fur
trade and the salmon industry climb to eminence as
builders and heads of new houses. Doubtless their
wealth not only permitted them to acquire and display
new crest regalia, but justified the assumption of high
status.
Occasions for display of the crest existed apart from
the potlatch and perhaps served to confirm the right
to the crest to a slight degree. Such an occasion might
occur when decorated, named canoes competed in
intersib races. Crests and crest objects were used in
making peace, either to prevent quarrelers from coming
to blows or to restore ordinary relations after the
cessation of hostilities. Crest objects also were exhibited
in war; in fact, anyone would don his finest ceremonial
regalia and utter his sib animal cry when facing death
or danger.
Alienation of Crests and Crest Objects
Sib property is alienable. Land may be sold, given
away, or lost through defeat in war; so too, sib songs
may be given away or appropriated by another group.
Inherited personal names also may pass from one sib
to another within the same moiety, and new names
referring to the donor's sib crest may be bestowed
(during a potlatch) on a "grandchild" in another sib
within the moiety (cf. pp. 635-637).
Particular crest objects, or the right to display a
crest, may also pass from one sib to another usually,
but not necessarily, within the moiety. This may happen
in time of war, as when the Hoonah Kagwantan cap-
tured a Wolf Post from the L'u?edi near Dry Bay, and
shortly afterwards built a Wolf House of their own
(Swanton, 1909, Tale 104). "Ankau June"" proudly
displayed to Malaspina the crest hat which he had
taken from an enemy (p. 145). Dr. McClellan suggests
that the violence associated with the Beaver of the
Basket Bay Decitan (Swanton, 1909, Tale 68; Gar-
field, 1947, p. 440; de Laguna, 1960, pp. 136 f.) raises
the suspicion that this Raven group may have cap-
tured their crest from some sib in the opposite moiety.
The crest object, name, or design77 captured in
war did not, I believe, require further validation.
Thus, the Russian muskets taken by the Tlaxayik-
Teqwedi were given crest names. "In a war they name
their guns according to their tribe, like xuts [Bear]
gun, or kit [Killerwhale] gun" (p. 263). "It's got
to be taken through a war, the things you're going to
talk about" (p. 266), that is, the trophies to be named
and displayed. While war itself provided the original
validation, display at subsequent potlatches would
enhance the value.
Crest objects may become alienated through events
other than war; for example, in payment of debts. It
was in this way that the CAnkuqedi obtained four
songs from the Aiyan chief on the Yukon after the
drowning of their people (p. 248), for in Tlingit thought
the chief was responsible for the loss of those who were
coming at his invitation. Crest objects might also be
used in payment of the bride price. These formed an
especially appropriate type of marriage payment since
the bride's father belonged to the same moiety as his
son-in-law, and so might already possess the right to
77
 Cf. facial painting worn originally by a Wrangell man and
adopted by his Kagwantan slayer (Swanton, 1908, pi. LV, h).
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 459
the crest. I do not know whether he ever included a
similar object among his return presents to the son-in-
law. However, the Kagwantan obtained a Tsimshian
song in this fashion, called "S'eltin's Marriage Song"
(1954, 3-1-B; Swanton, 1909, Song 47, p. 401), which
was given by the girl's father to her husband.
One of my informants (MJ), when very young,
narrowly escaped being married to an old CAnkuqedi
house chief who offered her parents a considerable
amount of money, many blankets, a bearskin, and a
Bear Headdress (xuts cAki'At). Her father's people,
who were Teqwedi, tried to force her to accept the old
man, because "they wanted to get back some of this
stuff," which implied that the headdress, and perhaps
the bearskin, had originally been Teqwedi property.
I do not know how the CAnkuqedi had acquired the
crest headdress.
My informant's cousin, Xosal, was actually given
in marriage for the Killerwhale Drum. She was the
Tl'uknaxAdi daughter of the leading Teqwedi chief,
Minaman or Daqusetc of Shark House, by his wife,
Gayu-tla, our informant's mother's cousin. Perhaps
this was the 15-year-old daughter of the chief who
came to be painted by Seton-Karr in 1886 (1887,
p. 126), "escorted by her husband and father-in-law,
as well as by the chief and his wife." The drum which
was her bride price, the most important heirloom of
the Bear House Teqwedi, had been lost previously in
some way to the Galyrx-Kagwantan. "That drum is
captured for something, I don't know how. . . . I
couldn't tell how come they captured it. They wouldn't
give it up until that fellow, Qata-'ux, got stuck on my
cousin, Xosal, and that's how come Daqusetc got it
back. My cousin is married to Qata-'ux. They pay
awful high price for high-class woman. So he paid for
her so much, and then that drum is included. That
drum belong to Teqwedi in the first place. . . . It's a
great thing when they get that kit gau [Killerwhale
Drum] back through my sister. They call her [a cousin]
'sister.' It was a great thing when they got it back."(MJ)
This drum was later inherited by Chief Daqusetc's
nephew, Jim Kardeetoo, who sold it. It is now part of
the Kasmussen Collection in the Portland Art Museum
(pi. 164; cf. also Davis, 1949, pi. 93). A note in the
museum catalog based on information obtained from
Jim Kardeetoo, suggests through how many hands the
drum must have passed: "In the first place the drum
belonged to Old Shakes (the [Nanya'ayi] chief at
Wrangell). When he was buying slaves from one of
the Taku chiefs he also gave the drum in exchange."
Our own informants trace the drum back to Diyaguna-
'Et, and some believe that it was made there.
Since many fine crests at Yakutat had been made
by the Tsimshian, it seems evident that these articles
must have passed by gift or purchase from one owner
to another. Probably some of these persons were traders
who did not own the crest or attempt to display it,
and one suspects that the purchase of a crest object,
followed by a suitable exhibition in a potlatch, might
actually be a mechanism for the transfer of rights in
the crest itself. What Swanton (1908, p. 422) has said
with respect to names may also be true of crest repre-
sentations in general: "If any animal were not regularly
used by some clan it could be employed [by another]
without offense."
Appropriation of the crest of another sib, by either
the forcible seizure of a crest object or the manufacture
of one, is an insulting act.78 It may be done on purpose
to shame a rival, perhaps to force payment of a debt.
In such a case, it is equivalent to holding the crest
object for ransom, and payment must be made to wipe
out the insult and settle the claim, unless there is
resort to violence. However, a powerful sib, as Swanton's
informant put it, may be "so rich that they could use
anything" (Swanton, 1908, p. 415). The history of the
Tl'uknaxAdi Frog House at Sitka has illustrated the
appropriation of crests (p. 288). Not only did the
KiksAdi react with violence to what they felt was an
appropriation of their emblem by destroying the
Tl'TjknaxAdi's Frog carving, but they further retaliated
by appropriating a crest of then* rivals when they had
a post carved with the Tl'uknaxAdi's Sleep Bird. When
this was eventually given to the Tl'uknaxAdi, the latter
payed the KiksAdi for it. The use of such spite carvings
or totem poles seems to have been rather common
among the southern Tlingit (Garfield and Forrest,
1948, pp. 12, 50, 147), where the Tlingit even tried to
employ them against the Whites, who were more often
flattered at this attention than offended.
Due to the sale to Whites and resale by them to
other Indians, it has sometimes happened that lineage
houses at Yakutat, as at Angoon (de Laguna, 1960,
p. 192), may, together with their crest decorations,
come into the possession of someone of the wrong sib.
This presents a most delicate and difficult problem,
especially if financial considerations prevent redemption
by the group owning rights to the crest. As one inform-
ant explained a case of this kind, involving a Kagwantan
screen in a house now owned by a KwaclLqwan: "Sup-
pose in olden days, X [present house owner] took that
xin [screen] away, the war would never be ended, till
they got it back?if Kwaclsqwan took it for no reason.
If it's for a reason, Kagwantan pay for it. If X's
brother or sister [were] killed by Kagwantan, if the
Kagwantan don't pay the life?[if] then X took it?
that's a reason. There be no war; they're going to pay
78
 "Once the LluklnaxA'di did not give away enough food to
satisfy some of their guests, so the latter took three or four high
names from them by way of retaliation" (Swanton, 1908, p. 435).
460 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
it back. But if it's for no reason, like now [citing an
instance], that's a war. That's how Indians used to
have a war?things like that?until they win it, until
they get it back."
Such may have been the history of a Frog Helmet
from Yakutat, now in the Portland Art Museum (pi.
158), which is said to have been lost in a battle and
later retaken by the original owners (Tl'uknaxAdi ?).
Peace cannot be made between two groups if one
holds the crest objects captured from the other. So,
after the war between the QanAxtedi and the Tl'ukna-
XAdi, the crest emblems which each had taken from the
other were returned during the peace ceremony (cf.
p. 275).
Not only have different sibs (usually in the same
moiety) been involved in transfers, legitimate or un-
lawful, of crest objects, but in recent years at Yakutat
there have been instances of the appropriation or in-
heritance of crest objects or heirlooms belonging to one
house by members of another house within the same
sib. This has evidently resulted from the deaths of the
lineage heads or elders who had been the custodians of
these treasures. These deaths afforded opportunities
for leaders in another house to take the treasures. Such
an action may be bitterly resented by those who regard
themselves as the rightful owners. In citing a case of
this kind, an informant observed: "The same thing
happened in the old story when we separated from our
tribe at Copper River [referring to the Ginexqwan
dispute over the inheritance of the chief's feast dish].
. . . It's for the tribe that built the house. What belongs
to this house, that house got no business to take it.
That's Indian law." But when the two houses are
"brother-sister houses," like Raven's Bones House and
Fort House (also cited as "mother" and "daughter"
houses), "what belongs to them is same thing"?they
share. The Moon House line of the KwacKqwan is
different, however.
One man who possesses a sib heirloom wants it to be
buried with him when he dies "6 feet underground."
Then there will be no further quarrels among his sib-
mates over it.
Even more serious are the cases in recent years in
which a man's wife or children have kept or attempted
to keep his crest objects, for under the old matrilineal
rules they had, of course, no title to any of his property
at all, and certainly none to his crests. In such cases,
the spouse or child has justified her or his retention of
the object by claiming an unsatisfied debt (one recent
example was compensation for an accidental homicide),
or the excuse may be to prevent the rightful owner from
selling the object in order to buy liquor. The latter may
also be the alleged motive for a woman's keeping what
her brother or sib brother, as a man, should have
inherited.
The crest objects themselves have, in modern times,
become more valuable than the rights to the crest, and
such objects have come to be considered personal
property and not part of the heritage of the lineage or
sib. Formerly, many crest objects were destroyed at
the death of their custodian or user. Thus, thousands of
dollars worth of regalia are believed to be entombed with
Situk Jim, Teqwedi head of Bear Den House, buried at
Situkin 1912. "In the old days they used to bury what they
like with people. Then they start that generation [i.e.,
inheritance from generation to generation], just to keep
the things in the tribe." Replacement of the crest ob-
jects or manufacture of new regalia was not difficult as
long as there were skilled carvers, painters, and weavers.
Moreover, there was definitely the feeh'ng that just as
the house should be torn down and rebuilt as a memorial
to the lineage dead, so it was fitting for some fine new
crest paraphernalia to be displayed at potlatches. The
use of old objects was probably as costly to the owners
as the public adoption of new regalia. Now, crest
objects have been lost through sale to the White man.
It was not, I believe, simply the money offered by
curio collectors that has drained away Tlingit sib
treasures, nor the overpowering hunger for whiskey
with which to anesthetize the sorrow for what has been
lost. Rather, the whole pressure of White influence has
been against the social and ceremonial institutions that
gave significance and value to native art. Ordinary
traders, prospectors, and fishermen have ridiculed the
potlatches of the "Siwashes" as extravagant and futile,
and belittled their art as grotesque; missionaries have
condemned all Tlingit ceremonial display as heathen;
teachers have discouraged feasts and potlatches because
they disrupt school; administrators have united with
ministers and educators in attempting to lessen the im-
portance of the Tlingit sib as disruptive, especially
since intersib rivalry has led to so many serious quarrels.
There has been no legislation prohibiting potlatches, as
in British Columbia, but the effects of White pressure
and inducement have had similar results.
One of the most powerful agencies in undermining
the sib structure and in suppressing all sib ceremonial
functions has been the Tlingits' own organization, the
Alaska Native Brotherhood, founded in Sitka in 1912
(cf. Drucker, 1958). The vigorous campaign of the
ANB against the display of crest symbols has rein-
forced the lure of the cash which could be obtained
from native manufactures, so that many persons sold
the sib and lineage heirlooms in their charge. There was
some opposition at the time, and a deep regret now.
As one informant explained:
"When ANB was founded, they gave up tribal things.
They didn't have any more potlatches. [But later] they
began to take an interest in them again. . . . The
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 461
ANB used to be strong, but now it's weak, and the
interest in tribal things is coming back. . . .
"A lot of men sold their tribal relics that they were
supposed to keep for their people. They were really
not the owners, just trustees, and some poeple got
very angry. To prevent the sale of some of the things,
the custodians burned them up. [The destruction or
attempted destruction of two song leader's poles was
mentioned.]
"We had a beautiful board?Raven. The Kwaclsqwan
put it in Dis hit [Moon House]. . . . Sticklew Hansen
came down from Copper River [where he had been
fishing? He was head of the house]. He heard people
talking about selling their "pole" [i.e., the screen]. . . .
He don't want anybody to have it. He took it down
from there and split it up and burned it. I think he
done right. He don't want any other tribe to have it."
The indignation now expressed at those who have
sold crest objects reflects both grief at the loss of irre-
placeable heirlooms associated with their own ancestors
or with their fathers, and also resentment because some
other individual has profited from the sale. Yet some
sales have been justified on the grounds that the lawful
owners were all dying off and that the museums might
as well act as custodians. (For new crest regalia, see
pis. 217-218.)
Sib Characteristics
Sibs, in the minds of the Yakutat people, are felt to
be distinguished in many cases by their customary
modes of behavior or by what we might call "character,"
for want of a better word. This may be related to their
territory or in some cases to their crest animal (see
pp. 833-834). Which traits are emphasized depends
upon the affiliations of the individual, since he naturally
favors his own sib and is equally pround of his father's.
He is most apt to be antagonistic toward a sib in his
own moiety that lives in another tribal district. These
supposed sib characteristics are the source of jokes
between sib-children (see pp. 485-488). My information
on this topic is unfortunately very scanty, and only a
few examples can be offered.
The child of a TlukwaxAdi man, said of his sib:
"They were really fast people, and nobody bothers
them. Excuse me, ladies, but olden time, they take
slave, you know, from some people, but them they do
nothing to. . . . Nobody bothers them. . . . They are
just like an arrow, those people. They go like that!
They are Gunana. They are fast, those people, and
quick. They are TlukwaxAdi?that's Gunana. . . . No-
body come close to them, because they are scared of
them. They are afraid of the ThikwaxAdi. They just
stay in Dry Bay?-that's the place."
The Ti'uknaxAdi, on the other hand, are especially
connected with the sea, having the reputation of being
intrepid voyagers and traders.
"Ti'uknaxAdi, see, that's all they do, go around on
those canoes?go around, come back, trade. They call
the ocean and the breakers their 'friend.' They always
talk to it. They say: 'TCA gutqa tsa xat nidji?Don't
think I'm a different man' [i.e., a stranger, an alien]."
Such an appeal may be effective in time of danger.
The Gafyrx-Kagwantan have (or had) the reputation
of being rich and generous. Thus ^atgawet and bis
modern namesake, Jim Kardeetoo, both became wealthy
when they married Kagwantan-daughters, in both cases
a Kwackqwan woman named Tie'an.
Teqwedi, like their crest animal, the Bear, are brave.
This quality is inherited by their children.
The Killerwhale too was wild and fierce, perhaps
accounting for the reputation of the Teqwedi and
Kagwantan who use this aminal as a crest.
"The Garyix-Kagwantan and the Sitka Kagwantan
are all alike. . . . All Kagwantan are mean and they
want war all the time. XanAts 'aya'r Kagwantan?
'angry all the time Kagwantan' is how they call them."
The informant said this to the son of a Sitka Kagwantan
man when they were both in danger of shipwreck and
she, daughter of a Teqwedi father, was challenging her
companion's courage. "Let's see whether the Kagwan-
tan-children or Teqwedi-children are braver!" she had
said, and added indignantly, {"They always claim the
Teqwedi-yAtxi [Teqwedi-children] are cowards." (MJ)
SOCIAL POSITION
Aristocrats and Commoners
The people of Yakutat, like all Tlingit, were very
conscious of rank, although it is difficult to determine
to what extent this was conceptualised in terms of
class, or whether classes actually existed. When com-
parisons were made, they seem to have been largely
in terms of specific individuals, as between a chief
and a man in his sib who could not aspire to his posi-
462 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
tion, or between a man in one sib and a person in
another who was of equal rank and so could be ex-
changed for him in a peace ceremony. In settling
blood feuds, the value of each life lost had to be paid
for by property or by another life, and some persons
of high rank were estimated to be worth two or even
four of lower status. I do not know, however, exactly
how these equivalences were determined, probably
through negotiations conducted by go-betweens. In
speaking of persons of high social position, what my
informants stressed was the respect felt for them:
respect which depended upon birth, wealth, age, and
conduct. It is only very loosely, I believe, that the
Tlingit think of social classes.
There was, for example, a kind of aristocracy, com-
posed of chiefs and their immediate families, in con-
trast to ordinary people. A chief or rich man was
called 'an qawu?'man of the town;' a well-born
person, such as his child or sister's child, was a "prince"
or "princess," 'an yAdi?'child of the town.' Boas
(1917, p. 123) renders the first as 'an qawu, and adds
'anku?'infant of nobility.' Harrington (MS. 1939-40)
gives equivalent forms, as well as 'an lingidi ('aan-
liin-liittii)?'person of the town,' or rich person.
However, I was unable to learn any term used to
designate an ordinary individual or commoner; one
informant commented on the fact that Tlingit seemed
to lack words for middle class people although "in
English there are lots of names." The ordinary person
(if he did exist) was, in fact, the chief's junior or
distant relative in a less distinguished line, and formerly
lived in the same house with the chief and called him
kinsman.
Persons of very low status could be designated by
various expressions, derogatory or euphemistic. Thus,
they were those 'who lived at the front of the house'
(xAt'aq qu'u), the place of the poor and lowly. These
persons included the lowest of all, the bastards (nitc
kA yAdi?'child of the empty beach'), those whose
laziness or bad luck had made them paupers (see
below), freed slaves, or persons with slave ancestry.
Slaves themselves were, in theory, outside Tlingit
society.
From the chief of the whole sib down to the lowliest
there was a series of graded ranks. It would be incorrect,
I believe, to think of such a series as made up of definite
classes or, on the contrary, as a heirarchy of evenly
spaced positions. Nor should we assume that each
individual was definitely assigned to a separate step
on such an ascending stairway. Rather, there were
marked gaps or discontinuities of rank between family
lines even within the same lineage; conversely, for many
purposes, members of the same family line or of closely
related lines were considered as equivalents. This is
indicated by the fact that birth names, while belonging
to the sib or lineage, are actually inherited in family
lines, passing from the deceased to his or her close
maternal relative (and thereby implying reincarnation,
see pp. 781 ff.). There is a similar passing on of honorable
names or titles (without implying reincarnation) from
older to younger brother, from maternal uncle to neph-
ew, and from paternal grandfather to son's son in the
same maternal line. In the old days, births presumably
balanced deaths, so that inheritance of rank and of
the name that indicated rank could be kept within the
same family. "Relatives" of a chief in an inferior line
of his lineage could not aspire to rise as long as there
were potential heirs among his close relatives. It has
been only in modern times when so many chiefly lines
have become extinct that titles have been conferred
upon persons of ordinary descent, that is, upon distant
relatives. This is recognized by some men today who
are acting as "chiefs," that is, as leaders or spokesmen
for their sibs. One man in such a position, when dis-
cussing the metaphorical oratory used by old-time
chiefs, said: "A common man like me don't understand
it;" and again, when telling about how the scalps of
great men were formerly kept: "Not small men like me.
They wouldn't bother me; they wouldn't cut my hair
off." Acquisition of wealth in the late 19th and early
20th centuries, from the fur trade and from commercial
fishing, enabled a number of men in junior positions
to build named houses and thus to establish themselves
as petty chiefs (see pp. 321 ff.). They were still felt,
however, to belong to the same lineages as their senior
relatives who remained as chiefs of the older houses.
Had wealth and population continued to increase, no
doubt these new establishments would have eventually
become new lineages.
Within each sib there are thus one or more houses
or lineages, each of which has its own chief or 'master
of the house' (hit sati), or 'one who stands at the
head' (cadi; hani). These lesser chiefs formerly acted
as council members for the head chief of the sib.
While some lineages are felt to be very close to each
other, presumably because increase in numbers rather
than dissension ?within the original house caused them
to separate, other lineages within the sib may be
considered more distantly connected. Closely related
"brother and sister houses" that own crests and
regalia in common are friendly and feel themselves
to be more nearly equal in rank and prestige; the more
distant houses may be considered inferior. Between
such groups there was often rivalry and jockeying for
position. However, one lineage of the sib was usually
outstanding, and its chief outranked all other house
chiefs. The principal house of the Tl'trknaxAdi was
Whale House in Sitka, and the Yakutat branch of
the sib acknowledged the distinction of its chief.
Presumably the Far-Out House or Frog House of Dry
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 463
Bay Chief George, and Boulder House at Johnson
Slough and Yakutat (pp. 317, 318, 323) were the most
important houses of these two localities. The KwacK:-
qwan chiefs belonged to the line of Yaxodaqet of Raven's
Bones House. Closely allied to this was Fort House,
and when the chiefly line of Raven's Bones House
became extinct, the ranking man of the Fort House
lineage became sib spokesman. On the other hand,
Moon House with its daughter houses (Mountain
[St. Elias] House, Play House, Foggy House, and Owl
House) belonged to another Kwac]kqwan group.
The sib chief was the 'big man' (lingit tlen) or
'head of the sib' (na cadi: hani). The latter title might
be held by a woman, if she were the person of highest
rank. Thus, the mother of one of our informants
became "head of the tribe" and so received custody
of all the sib heirlooms. She was Jenny Kardeetoo
(1872-1951), the Kwaci:qwan widow of Jim Kardeetoo,
the last chief of the Bear House Teqwedi. Her son,
Harry Bremner, acts as spokesman for the Kwaclqwan.
The chief of the sib and his immediate family were
the real aristocrats, called by some informants
"royalty," Such a person was 'one who is heavier than
others' (kaqaxAk duwuduni). He or she was also a
'crystal person' (tl'efkkw qa)?"Like the sun. Nothing
[no stain] in their body or their spirt?just pure."
This expression implies particularly the absence of any
low-class or disgraced person in his ancestry. Harrington
(MS 1939-40) gives the same term (tl'eetthfikwkhaa)
to mean "a prince. E.g., if a stranger comes to town,
they tell us: that man is tl'eetthjukwkhaa, so we know
he belongs to high class people." Tl'etiA.kw or tl'etAk"
means 'pure.'
Formerly, aristocrats were careful to marry only
those of equal social rank. "Royalties was married to
royalties." This rule of marrying one's equals also ap-
plied to lesser house chiefs and their families. In esti-
mating the position of a person, consideration was
given to his ancestry on both sides for several genera-
tions. This has probably led to or served to emphasize
the desirability of seeking a spouse in a family with
which one's own was already connected, so that a man
would try to marry such close relatives as a father's
sister, a brother's daughter, or a cross-cousin (see pp.
489-491). The higher one's rank, the more important
it was to reaffirm such bonds between two related
matrilineal lines, and the more careful one had to be of
misalliances. It was not uncommon, therefore, for the
chief of one house to be the father of another chief or
house head in the opposite moiety. Thus, Yaxodaqet
(II) or Yakutat Chief of Raven's Bones House was the
father of Ned Daknaqin of Drum House, and Cada of
Fort House was father of Henry Shada, a later chief of
Drum House, and of Jim Kardeetoo, chief of Shark
House-Bear Paw House. A chief usually married the
sister or daughter of a chief, even though to secure a
proper spouse it was sometimes necessary, or ad-
vantageous, to turn to another Tlingit tribe: Chilkat,
Hoonah, Sitka, etc.
Certain chiefly families in opposite moieties were thus
equated in rank and linked through common ancestry
and marriage connections. Each lineage as a whole was
identified in the minds of its own members and of out-
siders with the prestige of its chief. These chiefs were
not equal in position, and their lineages differed in
numbers, wealth, and reputation, so that the lineages
within a sib could be ranked relative to one another.
As one informant said about the lineages of her sib:
"We are the highest. BC's bunch are the next, and
DE's people are the last of all. You see?I don't like
to say this?but. . . . The [sib] are all one, but we
have classes." The informant explained that a euphe-
mism for people of a lower lineage in one's own sib is to
say that they "belong to the house next door." This
could be used to designate freed slaves that had been
adopted into the sib or lineage, and their descendants.
Sibs, also, were felt to belong to different ranks.
Thus: "The Tl'uknaxAdi are the highest people around
here. The Kagwantan and Teqwedi are, too. They
wouldn't marry any other tribe less than they are. My
father was Teqwedi." Certain names for sibs, especially
when used by a member of another sib within the
same moiety, are resented as derogatory and as im-
plying lower status. Those sibs that had come most
recently from southeastern Alaska seem to have claimed
superiority over sibs that had been more ancient resi-
dents, even when the latter belonged to their own moiety.
Equivalence in rank and social standing was more
important as a principle that united Ravens with
Wolves (Eagles), equating sib with sib, lineage with
lineage, and individual with individual across moiety
lines. It was really only between sibs in the same moiety
that full-scale rivalry for position could develop. Yet,
even here, although one of these sibs might be thought
inferior as a whole to another, its leading members
were certainly far more respected than the lower indi-
viduals in the superior sib.
Judgments of relative rank or social worth within
the moiety or within the sib were not unanimous, of
course, and did not go unchallenged. Indeed, while
Ravens and Wolves-Eagles might openly compete, the
bitterest rivalry was between groups or individuals hi
the same moiety, sib, or lineage. Such conflicts had to
be carried on indirectly (by trying to outdo one another
as guest dancers at a potlatch, for example) or covertly
(through the use of "medicines" to make one favorably
noticed, or through witchcraft to dispose of a personal
rival). Such competition could become dangerously
disruptive to groups who were supposed to be com-
posed of "brothers" cooperating for common goals.
464 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
There was no established legal way to settle such dis-
putes, as there was for feuds or "wars" between groups
in opposite moieties. It is probably significant that it
was within the moiety that licensed joking was insti-
tutionalized, since this could drain off some of the
irritation and bad feeling which could not be expressed
openly.
Birth, that is, the rank and status of one's ancestry,
determined one's social position by setting limits to
what names or titles one might acquire. However, the
acquisition of these depended upon the actions of the
individual and his kinsmen, since all but the name or
names given to the newborn child required validation
before they could be assumed. Such validation, espe-
cially for the more honorific names and titles, took
place at potlatches which, of course, meant the dis-
tribution of wealth to guests of the opposite moiety.
It is no wonder that the words for aristocrat or "high-
class person" ('anqawu, 'anyAdi) are also translated
as "rich person." A wealthy and ambitious man, with
the backing of his relatives, could elevate his own
position and that of his immediate family, and thus
confer prestige on the lineage as a whole, by giving
a series of house-building potlatches. At each he might
assume another title for himself and bestow honorable
names on his nephews and nieces and grandchildren.
This last was not the exclusive privilege of a house
chief, for all members of the host sib would make
contributions to his potlatch, and all could honor
junior relatives or grandchildren by giving them
appropriate names. A wealthy man could also raise
the status of his own children at a potlatch (see pp.
637-638). The young people so honored would display
the visible signs in the form of tattooed hands, pierced
ears and, in former times, pierced nasal septums and
labret holes for the girls. If a child were deformed or
lame a special effort might be made to prevent this
handicap from becoming a subject for shame or ridicule.
In such a case, a slave might be freed at a potlatch to
honor the child (see pp. 473, 641). While wealth alone
would not, in one generation, elevate the builder of a
new house to the position of lineage chief, nor the
lineage head to that of sib chief, there is probably no
question but that it would eventually affect the relative
positions of their heirs or heirs' heirs. High birth could
not long be maintained without potlatching which
demanded the lavish distribution of wealth from one's
own household and from the contributions of one's
kin.
The value of a high born girl was clearly shown by the
property given by the groom to her parents, and by
their return gifts. These might include sib prerogatives
or sib crest objects (pp. 458-159). Later, the brother of
the woman would give handsome presents to her
husband so that the latter would have greater respect
for his wife. In fact, all affinal exchanges between
persons of rank were supposed to be on as lavish a
scale as possible, and such generosity was greatly to
the credit of both giver and recipient.
The wealth possessed by chiefs and their immediate
families permitted them to wear the most valued furs;
sea otter and marten. "Mink was the cheapest skin.
Common people wore it. It still is cheap to us yet.
Royalties used marten. A cape of royalty would never
fit a common person. No matter how you put it on, no
matter how it was thrown on you, if you were common,
it wouldn't fit. If it fits, no matter how you look, you
are royalty. . . . The cape was trimmed with sea otter
and dentalium buttons." According to the same
informant, "princessess" wore golden hair ornaments.
A more realistic statement was made by a man to
whom we showed some of the copper ornaments
excavated on Knight Island (de Laguna et al, 1964,
fig. 19). Only the nobility, he said, wore copper orna-
ments. "Just high people use them things. A man like
me can't use it: 'anyAdi is the only one that use it."
When chiefs and wealthy people died, they were buried
with many of their personal possessions (in former days,
these would have been left at the tomb containing
their ashes), so that some graves are said to contain
several thousand dollars worth of costumes, presumably
including jewelry, Chilkat blankets, button blankets,
and so forth.
The chief, especially the head of his sib, was rich.
He was not only custodian or trustee for the heirlooms
and crest objects, but also of the hunting and fishing
territories of his sib. After feasting his sibmates on the
first catch, talken by bis nephews, he gaVe permission
for the hunting season to open. He not only determined
when, where, and with what weapons his people and
others might hunt or fish, but might specify how many
animals each man might take. Such rules were not
simply to insure a fair distribution to every man, but
were also to protect the animals during their breeding
season. The chief had the power of life and death in
enforcing these regulations and in dealing with un-
authorized trespassers. (For examples of the chief's
powers and how these were exercised, see pp. 374, 379.)
In addition to allocating rights to use the sib's territories
and in determing how the natural resources should be
utilized, the chief also had a claim upon the catch
made by his own people. As explained by an informant:
The chief is rich, "because Indian law says?in olden
days everything what I catch I give it to my uncle.
Never keep it for myself. All the tribe [sib] is that
way?give it to their uncle. If I don't do it, everybody
talks about it, 'He keep it for himself.' That's why a
chief get rich." Apparently there was no formal tribute
to the chief and he did not seize what his sibmates
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 465
had acquired. "Chief?'an qawu?rich. He's the uncle
of everybody when he comes to be a leader. He's all
the tribe's uncle. Lmgit tlen they call him, in English,
just 'big man.' "
The territory of the Kwacliqwan, which extended
from just west of Icy Bay to the middle of the Lost
River area near the present airfield, included the sea
otter grounds of Icy Bay, the sealing grounds of Dis-
enchantment Bay, the goat and bear hunting areas on
the mountains above, rich salmon streams, especially
in the Ankau lagoon region, and numerous berrying
patches, including the strawberries of Point Manby.
No other sib along the Gulf Coast controlled such a
wealth of natural resources, except possibly the GAlyix-
Kagwantan of Kaliakh River and Controller Bay. For
this reason, the chiefs of Yakutat, Yaxodaqet of Raven's
Bones House, had great economic power. Informants
stressed however, the wisdom with which the chiefs of
this name exercised their authority for the benefit of
all the people in the Yakutat area.
The possession of wealth by a sib or house chief
imposed obligations of generosity (see p. 467).
In addition to status at birth and to the wealth that
validated or enhanced rank, age itself brought respect.
The elder (qa cuqadeqa) by virtue of age or generation
was honored by his junior. Sometimes pronounced dif-
ferences in age prevented the free exchange of repartee
which would otherwise be expected between joking
relatives (see pp. 487-488). The oldest member of the
sib, whether man or woman, was called 'our elder' (ha
cuqadeqa). There would be only one to a sib, and
when he or she died, the next oldest took his place.
Thus, the elder of the Kagwantan was said to be
Kalyan-'ic, 'Katlian's father,' in Sitka, and Uncle Sam
was suggested as our "elder."
"The oldest person in the tribe [sib] . . . always got
a big respect. He just the head of it all the time. They
always take him as next to the chief. They always
respect the oldest one. The older he is, the more re-
spect. Even if he's poor . . . ha cuqadeqa?'the head
person.' The tribe always get advice from him. 'Ad-
viser'?because he's the oldest. He know more than the
young people. 'The wisest.' What I don't know, I'm
going to ask him. Then he tells me. He knows
everything."
Not only are the people of Yakutat courteous towards
old people, but treat the aged with respect, almost with
reverence, deferring to their judgment and opinions
even when their elders are senile or ignorant. Con-
versely, we have also heard doubt cast upon the
accuracy of a statement simply because the person who
made it was young. The extreme respect due to seniority
was undoubtedly important in making young people
submit to the authority of their elders. In similar
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 32
fashion, the ancestors of past generations were held up
as models of conduct to be emulated by the living.
Recent changes in the way of life have, of course,
greatly weakened the importance of age in determining
social standing.
The higher the rank of the individual and the greater
the consequent responsibilities, the more stress was
set upon wisdom, judgment, and education. This was
especially true for the sib chief, who was responsible
for his people's welfare. In making decisions, he often
or usually consulted with the house chiefs, those "next
to him," who were like members of his council, and
also with the sib elder. However, his word alone could
command respect, not only because of the actual polit-
ical power he wielded and because of his own high
rank, but also because he was known to be well educated
and therefore wise. But even the chief should not be
too proud to take advice from an inferior. This was
the lesson that Chief Shakes of Wrangell, one of the
noblest and richest chiefs, and "next to Solomon, one
of the smartest men that ever lived," had to learn
from experience (see "The Moral of Chief Shakes"
pp. 894-895).
The children, nephews, and grandchildren of the sib
chief apparently received a more thorough education
than did ordinary young people. A large part of the
formal instruction was carried out through the stories
told at night by the chief, or by "the one next to him."
"Just like school in those days. People go to school
to learn. So everybody listens to them, every night.
But when the chief, when he's training his grandchild
on his tribe's side [son's son in his own sib], when a
boy getting smart between 10 and 16 years old?[the
chief would say to him] 'Now you tell me a story about
what I been telling you.' They always had names for
stories. 'Now this one you going to tell me.'
"So the boy start to tell the story to the grandfather,
to the chief. If any place that boy make a mistake, the
chief correct him. That's the way they training the
grandchild, because he's going to be the next chief to
him?till it's all correct, the story he tell. Then he
begin to tell another story. He want his grandchild to
memorize the whole thing. Not only Tlingit stories?
Tsimshian, Haida, Aleut stories, and Tasnaqwan?
that's Eskimo stories. Tasna [Yukon] is the biggest
river up north.
"So they went clear down to the Tasna [see below,
for visits to foreign tribes]. They used to do Tasna
dances here at Yakutat, and the songs they used to
have. And T'oyat stories?that's Flathead Indians of
Washington?their stories. And all the Interior Indians.
"A person have to learn all the stories before he
become to a chief, a tribe leader. No matter how rich
he is, a person can't be a chief if he don't know all the
466 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
stories from the different tribes, unless he knows all
the stories from all the tribes in Alaska." He could,
however, become a house or lineage chief.
This same type of training was given to all children,
but was of aless comprehensive nature (see pp. 512-514).
"In the evening the chief talks to all the people in
the house. He watches the young men to see who is
smart. It's like high school or college. Everyone grad-
uates, but there are some stupid ones and some that
are smarter than others. The chief notices who is not
listening. He notices who is smart. The smart one, the
chief sends him away, traveling all over?to southeast
Alaska, or to Cordova [in Prince William Sound]?to
learn the songs and stories of the other tribes. Then at
potlatches, he tries to catch out the other side [by
knowing their traditions, and by competing in erudi-
tion]. Even if he's not a chief's son, he may become a
chief."
This last statement would indicate that the noblest
birth was not an essential requirement for chieftain-
ship, but rather that the old chief might be able to
choose his successor from among the group of eligible
maternal nephews and paternal grandsons. Such
promising youngsters were sent away at the age of
about 10 years, each to a different foreign tribe. The
boy lived with the foreign chief until he became a man,
learning the language, history, songs, and traditions of
bis hosts. This was "just like getting a college educa-
tion," and when he returned home he could teach his
own chief some words of the foreign language, or act
as interpreter when foreign visitors were entertained.
In this way the different tribes were able to get along
together when they met, and could learn each other's
songs and dances. This custom of sending away young
men of rank to be educated must have facilitated the
practice of the Russians of taking young native boys
of good family to be hostages and servants. The
Yakutat people believed that these children were going
to school and were horrified to discover that they were
being used as slaves. This was one of the grievances
that led to the overthrow of the Russian colony (234,
260).
It is thus clear that persons of rank, especially the
chiefs, were well trained in historical and ceremonial
matters. This knowledge was required in making
speeches at potlatches or peace ceremonies when the
chief was "just like a well-educated lawyer" because
of his command of esoteric language. For example,
"When one tingit tlen comes in a canoe to visit another
imgit tlen, he stands up in the canoe and talks to the
one on shore, and that one talks to him, before he
comes ashore. Ordinary people can't understand them
because they use hard words." Or, when receiving
potlatch guests in his house, the sib chief would be
flanked by his brothers or nephews or uncles, who could
act as prompters, and by the other lineage heads of
his sib who also stood ready to advise him. Such
advisors on matters of ceremonial protocol or oratory
were called du ?etx yu&AtAngi (Boas, 1917, p. 136,
"chief's speaker"). All persons, as a matter of fact, had
their turn to speak at a potlatch, and those of higher
breeding and better training thus had the opportunity
to display therr superior learning. The chief himself
had to be acquainted with the full repertoire of sib
songs, since he determined which ones were to be sung
and might even lead the singing (see pp. 631-632).
There were other accomplishments which brought
respect and which were therefore deemed appropriate
to aristocrats, as well as to others. These included
skill in bunting, and since chiefs either led or ordered
major hunting expeditions, it was desirable that they
should be experts in the habits of animals and in fore-
telling the weather. Chief Yaxodaqet used a Russian
peg calendar to predict the movements of migratory
animals and birds. "The weather he tells?gankAnigi.
He knows it. Yaxodaqet [the first one] was an expert.
. . . And then his nephew [was] just as good because
he learn it from him. . . . And then his grandson?
that's Olaf's grandfather?he's just as good. And his
nephew, Chief George, is good. But after Chief George,
we're among the White people already, work in the
cannery. He died just the year the cannery started
[1902]. There's no more sea otter hunting, and nobody
learn from him."
A chief might have shamanistic powers, in fact some
house chiefs were actually shamans, and certainly some
close relatives of sib chiefs were famous doctors. Such
persons commanded great respect, tinged with awe or
even fear. Artistic ability was also admired and several
house chiefs are mentioned as having carved house
posts or painted screens, and Dry Bay Chief George
was noted as a song composer. Women skilled at weav-
ing baskets and blankets were respected, and presum-
ably aristocratic girls were trained in fancy work.
Industry was continually stressed as a virtue, although
it was perhaps supposed to manifest itself in somewhat
different occupations for the rich and high-born than
for the poor and humble.
Not only wisdom, but moral virtue and decorous
conduct were qualifications of the chief or aristocrat.
"No matter where you are, from your actions they
find out what family you came from." However, child-
hood reminiscences (see pp. 508-514) indicate that the
same types of virtuous conduct were enjoined on all
the children in the great household, regardless of rank.
No doubt the standards were higher for those who
were either in a prominent social position or who
claimed descent from nobility. Certainly, having a
distinguished ancestor was stressed to the child as a
reason for being good.
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 467
Self-restraint and mildness of temper were demanded
of the highborn. "Royalty never quarrel. Common
people may spit in their face, but they never quarrel.
[A man of rank] thinks more of common people than
of himself?never looks down on a common person.
Just passes it [the insult] like nothing happens. . . . "
Such behavior in a woman of noble birth might be
publicly recognized in a potlatch. "My grandma on my
father's side never quarreled. They gave a slave over
that. It's called 1 'and6 wudiqAn?no quarreling in the
town. They announce that she never quarrels, so she
has to live up to that." Perhaps this was the same
case as that described by another informant as fol-
lows: "One woman from Knight Island became a
princess. Her uncle gave her a blessing, that she would
never quarrel on the street. She would have to live up
to that." Apparently her mother's brother gave the
feast and invited her father's sib. Two boys and two
girls from her father's sib dressed her and were paid
$500 to $600. Harrington (MS. 1939-40) reports that
an ill-tempered, cranky and easily angered person was
called 'master of anger' (xaan saatthi, i.e., xan sati).
However, the many occasions on which a rubbing
amulet was applied to the lips to curb angry speech
testify to the condemnation of hasty tempers (see pp.
521,666).
The rich person, the master of the house or the sib
chief, was generous. "Rich people used to support the
poor people?give feasts and potlatches. That's how
the poor got their grub and clothes. The rich treat them
like a king. But among the Whites, the rich invite only
the rich. Native peoples would starve before they ask
a foreign tribe for food." It is implied by this somewhat
idealistic picture of a vanished golden age that the rich
were supposed to be generous particularly to the poor
in their own sib. If the latter had to beg from other,
this would be a disgrace that might reflect upon the
honor of all. However, this ideal did not protect the
lazy from becoming a "dried-fish slave" (see p. 469).
On another occasion, the same informant described how
the house chief and his wife used to eat sparingly and
would wait until all the young fellows in the household
had been served before helping themselves. Another
woman spoke of how concerned her father was that
everyone in the multifamily household should have a
share of the dainties prepared by his wife (pp. 309-310).
A person of noble birth was supposed not only to
avoid participation in wrongdoing or loose conduct,
but to ignore it on the part of others. As one woman
explained: "I'm descended from that S'eltin [a noble
Tsimshi&n woman, see p. 459]. That's why, I guess, I
don't care for anything. That's the one?they don't
look at bad things like that drinking. She don't care for
that bad things. She just try to be good. 'It's heavy'?
yl-dXl?respect for yourself." Such a one may be called
a "crystal person"?he is pure in body and in spirit.
Naturally, the aristocrat or person of consequence
observed rules of etiquette in visiting or in entertaining
visitors. "Royalties would send word, 'I'm coming to
visit in Yakutat.' [When the foreign chief arrived], the
people would go down to the beach to meet the canoe
and ask who he's visiting. He wouldn't go ashore until
he tell them. People would carry his things to his host's
house. He would visit all the houses in town." This was
the behavior observed when someone of high rank came
to Yakutat to trade. According to another informant,
however, such persons went only to the houses of the
leading chiefs (see pp. 354-355). It has been noted how
Chief Minaman or "Billy" of Shark House on Khantaak
Island was accustomed to offer hospitality to visitors,
especially White mountaineers. A noble hostess, when
entertaining a distinguished visitor, served the guest
herself and did not permit the slaves to wait on him.
Then she sat down beside her husband. The place of
honor, where the chief sat and where the guest was
placed, was at the rear of the house.
It is difficult to judge whether aristocrats were nor-
mally arrogant in manner or condescending when
dealing with persons of lesser rank. Such behavior was
certainly not the ideal. "Kindness," which includes
generosity, sympathy, pity for the unfortunate, cour-
tesy and gentle manners, was the virtue most often
stressed by my informants as distinguishing the good
person and the one nobly born. "They used to say,
'Don't brag about yourself!' . . . That's the way my
mother and uncles is brought up. . . . 'Be kind to
everybody and not hurt somebody's feelings. Don't
brag. Let somebody find out how good you are!' "
" 'Don't run away with the idea you're above other
people. Be as low as you can.' " (MJ) These were the
often repeated maxims of proper conduct. '"AnyAdi is
kind," said another informant, "because they give you
the dirtiest name if you're not acting to your grade.
They call you nitc qa'a?like 'bastard,' but not really
that. He's outcast, not really 'anyAdi. The lowest man,
if he's kind and gently, they call him 'anyAdi. Give you
a good name, no matter how low you are or how poor."
There seems to be nothing in the speeches of chiefs
at potlatches to suggest the arrogant boasting of the
Kwakiutl.79 As one informant explained: "Suppose I
79
 The speeches recorded by Swanton at Wrangell (1909, pp.
372-389) are illuminating. Thus, one guest chief asks another
guest chief, his rival, to overlook any displeasure which his words
might cause for the sake of their host (p. 377). Or, one chief says;
"I thank you very much that through these words of yours you
have placed yourselves below me" (p. 381). Or again, a guest
gives up his turn to speak to his rival, "because, having been
the first to dance, they do not wish to be selfish" (p. 382). The
host invites his guest to eat the metaphorical codfish head of the
pauper: " . . . have pity on me and eat what I give you, even if
it not good enough" (p. 388).
468 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
give a potlatch. I talk to the opposite chief, to all the
gunEtkAnayi chiefs, and he answer me back by respect.
It's always respect talk." Courteous behavior, showing
respect for oneself and for one's associates and op-
posites was the mark of a chief.
This does not mean that persons were not jealous
of their honor and of the reputation of their sibs, or
that insults were not bitterly resented. Rather, there
was real need to be careful of word and manner because
of the extreme touchiness of pride that was ready to
read a deadly insult into a casual remark where nothing
derogatory had been intended. A boasting or con-
temptuous word, or a deliberate insult publicly given,
might once have led to war, and men today are likely
to fight under such provocation if they have been
drinking. Women are more likely to retaliate against
real or fancied slights by spreading gossip that accuses
each other of the most heinous offenses.
The Yakutat Tlingit have tremendous pride but it
does not have to feed itself with arrogance. It was
perhaps only those who felt a little unsure of their own
social position who boasted to us of their high-class
ancestry. When talking to other Tlingit, however, the
same individuals, like those of acknowledged prestige,
might joke how they and the person to whom they were
speaking were poor miserable no-accounts, too un-
important even to be accused of witchcraft. Such
exchanges had nothing to do with joking relationships
(see pp. 486-488). It is perhaps significant that face-
saving potlatches or property contests to wipe out
insults were rare in Yakutat (see pp. 643-644). One
informant, in fact, implied that boasting of one's
ancestry was really the sign of the parvenue, who could
easily be shamed when asked the crucial questions.
"If anybody talks about royalty, they ask, 'What's
your grandparent's name? Where they come from before
you?' And then you [are] ended and you know you were
wrong." The story of the braggart gambler who
boasted of his wealth seems to carry a similar moral
(seep. 894).
While the wealthy aristocrat was supposed not to be
arrogant or imperious or greedy, there is evidence
that this was sometimes the case. Thus the term
'ankw or 'Ankw was said by Harrington's informants
(MS. 1939-40) to mean "high class baby when you
want." Boas (1917, p. 159) translates it as "infant of
nobility." The usual meaning seems, however, to be
"a crybaby. Also anybody that is over-sensitive and
cries easily. . . . A small kid that wants everything,
e.g., as Raven did at Nass" when he cried for the stars
and moon and box of daylight. "They say a big man
feels like 'Ankw. Everything he wants, they give it to
him." In addition, Harrington was told that the
diminutive of 'anyAdi ('aanyAt?u or 'aanylthk?)
might mean high-class person, but that it was "a cuss
word [when said] to a common person." It may also
be said about such a person who "is acting like high-
caste people when he is not." The same term can also
be used as a compliment or "kind expression" when
applied to a "good person." No doubt the context or
tone of voice indicates in what spirit these two terms
are to be understood.
Besides "kindness," other virtues that were prized
and which must have been required of chiefs and then-
families were courage, industry, loyalty, honesty, and
fortitude. To win and retain respect, one had to emu-
late the deeds and behavior of one's ancestors, remem-
bering that one's own acts would be to the credit or
discredit of one's descendants. "That's why the people,
long time ago, they believed they don't want to dis-
grace their tun AX ktrgwAstix ['those who will emerge
from inside'?, i.e., descendants]. They got to be good
or else there will be a mark on their tunAx kugwAstix?
offspring. Their [your] offspring will be marked if you
do anything wrong. Will have no respect. That's why
you got to be brave and honest so [or] your tunAx
kugwAstix will be marked in the face. You have no
respect for them."
Morally wrong conduct disgraced not only the male-
factor but his whole lineage. Lying, stealing, sexual
relations between moiety or sib brother and sister, and
other lewd conduct were thought to be signs of witch-
craft. A person guilty of such serious offences might be
killed by his relatives, or banished, and his kinsmen
might then hold a potlatch to wipe out the disgrace to
his name and to their own. Or, a self-confessed witch,
if spared, might reform and live down his disgrace. To
judge by the cases known to us, he would not lose his
formal rank in his lineage. A person, however, who
continually violated native law was abandoned by his
kinsmen. "When a person's like that, they jump him
so much he's down to nothing. If he breaks it [a law],
like a killing, it costs his tribe's life. It leads to wars.
[They] have to be very careful, preach [to] one another
how to act. [He] might even become a slave. Those
people who become slaves like that, they don't labor?
just called 'slaves,' no good for anything. Sometimes
they call them 'witchcraft.' They have no respect for
him?kick him out of the way."
Almost more despised was the person who was lazy
and improvident. He was also called a slave and the
same epithet could be applied to his children. Thus,
one informant said of a man whose father had been
forced by economic distress to sell a sib heirloom,
"In the old days we'd call him a guxw" [slave]. This
person did indeed occupy an inferior position in the
community, doing odd jobs for others. In former times
an impoverished man might literally become a slave
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 469
if he had to appeal to someone other than a kinsman
for support. "When you're starving, and they give
you something to eat, they hold you slave, unless your
people pay for you." Laziness was one of the worst sins
in Tlingit eyes. "You see, when they pack food, they
have to pack enough for two winters. They believe it's
going to be two winters. Like now [end of March], they
think there's going to be another winter. If somebody is
lazy, just let him go, and somebody will make him a
slave."
Such a slave is called a 'dried-fish slave' ('At ?eci
yu guxw), because he had to sell himself for a piece
of dried fish to keep from starving. "That's [an] old
word. They never use it now, it's only in stories what
I hear: qunAx nel 'uwugut?-'to them he came inside'
. . . asking for food. And they never give him food
unless he says: 'i guxu xAt guxsAti?'your slave I will
be.' 'I'm going to be your slave if you give me some
food.'
"Those people, if they make good again, they pay
themselves back [redeem themselves]. But if they
don't pay themselves back they become a slave.
But they don't work like the others, you know. They
stay by themselves, and he [the "master"] just claim
them. But if he [the "slave"] is a good man, and the
tribe [his sib] likes him?maybe the food spoiled or
something, just that one time?all his tribe gets together
and pay for him, because whatever he does his tribe
gets blamed for. If he's a good man they do it, but if
he's always bumming around, then he becomes a slave
for good."
The famous Teqwedi shaman, Xatgawet, is said to
have acquired slaves in this way, because he always
had ample stores of food when others were starving.
"Sometimes they get free when then* family gets
money and they pay it back. Sometimes when they
have a big potlatch they are killed. Too bad, too bad."
We do not know, of course, whether such 'dried-fish
slaves' suffered all the disabilities of ordinary slaves,
nor how often poor persons may have sunk to such a
position, because normally anyone could claim food and
shelter in any house of his lineage or sib. We also wonder
whether poor dependents or their unwanted children
were ever enslaved by their own wealthy relatives and
perhaps sold to distant tribes.
Distinctions in rank have become blurred to a large
extent at Yakutat, due to a number of factors. The
extinction of old lines has permitted persons of undis-
tinguished ancestry to acquire honored names. The
shift from a subsistence economy based on hunting,
fishing, and gathering, with luxuries gained largely
through native trading ventures, to an economy in
which both subsistence and prestige items are procured
for cash derived almost entirely from commercial
fishing, meant a great change in the relative wealth
of different families, so that formerly poor people
were able to potlatch. At the same time, the breaking
up of the large households into single family units
and the disregard for old sib territorial claims destroyed
the power of the house chief and the sib chief. Still
later, the depletion of the salmon runs brought poverty
to almost everyone although the opening up of a few
skilled jobs has favored the high school trained young
person. What little wealth there is has often been in
the hands of those who care nothing at all about pot-
latching or the acquisition of distinction according to
the old system. Even before this, the mission was
preaching against the intermarriage of close relatives
which served to keep noble family lines uncontami-
nated. "The real high-class people are dying off,"
lamented one woman. "Only a few of us 'anyAdi are
left. In my line there were no slaves." There are now
too few persons of unblemished ancestry to matter.
"We so few living now, that we can't go by that."
As a corollary, "No one mentions who's common, but
when we get mad we mention the people who are low
class."
As the old system of rank has been undermined,
the basis for self-respect and honorable conduct has
also suffered. "That's how we lost our pride. When
the U.S. bought Alaska, they taught the native people
to live common. That's the only mistake they made.
But when we lived common, we lost our pride. We're
just like people without a country."
Slaves
Wealthy famines at Yakutat formerly owned slaves
(guxw). Most of these were foreigners obtained in trade
from the south, especially "Flatheads" (T'oyat), who
came from Victoria, the "West Coast" of Vancouver
Island, or Washington, and who were presumably
Nootka, Kwakiutl, Salish, or even Chinook. There were
also Haida and Tsimshian slaves, and even some south-
ern Tlingit, we believe. A few slaves were of local origin.
For example, Chief Minaman of Shark House on
Khanbaak Island had a L'u^edi woman (L'u$edica) as
a slave, a descendent of the original inhabitants of the
Situk, p. 472). Despite semilegendary accounts that rich
men such as Xatgawet or great chiefs like Yaxodaqet
had "many slaves," the slave population of Yakutat
was probably small; in the mid-19th century a man who
owned five slaves was considered very wealthy. Accord-
ing to some informants (MJ and KDI), a particular
Tl'uknaxAdi man is of the noblest birth because when
470 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
his father's father fell dead in Chilkat of a heart attack,
15 slaves were freed at his funeral. Chief Shakes, the
famous Nanya'ayi chief of Wrangell, who actually had
had about 30 or 40 slaves, was pictured by one Yakutat
informant as possessing 10 or 15, which is perhaps the
picture of extreme affuence.
In 1861, Lieutenant Wehrman of the Russian Navy
made a census of the Tlingit population for the Russian-
American Company in which he reported 49 slaves out
of a total population of 380 persons at Yakutat (Petroff,
1884, p. 38). There is no reason to trust these figures,
since others in the census seem inaccurate, and the
Russians were probably too timid to make careful
investigations at Yakutat. The last slaves at Yakutat
were freed about 1900.
With the possible exceptions of 'dried-fish slaves,' the
slaves of the Tlingit were originally captives taken in
war, or the children of captives. "That's why, olden
time, they wants family, big family, you know. Then
they can stand against war. Then they [the enemy]
don't have slave out of that people." The capture of
slaves was an acknowledged motive for war. Thus, the
wives of the Tl'uknaxAdi men who went to raid the
Tlaxayik-Teqwedi at Eagle Fort on the Situk urged
their husbands to bring back not only Yakutat baskets,
but boys, 5 to 6 years old, as slaves (see p. 262). Some-
times captives were taken for ransom, but would pre-
sumably be used as slaves if not redeemed by their
relatives. Such would have been the fate of the sister
of the Kwackqwan chief of Knight Island who was cap-
tured by the Tl'uknaxAdi, if a friend (trade partner?),
the nephew of the Dry Bay chief, had not helped her
to escape (p. 246). Similarly, long ago a war party from
the southern Tlingit community of Klawak, or from
farther south, captured a Tl'uknaxAdi woman of
Hoonah. "They go around to get slaves?catch them
like prisoners." The woman, 'Big Raven's Mother'
(Yel-tlen-tla), offered her captors a copper belonging to
her son in return for her freedom. Apparently she was
not successful, for some Juneau people ('Al?wqwan))
sib not specified, claim to have bought and kept her.
Only recently a Tl'uknaxAdi man gave a lot of money
to the 'Akwqwan "to shut their mouths" and wipe out
the shame.
Even though a slave might escape or be given his
freedom, the stigma of slavery still clung to him, and
his sib relatives and descendants shared the disgrace
unless their good name were restored by a potlatch, as
was evidently done in the case of the Hoonah woman.
When the Kwac]?qwan chief's sister escaped to Knight
Island, her brother evidently gave a potlatch, for he is
said to have been so glad to see her that he had slaves
wash her and clean her hair, and then set them free.
This was commonly done at potlatches for the slaves
who had dressed the host and his relatives. "Very few
people can sacrifice slaves. They free them when they
dress the prince, and send them to their own people."
Slaves had no ordinary status in Tlingit society and
no rights as human beings. They were property that
could be bought and sold, or disposed of as the owner
wished. A slave, like a sea otter pelt, seems almost to
have served as a standard measure of value in reckoning
the worth of a canoe or a copper. In counting slaves,
one could use either the form of the numeral applicabJe
to persons or that used for objects (Boas, 1917, p. 93
and note). Traffic in slaves was carried on at Yakutat
as early as historical records are available. Thus,
Ismailov and Bocharov in 1788 bought at Yakutat a
Koniag and a Sitkan slave, both boys about 12 years
old; Purtov and Kulikalov in 1794 learned that the
Yakutat Indians had sold some Chugach captives to
Tlingit in southeastern Alaska (pp. 134, 164).
Ordinary notions of sex morality and legitimacy of
children did not apply to slaves. This was made clear
by an informant who explained that in the old days an
unwed mother and her baby would be killed by her
uncles and brothers because of the disgrace she had
brought upon them, adding?"Except slaves. They
could have babies two or three times a day! Their
owner would be proud of it. The slaves can meet when
they go [out] to get grub. They come from outside, so
they aren't Wolf or Eagle [and Raven]." This last is
not strictly true, as the informant herself recognized
on another occasion (see p. 473), but the implication
is that the possible moiety affiliations of slaves did not
matter.
We do not know whether slaves were abused or how
they may have been punished for disobedience. How-
ever, even the son of the owner had rights over his
father's slave. "In Tlingit, it's that way: your father's
slave, you can do anything to him. You're the boss.
If you want to kill it, you can kill it, because it's your
father's slave." This statement was made to explain
why insulting contemptuous behavior toward someone
is said to be treating him like one's father's slave
(see p. 283).
Slaves might be killed at a potlatch. To be able to
sacrifice a slave was once considered the mark of a
wealthy man, a "good" man. One of my informants
spoke about the legendary potlatch given by the
Kagwantan at Grouse Fort (KAX nuwu), on Icy
Strait in Hoonah Territory, when hundreds of slaves
are said to have been sacrificed to dedicate Wolf
House (Swanton, 1909, Tale 104, pp. 343 ff.). Their
bodies were thrown into a ravine (?agAkw), which
thereby received the name 'Slaves' Valley' (Guxw
?agAkwu; Swanton, 1909, p. 343, Gux-q!agA'k!a).
Many of the slaves were pregnant women, and there-
fore very valuable. "They would hit them once and
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 471
throw them down half dead. . . . and they would call
to each other. It sounds funny. . . . They just kill
those slaves when the Kagwantan have a party. That's
why, you know, the Kagwantan and Tl'uknaxAdi are
good people. They had lots of slaves. And that Teqwedi
that had a lot of slaves is good, too." "Some big man
die, that's why they kill all those guxw that time."
While some evidently take pride in such stories
about the magnificent potlatches given by their fore-
bears, we gather from the account of an actual slave
sacrifice that real horror was felt by those present, and
that most people at Yakutat today are equally shocked.
Thus, one informant (MJ) related how her mother used
to accuse her father (the informant's grandfather) of
cruelty because when she was a little girl she had seen
him order a slave killed at a potlatch. This was probably
about 1855 when the Teqwedi Shark House (or Bear
Paw House) was dedicated at Diyaguna'Et on Lost
River (see p. 317). On this occasion, those of the host
sib who could afford it "gave" slaves, and the grand-
father who owned five slaves "gave" the little one. This
was the baby daughter of his slave woman, Qulsfn.
Ever after that, when he was "preaching kindness" to
his daughter, she used to retort: "Oh, you make me
sick, Daddy! One tune I see you appoint somebody to
take that little guxwkw [baby slave] out of its mother's
hand, and order to kill it. And they put a pole across its
neck and smother it. That's the most cruel [thing] you
can do. And you expect me to be kind to people!"
These accusations which she heard as a child evidently
made a strong impression on her, for she repeated the
story on at least four different occasions (1949, July 30,
1952, September 14, 1952, and April 7, 1954. One of
these versions is quoted on p. 513). In still another ver-
sion, her mother told her father: "I'll never forgive
you. I'll never forget that." It was the nakani (brothers-
in-law of the host sib) who took the slave baby outside
and strangled it. Then the gunEtkAnavi got the body,
because it passed to them when it went from the
master's hands, our informant speculated. Although she
usually said that her grandfather was too abashed to
answer her mother, and perhaps this was most often
this case, on one occasion he was evidently able to ex-
plain, for she reported: " ' I don't like to do that, but
I have to do it. My people before me did like that, so I
had to do it.' He was doing it to raise himself. So my
mother couldn't answer him." Apparently he had been
competing with other Teqwedi. "They try to beat one
another, you know, Teqwedi tribe."
Perhaps we would have heard more stories of this
sort if the people were now not so distressed at the
thought of slavery in the old days. Evidently they pre-
fer to forget those aspects of the past, and I know that
some made a conscious effort to suppress references to
such customs and warned others not to tell about wars
and slave sacrifice. However, it was obvious that some
others were not so concerned, witness the account of
the Kagwantan potlatch given above. Taking into
account reticences as well as what was reported, it is
my impression that slave sacrifice was not very common
at Yakutat, and may even have been introduced and
practiced only by lineages from southeastern Alaska.
Certainly there were many mentions of liberating slaves
at potlatches, as if this were common, but the specific
occasions mentioned were relatively recent (pp. 472-
473).
We may also conclude from the story just summarized
that kindness to slaves was a virtue. Like kindness to
animals, such behavior towards a slave might be super -
naturally rewarded. Thus, the Ti'trknaxAdi youth,
Lkettitc, who became wealthy and married a chief's
daughter, owed his good fortune to the magical teach-
ings of the slave whom he had befriended (see pp. 243
and 244).
I was given little specific information about the
duties of slaves, probably because there were no such
special tasks. There is, furthermore, no indication that
they worked much harder than freemen. Certain tiny
green burs were called 'slaves' louse nests [snarls?]'
(guxw cA&isi), because: "Slaves can't brush their hair
[they don't have tune], so it's full of louse nests, all
tangled up." It may be significant that these same burs
are also called "berry-pickers' louse nests" and to come
indoors with them in one's hair suggests that one has
been having intercourse in the grass. In the story of
the man who married Fair Weather's daughter, there
is a male slave who chopped wood and wept for fear of
his master's anger(?) when he broke the stone adze. At
night he was supposed to fetch water and to take away
the ladder that led to the sleeping place of his master's
daughter (see p. 883). But this myth sheds little light
on the details of a slave's actual life. Nor is the following
statement more illuminating: "You know slaves always
stay by them, work for them, just like a maid, you
know. That's the way at is, they do all kinds of things
for them." Other brief mentions of slaves include such
items as the statement that the stream connecting Aka
and Summit-, Lakes was a canal dug by slaves (see p.
75), or that when Chief Yaxodaqet, who had risen
early to judge the weather, believed it would rain, he
would call to his slave, Gicwexc, to put things in a dry
place.
Aside from the inherent inferiority of slavery itself,
and the uncertainty of life when the master gave a
potlatch, one gathers that the Me of the slave at
Yakutat was not very different from that of the com-
moner or poor relative. Malaspina, however, paints a
more gloomy picture, at least for the female slaves
472 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
(see pp. 145, 475). Like dependent relatives, slaves had
the less desirable sleeping rooms at the front corners
of the house, and were probably included among the
lower-class workers who 'lived inside the door' (p.
297). Although bringing in water seems to have been
a nightly chore of slaves, it was not exclusively theirs.
In fact, the really arduous and disagreeable work, such
as the daily cutting of firewood, was undertaken by
young men in training, by young nephews as a duty
to their uncle, or by young husbands as the traditional
bride service to their fathers-in-law. Nor were slaves
obliged to be the first to rise in the morning and light
the fire. According to one informant, it was her grand-
father, the owner or former owner of five slaves, who
was the early riser. Slaves ate their meals at the same
times as the other members of the household. We are
given no hint that their food was scanty or inferior to
that of the others, although doubtless they had little
chance to sample the delicacies served at feasts, and
were the first to go hungry in time of scarcity. On the
other hand, eating sparingly, abstaining from certain
foods, or fasting were enjoined upon those who hoped
to rise in the world or who had a position to maintain:
the free children, young people, hunters, shamans, and
persons undertaking supernaturally uncertain enter-
prises.
We are, in fact, given the impression that slaves
were occupied with much the same tasks as their
masters. They gathered and preserved their own food,
but how great a contribution they made to the domestic
economy of their owners is uncertain. Because of the
magicoreligious value placed upon abstinence, hardi-
hood, and the performance of arduous tasks "before
the Raven calls at dawn," it is doubtful if slaves
could have relieved their masters of the most difficult
features of life, unless the ascetic ideal was exaggerated
in the pictures sketched by our informants. I do not
know if slaves ever accompanied their masters on
hunting expeditions; at least there is no mention of
this and, in any case, hunting was almost an enjoyable
occupation. Female slaves undoubtedly helped to pre-
pare food and care for small children, but informants
gave no indication that these occupations were consid-
ered tiresome. Rather, one has the impression that
what we would consider "work" was for the Yakutat life
itself?interesting, valuable, something in which one
could take pride of accomplishment, as one could in
the obviously aesthetic products of handicrafts. In-
dustry was itself virtuous. The possession of slaves
alone, rather than their services, may have been what
mattered.
I heard only reference to a "poor little rich girl," who
had always been so waited on by slaves that she did not
know how to perform ordinary housewifely duties. This
was Dagunfti-tla, the Gafyi.x-Kagwantan grand-
daughter of the famous Xatgawet. Her father, Ctatt'ew,
told her when he was dying: " 'I don't want you to
marry Tlingit after you grow to be a lady. I want you
to marry White man. Because if you marry Tlingit,
he's going to make you do this and that, and all the
things you don't know.' She don't know how to wash
and sew and hold a needle or anything. They had
slaves to do it. She's got such a tiny little hand?I see
her. And tiny little feet. She never used to walk much
or do anything?-just sit down." She married the
White man, John Bremner, a pioneer on the Copper
Eiver. His diary of the winter of 1884-1885 on the
Copper River (in Seton-Karr, 1887, pp. 220-221),
makes no mention of a wife, nor does the report of Lieu-
tenant Allen who met him at Taral in the spring of
1885 (Allen, 1887, p. 48). Bremner accompanied Allen
to the middle Yukon valley, where, I was told, he was
later killed by the Indians. The wife came to Yakutat
and evidently lived until at least 1904 or 1905, for my
informant who saw her was born in 1900.
In some families, perhaps in most, slaves were
treated like members of the family. "My aunty's
husband [father's "sister's" husband], Daqusetc [Chief
Minaman of the Teqwedi Shark House], got one of the
Situk L'uiedi for a slave. Daqusetc come from Diaya-
guna'Et [on Lost River]; he lived on Khantaak. We
called the slave, 'aunty,'?'ax 'at [father's sister]. She
went hunting, digging roots, putting up grub. We
[children] go for her stuff. She got stuff in a box for us.
Charley [my brother] used to 'fight' my mother, put his
arms around her neck and say, 'I'm strong. I'm going
to choke you. I can lift my aunty's box! . . .' I don't
know how Daqusetc got her. We really believe she was
my aunty on my father's side. She was L'uledica.
Her name was 'Anisne. She was a little bit of a woman,
fat. She would hug me and pack me on her back.
She was an awfully kind woman. We always run to
her when she come to town." Our informant doubted
that she had children of her own. "They let her go free
and she went away. After my aunty's husband died in
Sitka, that's when she went free." (MJ) He died in
1890, according to his tombstone at Yakutat.
Other slaves belonging to Chief Minaman were freed
at the potlatch for him, and one of these was a slave
woman, "from the west coast," named Qulsin. (Was
this the same woman as the one whose baby was killed
at the potlatch at Diyaguna'Et??see p. 471.) Chief
Minaman's slave had been previously owned by his
wife's brother, a cousin of our informant's mother.
Chief Minaman's wife had given so much to her brother
that the latter gave the slave to her husband. Qulsin
already had two sons, WAkac and Yelqakw or YelkA?-'ic.
The woman was pregnant when given to Chief
Minaman. The child, Teqwetk ('Little Teqwedi'?), was
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 473
born at the time of the potlatch for Shark House,
presumably that built by Chief Minaman on Khantaak
Island (p. 319). When her owner died, Qulsin and her
children were freed. "At the potlatch the slaves go
free. They announce it and holler it outside. Then the
Teqwedi take them over as a family. Generally they
kill them when they are giving a potlatch, so as to get a
great name. . . . After they get free, then they take
them in their own tribe." (MJ) That is, the freed
slaves are adopted as sibmates by their former owners.
The same man who had given Qulsin to his brother-
in-law was the informant's maternal "uncle." "He had
a lot of slaves. He died and that old Garyi?-Kagwantan
woman [his widow] didn't want to bother with them.
When Charley [my brother] built his house [Boulder
House, at the Old Village, about 1901], she freed one
for me, so people wouldn't laugh at me. I was crippled."
My informant had a curvature of the spine (healed
tuberculosis ?). One of the freed women subsequently
had many children and grandchildren, and the latter
called the informant "grandma." "The other slaves
were adopted as Galyix-Kagwantan when they got
civilized." The curious feature of this potlatch is
that it was given by the Tl'uknaxAdi, the sib of the
widow's husband and of the girl she honored, so that
in effect she was taking her dead husband's place when
she freed a slave for her niece (see p. 641). A Galyix-
Kagwantan informant confirmed the adoption of a
Flathead slave girl. The oldest of her daughters or
grandaughters still writes to this informant and they
call each other "sister."
This same woman reports that her parents owned a
Haida slave man and his wife. "When my mother
[born 1871] was little, they used to have a man that
works for them. And after the big war came they
adopted him, and he was her brother. Later on, the
same day[?], they received word from Haidaberg. They
want him down there because he's a big shot down
there?'anyAdi. And they want him back, and they're
going to give so much property to my mother and her
parents. My grandfather's already died. [He died in
1887.] And they sent him [the adopted slave] down
there. He went on a canoe. I guess he went with some-
body. He went to Douglas and he fell in love down
there with somebody. He was so excited he got
pneumonia and died in 2 days. They buried him on
that small little island in front of Douglas [Juneau
Isle]. And my mother never forget the property they
supposed to send from Haidaberg. He never reach
there. But they still have to pay. . . . Of course he
was/ree?he was the brother of my mother. . . . [But
they had to] clear his name up.
"He's got a wife, too. And his wife is just like a man.
And I think my grandmother sent that woman to her
brother . . . on Kayak Island." The subsequent his-
tory of the woman is not known.
Another informant mentioned a potlatch given by
the Kagwantan in Sitka, about 1904(?), when the
Kagwantan adopted the U.S. Navy as brothers. (The
original adoption was probably earlier.) On this occasion
four women slaves were freed. My informant assumed
that the freed slaves returned to their own people.
When asked if they had been adopted by their former
owners, or if she had ever heard of adopting a slave,
she said, "No. That's the cheapest people, I guess?
slaves."
Another woman said: "There were slaves here [in
Yakutat], but they all died single. None of the boys
married. They were fine-looking and the girls were
crazy for them. Lots of people here adopted the slaves
as brothers."
The former slave still remained in a lowly status and
found it almost impossible to marry someone of free
birth. That this did sometimes occur, however, is sug-
gested by malicious gossip that may accuse a neighbor
of blemished origin.
The most curious story concerning a slave is about
Gucdutin, 'Visible Fin,' referring to the dorsal fin or
'thumb' (guc) of the Killerwhale. He was one of the
slaves belonging to the Teqwedi grandfather of an
informant. There were apparently five slaves at Khan-
taak or Diyaguna'Bt who stole a canoe to escape. They
had come from Victoria or the "West Coast." When
they got into the canoe, they asked each other, "Where
shall we steer for?" A little slave women said, "Let's
steer for SAWAC [Siwash?]." And Gucdutin said, "Let's
go to Victoria." The escape must have been planned
for a long time. Before he left, Gucdutin had composed
a song, which he left with his master and his master's
people, the Teqwedi. The song (1954, 5-2-A and 5-2-B)
is the same as that recorded by Swanton in 1904 and
ascribed to a Nanya'ayi man (a southern Tlingit of the
Wolf-Eagle moiety; Swanton, 1909, p. 406, No. 68).
The words are: "Poor Gucdutin will die before he
reaches Victoria. It is not Raven's town for which I
weep, but the town of my grandfathers" p. 1360. The
song is now sung by the Teqwedi. Before he left, the
slave also painted his face with a red spot on both cheeks.
The design is associated with the Children of the Sun.
These are powerful supernaturals who have been the
familiars of a certain line of Teqwedi shamans. This
shamanistic connection is evidently one that antedates
the escape of Gucdutin, since Xatgawet is said to have
been the shaman who first obtained the Sun's Children
as his spirits (see "Shamanism," pp. 710-711). How-
ever, our informant specified that the Teqwedi acquired
474 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
the right to use the face paint pattern because the
slave had gone away without being redeemed.80
In first telling the story of Gucdutin, my informant
was afraid that he never did reach home, but probably
got only as far as Dry Bay or Lituya Bay. The other
slaves with him were recaptured, but he was a strong
man and probably fought free. Later, when Swanton's
text of the song was read to her, she accepted this as
proof that the slave did reach the south.
The most curious feature of the whole story is the
statement that "Gucdutin was kind of adopted as
Teqwedi because they were dying off." As my informant
correctly observed, his name means that he must
already have been a member of some lineage or sib
that used the Killerwhale as a crest. The Killerwhale is
a crest, not only of the Teqwedi and of a number of
other Tlingit sibs in the Wolf-Eagle moiety, but is one
found among the Tsimshian, Haida, Kwakiutl, and
Nootka.
It is impossible to determine the accuracy of this
story, for the events reportedly occurred before my
informant was born and she learned of them only as a
child. Conceivably she has confused her grandfather's
slave with another person of the same name, the song
composer. But the question of historical accuracy does
not detract from the significance of the story, which
indicates that it was possible for the captor or slave-
owner to take over for himself and his lineage or sib
the ceremonial prerogatives (song, face painting, pos-
sibly other rights), originally owned by his captive or
slave.81 Transfer in this case may have been easier
because master and slave already shared the same
Killerwhale crest. It should be noted that the Children
of the Sun came to Yakutat shamans from Tsimshian
country, and that Gucdutin also came from the south,
so he may have known something about them. Perhaps
a master's use or acquisition of intangible prerogatives
was equivalent to holding them for ransom, as one
might a slave. In this case, the Teqwedi are said to
have taken these rights because they received nothing
for the loss of the slave himself. We should note that
one Tlingit sib may use the prerogatives of another if
the latter fails to pay a debt.82
80
 Swanton (1908, pi. LVI, a) illustrates a face painting repre-
senting the Sun, used by KiksAdi men at Wrangell. The design
includes orange or golden spots on the cheeks. The Sun spirit is
one belonging to KiksAdi shamans (ibid., p. 466). Since the
woman who married the Sun was, according to Yakutat infor-
mants, CAnkuqedi or Teqwedi, it is logical that Sun symbolism
and prerogatives should belong to the Raven moiety, and those
of the Sun's Children to the Eagle-Wolf moiety. For Yakutat
versions of the myth, see pp. 873-875.
81
 Such designs could be acquired by killing the owner (Swan-
ton, 1908, pi. LV, h). A carved cane, used as a crest object, was
acquired in war from the Tsimshian (ibid., p. 417).
82
 Swanton (1908, p. 435) refers to the use of sib personal names
in such a case.
Since Tlingit slaves came largely from the south, it is
possible that the slave trade, as well as intermarriage
with southerners, was one mechanism by which the
northern Tlingit and the Yakutat people acquired or
learned southern ceremonial usages. In addition, the
affectionate relationships which seem to have been
usual between slaves and then- master's children would
have established excellent conditions for cultural
transmission to the latter.
Chiefs and Slaves in the 18th Century
Native traditions and the reports of early travelers
give many details of the behavior of chiefs and impor-
tant people among the Yakutat natives, even though
the Europeans often failed to understand the nature
or limits of the chiefs' powers. There is little said about
slaves, however. It is probably very significant that
none of the visitors to Yakutat in the late 19th century,
not even the missionary Albin Johnson, seem to have
been aware that there were slaves in the community.
This would confirm our impression gained from the
statements of informants that, when sacrifice was
abandoned, there was little to distinguish the slave
from the poor relation.
As usual, it is Malaspina who has given us the most
detailed descriptions of class differences at Yakutat.
His statements about the chief, "Ankau," and about
slaves are worth quoting.
THE CHIEF AND HIS FAMILY, YAKTTTAT, 1791
Malaspina (1885, p. 346) had observed that the
authority of the "Ankau" in time of peace, in daily
gatherings and trading, was not equal to the power he
displayed on two occasions of military significance.
"We had not yet cast anchor in port, and the two
war canoes came out to meet us with the greater part
of the able-bodied men of the tribe, the Ankau, in a
covered canoe [kayak], directed all their movements in
a decided tone of voice. And, having posted one of his
sons in each canoe, on board the Atrevida, whither he
had come, his orders were carried out. In the same way,
at the time the suspicious canoes came from the east
on the morning of July first, he immediately requested
our aid, carefully examined their intentions, and did
not omit among his people any precaution dictated by
the apprehended danger of an attack. But in his do-
mestic life it was not easy to observe any distinction
proportionate to those seen on military occasions. His
family worked like the rest for their subsistence and
welfare; not a few times the Ankau paddled alone in a
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 475
little canoe; in trading no least suggestion of a monop-
oly was noticeable, although greed surely prompted
him to attempt as many tricks as possible; bis orders
against theft were not obeyed. [In a footnote, the author
adds: "We had many suspicions, not unfounded, that
the same Ankau fomented the disorders; but certainly
his conduct was always very circumspect, consistent,
and capable of deceiving anyone."] And in the prelude
to our troubles of the third and fifth [of July], neither
his presence, nor his shouts, were sufficient to restrain
the more audacious. Only his counsels on the first
occasion and his [own] danger on the second were
sufficiently strong checks to restrain them from their
intended hostilities. Finally, in his person and dress,
no distinction was observed other than his using the
fur of a little "fox" [zorillo, probably marten], while
the others wore either that of the otter [nutria], sea
wolf [fur seal], or bear.
"This last distinction was an object of dispute
among us for some time, but the issue finally seemed
to be settled by the question of the Ankau as to whether
Don Juan Vernaci was my brother because he saw him
wearing a greatcoat furred with guanaco pelts, similar
to the one I wore myself."
SLAVES, YAKTJTAT, 1791
On the very first day in Port Mulgrave, Malaspina
(1885, p. 347) and his men had been offered women,
but had refused what they feared would have been
dangerous hospitality. They were curious as to the
origin of this custom, for while it was clear that Captain
Dixon's crew had used the women on their visit of
1786, the Spaniards doubted that a single visit would
have been sufficient to establish a custom. Finally, it
became evident that the offered women were slaves.
"The women offered were not more than three or
four in number; they were together, and had all the
appearance of oppression and ill-treatment; and
nearly all the tribe were equally interested in offer-
ing them and in furnishing then- use frankly and
without the least decency. This immediately made
us suspect that they might be slaves from another
tribe. This suspicion was later confirmed not only
by the actual presence among them of a male
slave. . . . [Footnote: "The Ankau himself showed
me this prisoner, indicating to me that he was of the
same tribe whose canoes had approached on the
first [of July] with hostile intentions." More prob-
ably, they had been procured from these visi-
tors] . . . as well as by the fact that these offers
were not renewed in the different settlements we
afterwards visited, particularly in the fairly large
one at the entrance to Disenchantment Bay [of
which the Ankau's son was the chief]. Those that
were offered to us by the inhabitants of the slopes
of Mount St. Elias [at Cape Yakataga] were doubt-
less also slaves, and probably it would be easy to
find them among all these coastal tribes, as the
fruit of destructive invasions which would multiply
with this new incentive."
KINSHIP
The Basic Terms
The Tlingit kinship system which prevails at Yakutat
is of the type called "Crow," or "avuncu-Crow"
(Murdock, 1949, p. 247). The formal patterning of kin
terms not only reflects the organization of the society
into matrilineal moieties and sibs, but the ways in
which these terms are actually manipulated cannot be
understood unless the sib organization is kept in mind.
The basic kin terms, are fairly simple. It is their
application which is complicated, since they are widely
extended and intricately applied to strengthen the
bonds of relationship. (See also Durlach, 1928.)
slni
'at
tla
tlaK."
kak
htjnx
CAtx
tlak
kik
yit
si
'ic
grandparent
father
kelt
father's brother
father's sister
mother
mother's sister
mother's brother
older brother (man speaking)
older sister (woman speaking)
brother (woman speaking)
sister (man speaking)
younger sibling (same sex as
speaker)
son
daughter
child
sister's child (man speaking)
brother's child (woman speaking)
476 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
tcxAnli, datcxXn!: grandchild
xox (or xux)
CAt
wu
tcan
kani
husband
wife
father-in-law
mother-in-law
sibling-in-law( same sex as
speaker)
Kinship terms are used in reference and in direct
address, except in cases where avoidance rules prohibit
direct intercourse between certain relatives. Persons of
the same generation and age are apt to use personal
names when speaking to each other. Older relatives may
address juniors by name, or may combine the name with
the kin term. In use, kin terms are preceded by a
possessive pronoun: my ('ax), your (singular?'i), his,
her (du), our (ha), your (plural?yi), their (duhAs),
or someone's (qa). This usage is so automatic that even
when speaking English interspersed with native words,
many informants would say, "John'sdu kak"?'John's
maternal uncle' or "a girl's du 'at"?'a girl's paternal
aunt.' The only exception is when the kin term follows
the personal name in direct address, as in Ceq jitlt?
'Ceq, little son,' or when kin terms are compounded.
For example, one might say either du kak si, or du kak
du si when referring to 'his maternal uncle's daughter.'
The terms for husband (xox) and for wife (cAt) are
very often so compounded, as in such expressions as
"my daughter-in-law" ('ax yit CAt), literally 'my son's
wife.' A woman would, however, refer to her younger
sister's husband as 'ax kik du xox. The term for father
('ic) and for mother (tla) are also suffixed to personal
names to produce teknonymous appellations, as for
example, Ceq-'ic or 'Father of Ceq,' and Ceq-tla or
'Mother of Ceq.' Since such names may be given to
babies they obviously do not mean the same thing as
Ceq du 'ic, which could only be used to designate the
actual father of Ceq. Kin terms do not take the ordinary
ending denoting possession, but remain uninflected.
The only exception is yAt?'child' which becomes Jax
yAdi?'my child/ or 'ax yAtxi?'my children.' However,
this is not, strictly speaking, a kin term, since it means
'baby,' and can be used for the offspring of any animal,
such as xuts yAdi for 'bear cub,' or may even designate
a small variety of some natural species.
Kelationship terms are widely extended in use, often
to cover all the sibmates of the individual to whom the
term most closely applies. All parallel cousins are, of
course, classed as siblings. Individuals who bear the
same name are treated as if they were the same person,
so that the kin terms that might be applicable to one
man and his family would be used for his namesake
and the latter's family. This would be natural in cases
where the second bearer of the name is believed to be
the reincarnation of the first, but the usage also extends
to living contemporaries who may belong to different
sibs and who are not known to be related in any way.
Very often a given individual might be addressed by
several different terms, but in such a case the term
implying the closest consanguine relationship to the
speaker is chosen unless there is bad feeling between
them.
Grandparents and Grandchildren
The relationship between grandparents and grand-
children is warm and affectionate. The reciprocal
terms 'ax lflkw?'my grandparent' and 'ax datcxAnk?
'my grandchild,' both of which appear to be affectionate
diminutives, are filled with emotion. Children tra-
ditionally, and often actually, love their grandparents
more than then* own parents, and there is no dearer
relative that the child of a son or daughter. Grand-
parents are notoriously indulgent, and the story of
how Raven stole the Daylight (pp. 853-855) not only
illustrates but explains their behavior. Thus, Raven,
who had contrived to be born to the daughter of the
chief who owned the Daylight, had only to cry to be
given the stars and moon. Finally he cried for the box
of daylight. "It's the last thing this grandfather got.
That's why up to this day a person thinks more of their
grandchildren than of their own child?because Raven
taught them how. That man gave his precious stuff
to please his grandchild." (MJ) The same love, of
course, unites greatgrandparents and greatgrand-
children, who call each other 'grandparent' and 'grand-
child.'
In the second and third ascending generations all
consanguine relatives are 'grandparents.' The term
includes not only the paternal and maternal grand-
father and grandmother, but their siblings and par-
allel cousins, and the term for 'grandchild' is extended
in a similar way. If necessary, one can designate a
specific individual more accurately, as 'my father's
father's older brother' ('ax 'ic du 'ic du hunx), or
'my daughter's son' ('ax si du yit).
The most important "grandfathers" are the father's
father and the mother's mother's brother. The latter is,
of course, the senior male member of one's own maternal
line. Because preferred marriages continually link to-
gether two lineages in opposite moieties, the father's
father may actually be a mother's mother's brother, or
belong to the same lineage or sib and so be considered
the latter's "brother." In any case, these two men are
members of one's own moiety.
Because the Tlingit extend kin terms as far as possi-
ble, all the men and women of the paternal grand-
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 477
father's sib, if different from the sib of the speaker, will
be addressed as 'grandparent,' unless some other rela-
tionship makes another term more appropriate. On
ceremonial occasions the paternal grandfather's sib is
addressed or designated as 'my grandparents' ('ax
Mil" hAs), the collective form (hAs) implying all the
dead as well as all the living members. When the father's
father and his sibmates are hosts at a potlatch they
may confer honorable names upon their "grandchildren"
by calling them out before the guests and making
special gifts to the opposite moiety as the names are
announced. This honor may be conferred by any man
or woman of the paternal grandfather's sib. In this way,
for example, many Tl'uknaxAdi individuals at Yakutat,
whose paternal grandfathers were Kwacliqwan, have
received "big names" when the Kwacl:qwan gave pot-
latches. This ceremonial bond between 'grandparents'
and 'grandchildren' not only reflects the actual love
of the father's father for his son's child, but the special
feelings of the father for his own son which can only be
expressed in this indirect fashion because they belong
to opposite moieties. This affectionate concern is sup-
posed to be felt toward all persons whose father's
fathers belong to one's own sib, no matter what the
respective ages. Thus, the Kagwantan hero, hurrying
to attack the CiAtqwan, encountered an old man whose
grandfather was Kagwantan, and the hero addressed
him as 'grandchild.' "That man is grandson of Kag-
wantan. No matter how old [or young] you are, you call
them 'grandson.' " (See p. 283.)
It should not be overlooked that the Tlingit also refer
to ancestors in their own sib as grandparents, so that
only the context of the speech or song will indicate
whether the expression refers to the forebears of one's
own sib or to the members of the paternal father's sib.
Often, the father's father and the maternal great-uncle,
though belonging to different sibs, are equated, so that
no distinction between their lines is implied. However,
when the lonely slave sings: "It is not Raven's town for
which I weep, but the town of my grandfathers," this
can only mean the town of his own sib ancestors. In
this case, he might have referred to the home of his
maternal uncles and meant exactly the same.
The mother's father and the father's mother belong,
of course, to the opposite moiety from their grandchild,
and therefore have quite different ceremonial functions
toward him. The paternal grandmother may be the
actual sister of the mother's father, or be his sib or
lineage "sister." If their sibs are different, I believe
that all members of the maternal grandather's sib may
be addressed and referred to as 'grandparent.' Certainly
this is true of the close relatives of the maternal grand-
father. Thus, "Chief John is my grandfather on my
mother's side?my mother's father's nephew. So I
call him 'grandfather.' " However, the father's mother
belongs, of course, to the father's sib and most of the
members of that sib will be treated as the siblings of
the father. Nevertheless, the term 'grandparent' will
probably be used in addressing all members of the
father's sib and of the mother's father's sib who are
contemporaries in age or generation with the actual
grandparents?provided that there is no other relation-
ship to the speaker which would make a different Mn
term more appropriate.
From this it can easily be seen that practically all the
old people in a community can be addressed as 'grand-
parent' by the young. The term is, in fact, employed
as a gesture of courtesy and affection to any old person,
regardless of real or fictitious relationship. So old
Frank Italio was delighted when we greeted him in
Tlingit as 'grandparent,' and said that when a man
became as old as he was everybody called him that.
Since there are also other kin terms available for use
in addressing 'grandparents,' which ones are actually
employed will depend upon personal preference or sense
of propriety. Chief John, although only the maternal
grandmother's nephew, was called "grandfather,"
because he had succeeded to his uncle's position, and
was therefore like a grandfather to our informant.
When Charley White was recording the spirit song of
his father's brother, the shaman Tek-'ic, he referred to
the latter in the introduction as 'my paternal uncle,
my father's older brother' ('ax sAni, 'ax 'ic du hunx).
In the concluding remarks, however, he stated that he
had sung the words of 'my grandfather's spirit' ('ax
hl1kw du yegi), referring to the dead shaman as a
grandfather because he belonged to his mother's
father's sib and had inherited his powers from a long
line of predecessors in that sib (1954, 1-1-C; p. 1281).
Another more complicated situation involves a now
elderly man and elderly woman, between whom long
long ago their parents had planned a marriage which
did not take place. Although both have since been
married several times, some feeling of strain still exists.
The man could address her as 'paternal aunt' (because
she belongs to his father's sib, see p. 482), but this is
a term which also includes the father's sister's daughter,
a woman most eligible for a wife. Instead, he equates
her with his father's mother (who was also her own
mother's mother), for whom she was named, and so
calls her "grandmother." This mode of address, al-
though she is only 2 years his senior, serves delicately
to place her in a category of relatives from which neither
wife nor mistress is chosen.
478 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Parents and Children, Father's Brother and
Mother's Sister
In the first ascending generation, only the father is
normally called 'ax 'ic?-'my father,' and the mother
'ax tla?-'my mother/ although these terms also are
used for parents by adoption. "Babies say 'atle for
main ma., and tata for daddy," and these terms are
apt to be employed in address even when the child
is grown. Both parents call their children 'my son' ('ax
yit), or 'my daughter' ('ax si), although the diminutives
(yitk and sik) will be used when they are small. The
father will drop the diminutive when his son is grown,
but a mother may continue it all her life. It was also
said to be particularly appropriate for a man to address
a son or daughter as 'my child' ('ax yAdi), although he
would not do so on a formal occasion. A woman may
also use this term, at least in reference, as for example
in the phrase 'ax yAdi strkw?-'my child to-be/ meaning
"the child I'm going to adopt." Or, she may say 'ax
yAdi yeqAkwqAsti?'my baby's going to be born' (see
Boas, 1917, p. 74, yeq'ukuguAst'i,?'he will be born').
The father's brother is called sAni, and he addresses
the children of his brother as if they were his own.
The mother's sister is tlakw?'little mother/ and she
likewise calls her sister's children as if they were her
own. Often in the old days, when sororal polygyny
was practiced, two sisters might be cowives and bring
up their children together. Because of the practice of
the levirate and sororate, the father's brother is the
potential stepfather and the mother's sister the po-
tential stepmother, so that actual stepparents are
called sAni and tlakw. A good deal of the warm affection
linking parents and children is also felt by the
children and their paternal uncles and maternal aunts.
The mother's sister is really like a second mother,
but the paternal uncle is something other than a
second father, because he belongs to the father's sib,
a group from which spouses are drawn. He is not
only a potential stepfather but also a potential husband
of his brother's daughter.
There does not seem to be any notion among the
Yakutat people corresponding to the "wicked step-
mother" of our fairy tales, probably because the
stepmother is usually the real or fictitious "sister" of
the real mother, or her maternal niece, and there seems
to have been great solidarity among the women of a
lineage and a common concern for then* children. A
widow or divorcee did not always marry a relative of
her husband, although this was the ideal that was
followed in most cases. However, there was, I believe,
more jealousy between the men of a lineage or sib
than between sib-sisters, and perhaps for that reason
the stepfather was not always kind to his wife's children.
As one woman told me: "Stepfathers always get
mean, but mine treated me good, because he's on the
same side as my father." The stepfather in question
was a "nephew" of the informant's dead father, a
"sister's" son of her paternal uncle. Possibly step-
fathers were more apt to be "mean" when the children
had been fathered by a man of another sib.
The term for father's brother (sAni) is extended to
all the male parallel cousins of the father, in fact to
all the men of his sib who are not "grandfathers"
because of age and generation. Similarly, all female
parallel cousins of the mother are tlakw, and the term
may be applied to all the older women of the mother's
(one's own) sib who are not "grandmothers" or "(older)
sisters."
In ceremonial oratory, the members of the father's
sib may be collectively addressed as 'my fathers' ('ax
'ic hAs) or as 'my paternal uncles' fax slni hAs), or
one may combine this latter phrase with 'my father's
older brothers, my father's younger brothers' ('ax 'ic
hunx hAs, 'ax 'ic Ml hAs).
The term for 'father' may even be applied to an
individual woman. Thus, one Kagwantan woman ex-
plained: "M. is Kagwantan-yAdi [child of a Kagwantan
father]. She calls me and my sister "ax 'ic' because
she is proud to be Kagwantan-yAdi. We call her "ax
yAdi.' . . . This is a man's word for 'my child.' . . .
And then she always feel more proud."
Not only does an older woman usually call the
youngsters in her own sib 'son' and 'daughter/ but
she may apply these terms to any individual, regardless
of age or generation, who is the child of a man of her
husband's sib. This usage is described as "calling them
through the husband." A man could do the same for
any individual whose father belonged to his own sib.
While the man's words for 'son' or 'daughter' are
the same as those employed by his wife, they carry
very different connotations. A woman's 'children/ real
or fictitious, always belong to her own moiety within
which she cannot marry, but a man's 'daughter/ unless
she is actually his own daughter, is a potential wife.
There are a number of recorded marriages between a
man and his stepdaughter, when an "old woman gives
her daughter [by a previous union] to her husband as
wife." And there are also marriages between a man and
the daughter of his own brother. "Before marriage he
called her 'ax sik ['my little daughter']."
Parents did not necessarily address their own children
as 'son' or 'daughter.' Thus, one woman regularly
addresses her sons as 'mother's brother' ('ax kak),
because they are all named for her uncles, and her
older sister employs the same usage. One boy, at any
rate, responds with "Mother," but I believe he prefers
to talk to her in English. I do not know what he calls
his mother's sister, and I was not told what terms were
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 479
used by his less acculturated brothers. The same two
women address a little girl, the daughter's daughter of
one, as 'mother' ('ax tta), because she is named for
their mother, and the child calls both her grandmother
and greataunt 'my little daughter' ('ax silt), as the
dead woman used to do long before the child was born.
Another woman told me that her father sometimes
called her 'mother,' because as a child she closely
resembled his own mother. This use of the term is very
unusual since the girl and her paternal grandmother
belonged to different moieties and could not be name-
sakes. It reflects only the deep love that the man felt
for his dead mother, whose favorite son he had been,
and his equally deep love for his daughter who re-
sembled her.
Maternal Uncles and Their Sister's Children
The maternal uncle (kak) was one of the most im-
portant relatives in the hves of his nephews and nieces
whom he called kellL The term, kak, was applied to
all the male parallel cousins of one's mother and also
to all the older men of one's sib who were neither
"grandfathers" nor '(older) brothers.' Similarly a man
called not only his own sister's children kelk, but ex-
tended this term to the children of his female parallel
cousins and, in fact, to all the children of his sib-sisters.
One may even have an 'uncle' (kak) in another sib
from one's own. Thus, a Kagwantan woman called a
CAnkuqedi man 'uncle' because his father was the
brother of her mother's father.
The maternal uncle was the symbol of authority and
of the prestige of one's lineage or sib. In oratory, 'my
maternal uncles' ('ax kak hAs) was commonly used to
denote all the elders of the sib who had died, just as
was 'my grandparents' ('ax hlkw hAs). The dead uncle,
like the dead grandfather, was a man whose achieve-
ments the living strove to emulate.
A woman's maternal uncle, like her older brother,
was her guardian, responsible for her moral conduct
and welfare. Although negotiations for her marriage
were carried on with her mother, the uncle had a
powerful voice in the matter because of his authority
over his sister. If a woman disgraced her lineage by an
illicit affair, her uncle would join with her brothers in
compelling her lover to marry her, or in killing her and
the illegitimate child. However, if his niece were
widowed and not properly provided for by her hus-
band's relatives, or if she were abused by her husband,
the woman could count on her uncle for support and
help.
The maternal uncle's relationship with his sister's
son was much more direct. At a very early age the
latter would be taken by his uncle on hunting trips,
and the uncle would also begin to assume responsibility
for the boy's training in other ways; for example, in
the matter of daily plunges into icy water. Of course, as
long as the boy remained at home he was primarily
under the discipline of his father in such matters, and
even the mother might see to these baths when he was
small. A chief's nephews, however, among whom was
his successor, were supposed to leave their father's
house when they were still little boys and live with
their uncle. I do not know how often this was the case
with other boys, except that I was told of several grown
but still unmarried youths who, even in the last cen-
tury, were living in their fathers' houses. If the father
died, the uncle's responsibilities increased, of course,
although the small boys continued to live with their
mother and stepfather.
One woman explained the relationship between
maternal uncle and nephew: "A man loves his nephew
like his kid?but they sure punish. Olden days, weather
like this, [it was a day in early March, with the snow
falling heavily], they chase them outside, chopping
wood without closes [clothes], just little pants on?so
they don't lazy, you know?get something, you know,
like money. Olden times it's kind of hard to get money,
not like today. Sometimes they chase them into the
cold water, in the ice. That's why, olden time, native
people never get sick. They used to it."
The story of the woman shaman, Cakwe, and the
chief who stabbed his nephews (pp. 714-715) shows
how rigorous such training might be. The uncle used
send the little boys into the water every day, early
in the morning when it was cold, and beat them with
alder branches, or else they would beat each other to
the limit of their endurance. "The nephews, when
they were small, the uncle always trained them to
be brave, and all that . . . to be strong man, not to
be lazy." When I asked if the uncle's wife might ever
try to stop her husband if the training were too severe,
I was told: "Wife never interfere in man's business
long ago."
The uncle could also command the labor of his
nephew. As Harrington's informant said (MS. 1939?10):
"The maternal uncle used to take the boy to his home.
The maternal uncle made them work. The boy could
not talk back to him. Some other young people call
them down if they don't obey their uncle."
I was told how a Kagwantan man in Sitka, about
30 years ago(?), went to the Sheldon Jackson School
to recruit "nephews" for help in building a house.
" ' How many of you are Kagwantan? Stand up! ' "
he said. But my informant reported, "My boys don't
know what they were?just sit still. When they are
480 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
growing up, ANB [Alaska Native Brotherhood] is
getting organized and we teach them to be like Whites.
He point his finger at A and B [the informant's sons].
'You're Kagwantan. Stand up, too! I want you folks
to build my house. I'm your uncle, kak.' They freed
them from SJS [the school] to build the house, a nice
little cottage, not a tribal house." The boys were from
Yakutat, and some time later when the mother was in
Sitka she was told how her sons had helped to build
the house. In this case, there was no actual relationship
between the "uncle" and the "nephews," since the
man was Sitka Kagwantan and the boys were Qalyix-
Kagwantan. The system of working for the uncle has
now broken down, for one man complained: "My sister's
children won't help me put a roof on my house. It
wouldn't be like that in the old days."
It was the duty of the nephew to keep his uncle
supplied with firewood. He was also expected to give
him the pelts when he had been successful in hunting
sea otter. On the other hand, "The nephew can get
what he wants, if he asks: canoe, valuable skins,
bow and arrow. And he [the maternal uncle] would
have to give it to them [his nephews]." The nephew
could even borrow bis uncle's valuable things without
permission, "but he has to tell him about it afterwards."
In the hypothetical case that the nephew borrowed
a gas boat and wrecked it, the uncle "wouldn't do
anything to him. You see, if he's my nephew, every-
thing he works for will be mine. If I pass away, that's
his stuff there. I'm only managing." The informant
also explained that it would be wrong only if the
nephew who borrowed the boat had failed to report
the act to his uncle, letting the latter suppose that
it was some other person who was responsible for
wrecking the boat. (See p. 739.)
"Uncle and nephew had to be very respectful to
each other." This was presumably when the nephew
was older. The respectful behavior consisted, in part,
in covering their mouths with their hands when they
conversed. I learned about this when one man was
explaining how a chief was talking with his nephew
about rebuilding a lineage house that had fallen down.
"The uncle showed respect for his nephew long ago by
talking like this," and the informant spoke into the palm
of his hand. This gesture of politeness and respect
was not confined to uncle and nephew, however, for
my Tlingit "namesake" covered her mouth when
speaking to me and had to be dissuaded from so doing
when she was talking for the tape recorder. This gesture
is now all but obsolete, for only a few old ladies still
practice it. When one middle-aged woman was asked
to explain the incident described above, she erroneously
supposed that the uncle had covered his mouth because
he did not want anyone to overhear his plans for house
building:.
If the uncle were still vigorous when the nephew
came of age, the ideal marriage for the latter would be
with the uncle's daughter. As one woman explained:
"I'd like my brother's daughter for my son. My brother's
daughter would be the best [wife] for him." "To marry
du kak si [his mother's brother's daughter] would be
very, very good. Just the same as du 'at si [his father's
sister's daughter]." Another woman said: "If they
married with that uncle's daughter, that's a big day.
All that uncle's things, he's going to have it, if he's
married to that girl. All the work, he's going to take
care of it, his uncle's work. And that woman's going
to respect her husband as long as he live. That's why
this coming generation got lost" because they no longer
follow the old customs. In this instance, the nephew
as son-in-law is considered his uncle's heir.
When the uncle dies, one of his nephews (if there
were no available younger brother) was supposed to
marry the widow, whom he has called 'my uncle's
wife' ('ax kak CAt), and who has addressed him as
'my husband's nephew' ('ax xox kelk). In this instance,
also, the nephew in question would be his uncle's
heir. Even during the uncle's lifetime, "the uncle's
wife would be friendly to her husband's nephew.
. . . She could go out camping with him and spend a
few days out fishing, and things like that, in Southeast
of Alaska. But I never heard of it around here. It's
when the woman is rich, something like that. She
don't care how she treat her husband?I just think
that." Apparently in southeastern Alaska the nephew
could sleep with his uncle's wife, a point confirmed
by Angoon informants. I believe that this was also
the custom at Yakutat long ago, but could find no
direct evidence.
That the relationship between nephew and uncle's
wife could result in jealousy between the two men is
evident from the story of the Birth of Haven and the
Flood (see pp. 844 f.). In this myth, the Controller of
the Flood, Moon, was so jealous of his young wife,
Flicker, that he kept her in a box suspended from the
roof whenever he went out. He also killed all of his
sister's children. "He's so confounded jealous he don't
want nobody around his wife. He don't want no nephew
to bother her." ("To bother a woman" is a euphemism
for intercourse.) "And when it's a girl, he order them
to kill it anyhow. He's afraid the girl will be some
messenger to his wife, he's so jealous." When the
woman finally, through the aid of the Killerwhale
Chief, gave birth miraculously to Haven, the uncle
tried in vain to kill his nephew. At last, when the uncle
was away, the youth took the wife from her box and
pulled out the feathers under her armpits or, according
to another version, "killed the wife" by sending her
away as a bird. None of the versions we were told,
however, explicitly stated that Raven had intercourse
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 481
with her, although this may have been implied. Cer-
tainly this was what the uncle feared.
MJ, who as a girl had escaped a marriage which had
been arranged for her (p. 459), indicated that she would
have been the young cowife of an old man, destined to
become the wife of his nephew after the old man's
death. However, she envisaged trouble before that.
"I'll be running around with this young fellow and
first thing you know he'll kill him through jealousy."
The evidence suggests that even though the uncle
might not have permitted or wished his nephew to have
access to his wife, this was in fact customary in former
days. A story told by Angoon informants indicates that
the uncle was not supposed to be jealous of such affairs,
even though he would kill any other man suspected of
adultery with his wife.
The uncle often designated his successor during his
lifetime, usually a young nephew who was not yet
married. Not only was it the duty of the latter to
marry the widow when his uncle died, but to assume
responsibility for his uncle's funeral. In this he was, of
course, assisted by his brothers and parallel cousins?
indeed to some extent by all the members of the lineage
or of the whole sib. In one case, when the daughter of
a dead man and her White husband had purchased a
tombstone for the deceased, one of the nephews was
deeply distressed. He protested: '"I'm the one that's
supposed to fix up my uncle's grave. It's just like I
haven't got strength enough to do it [when] you get
the tombstone! . . . My mother preached to me about
my uncle: "You take care of your uncle's body. When
you're poor you can't afford it." My mother used to
stand on the bank of Diyaguna'Et [on Lost Kiver] and
throw me in the water. She just want her son to be a
strong man so he can take care of his own people's
death expenses.' So it's an awful insult if he can't fix
his uncle's grave."
Although the mother's brother was never addresed
or referred to as "brother," his children were called
by the terms applicable to a brother's children. Thus,
a man called his maternal uncle's children 'son' and
'daughter.' As one man (CW) explained it, speaking
in broken English but obviously thinking in Tlingit,
"Oscar's father?that's my true uncle. That big boy, my
son?Oscar, my uncle's son." Similarly a woman called
her maternal uncle's children 'nephew' and 'niece'
(ka?w), a term she used for her own brother's children.
Paternal Aunts and Their Brother's Children
The father's sister ('at) was also an important
relative, especially when her brother's children were
small. The aunt assisted to the best of her ability at
the birth of her brother's children and gave them
gifts, which might include the baby carrier and the
bag for the umbilical cord if these had not been provided
by the child's maternal grandmother. "All the father's
sisters give a shower to the nephew. It's a present to
them [him]. And native people treat them [paternal
aunts] just like their sister. Du 'at [his aunt] is very
precious." Such gifts were continued later in the life
of the child. Thus, one girl was given a new red Hud-
son's Bay blanket, a kerchief, gold earrings, a big wax
doll, and two hair ornaments by her father's sisters.
"Any new thing they had, they give to me, to make
my father feel good." In return, "my father has to
pay double price." For the earrings, kerchief, and doll,
he gave his sister one sea otter. (MJ) I do not know
what gifts might be made by an aunt to a young
nephew, but personal reminiscences indicate that the
children could always come to her for good things
to eat.
Later, when the niece became adolescent, her father's
sister might be reponsible for the rites performed over
her and for the training she received during her puberty
seclusion. At Yakutat, however, there was not the
same strict rule as among the Tlingit of the interior
and of southeastern Alaska that only the paternal aunt
could perform these services, unless a former rule has
been relaxed, for in some known cases these duties
were entirely assumed by the girl's mother, just as the
grandmother might be the midwife and provide the
baby's outfit.
The term 'aunt' was applied not only to the
father's actual sisters and to his female parallel cousins,
but to the daughters and daughters' daughters of these
women. Thus one of the 'aunts' who gave my informant
gifts when the latter was a little girl was actually one of
her father's nieces. Another young woman she described
as a "distant cousin on my father's side, my father's
niece's daughter," and my informant addressed her as
'my aunt,' ('ax 'at), just as her mother used to do. She
also described her, however, as 'my aunt's daughter'
('ax 'at si). In fact, all women belonging to the father's
sib are 'paternal aunts' unless so senior as to be classed
as "grandmothers." "He always calls me 'my little
aunty' because I belong to his father's tribe [sib]." (MJ)
This usage sometimes results in an apparent reversal
of generations. Hetty, a middle-aged woman, is the
daughter of a Tl'uknaxAdi man and is herself married
to a Kwactqwan man. Her son's wife, Elaine, is Tl'uknaca
[a Tt'trknaxAdi woman], and is addressed by Hetty as
'my father's sister' ('ax 'at). Elaine, in turn, calls her
mother-in-law 'my niece' ('ax kAlk'w). [Since Elaine is
the daughter of a White man there is no opportunity
to utilize any other consanguine relationship.] Elaine is
a young woman who has been away at high school and
482 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
did not at first understand the intricacies of this play
on kinship terminology, which serves to stress and honor
the father's line. Once Annie, the actual father's sister
of Hetty, came to the house and, not seeing Hetty, asked
Elaine, "Where is your niece?" (gusu 'i kAlkw). Elaine
did not understand whom she meant, until Annie
rephrased the question: "Where is your mother-in-law?"
(gusu 'i tcan). When Hetty was explaining this to us,
she added that even Elaine's little daughter, her own
granddaughter, was also her 'aunt' ('at), because all
Tl'uknaca are her paternal aunts. She does make an
exception, however, of a woman who is senior to her
both in age and generation. "All my mother's 'at are
my liJ&w hAs?'grandmas.' Like Minnie is my mother's
'at, so sometime I call her 'ax hllkw because she's older
than me."
The term for paternal aunt might even be applied to
a woman who does not belong to the father's sib, since
he might have a female parallel cousin in another sib
of the same moiety. Thus, one of the 'aunts' who gave
presents to MJ was not a Teqwca [Teqwedi woman,
our informant's father's sib]. "She is Galyix-Kagwantan
cawAt. My father called her 'sister,' but she's not really
a sister." In this case, I unfortunately did not discover
what was the actual relationship.
Just as all the daughters of a paternal aunt were
'aunts,' so all her sons were 'paternal uncles' (sAni).
It was from this group of paternal uncles and aunts
that spouses were usually drawn, since marriage into
the father's lineage and sib was preferred. The terms,
SAni and 'at, therefore carried connotations of "sweet-
heart" and of potential brother- and sister-in-law. In
addition, the 'aunt' was also the potential mother-in-
law of her nephew and niece (or the potential daughter-
in-law of the niece); the 'uncle' (sAni) was the potential
stepfather of his nephew and niece (or the potential
son-in-law of the niece).
While the maternal uncle was the disciplinarian of
his nephew, the father's sister, even for her niece, did
not play a similar role. Rather, one woman told us
that she would go to her father's sister (naming a true
paternal aunt) if she were "in trouble, or downhearted.
Your father's sister trains you and helps you when
you're in trouble." The same woman also said that the
father's brother is the confidant and helper of his
sister's son. Another woman, however, reversed the
relationship. "You tell your troubles to your 'at if you
are a boy. I tell things to my sAni." Perhaps the choice
of confidant really depended upon the personalities in-
volved, the actual relatives of suitable age that were
available, and the nature of the trouble. I think it very
doubtful that a girl would confide in a paternal uncle
in matters involving sex, unless she considered him a
"sweetheart" and were turning to him for consolation
in an unhappy marriage, and the same could be said
of a youth and his paternal aunt.
Difficulties, of course, often arose within one's own
lineage and sib. The parents, older brothers and older
sisters, the mother's sister, and especially the mother's
brother, were persons of authority. The child often
learned how to play off one parent against the other to
escape merited punishment, and sometimes an older
sibling would shield the naughty child. But there was
no escape from the supreme authority of the maternal
uncle. One could hardly make a confidant of him if
involved in a family or intralineage dispute, or worse
still, if involved in an illicit love affair, for he was the
guardian of the lineage's honor. It was within the lineage
and sib that the worse quarrels and jealousies arose, as
is indicated by the belief that in former times witch-
craft was practiced only by lineage mates and sib
mates, so that it was necessary to call in a shaman of
another sib to detect the witch.
But the paternal uncle and aunt, unless the uncle
were a stepfather, stood outside the immediate family
troubles and intralineage quarrels. They were one's
closest relatives in the opposite moiety, the group by
which and to which honor, help, and love were given.
The father's sib could never be paired with one's own
as rivals at a potlatch. If serious troubles arose between
these sibs it was classified as "war" and all the solemn
ceremonial of peacemaking could be employed to settle
it. The paternal aunt could be considered as the princi-
pal representative of the gunEtkAnayi, the "opposites,"
responsible for the spiritual welfare of her nephews and
nieces until their marriage shifted these obligations
to a sister-in-law. Paternal aunt and uncle must,
therefore, have been very important as personal con-
fidants upon whose affectionate and disinterested
sympathy one could rely, and they were especially
beloved because of their relationship to one's father.
Moreover, since rules of avoidance separated grown
sister from brother, it was only to the brother's children
that a man's sister could openly display her love for
him.
Brothers and Sisters
The terms for address and reference used for siblings
vary with the sex of the speaker. Thus, any sister of a
man, regardless of relative age, is tlalk (Boas, 1917, p.
130, Lak), and any brother of a woman is 'ik. Between
siblings of the same sex, however, a distinction is made
on the basis of relative age, so that a man's older
brother is hxmx, a woman's older sister is cAtx, while
both designate junior siblings of their own sex as kilt
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 483
These kin terms evidently reflect the gradient of
dominance among siblings: all boys have authority
over their sisters, and the elders of one sex over their
juniors. Of course, an older sister was often the nurse-
maid for a baby brother and perhaps the sentiments
aroused by such maternal care persisted later in life.
Habits of masculine dominance evidently developed
early, however, when brother and sister were more
nearly of the same age, to judge from reminiscences of
childhood escapades in which the boy was the instigator
and leader and his slightly younger sister the docile
follower. He would also order his sister around; sending
her to fetch him a drink of water, for example. Knowing
both these individuals now as they are in old age, I
would judge that the woman was never the inferior of
her brother in initiative, independence, and natural
qualities of leadership. In later life, a brother would
have considerable authority over his sister, especially
where her conduct might affect lineage property and
honor, and through her he had authority over her
children. The oldest brother, of course, dominated all
his siblings and might be admired, loved, or feared,
according to his personality.
The baby of the family was naturally the darling
of the older siblings, and the diminutive (&Atslktrx),
used only for human beings, might be added after the
usual kinship term to designate the smallest sibling
('ax 'Us. kAtsKux, 'ax tl&ik Mtskux, or 'ax kik Mtslhrx).
In direct address, siblings may employ either the kin-
ship term or a personal name.
Half-brothers and half-sisters, stepbrothers and
stepsisters, and parallel cousins were classed as siblings,
even though they might belong to different sibs within
the same moiety. One might also have fictitious siblings
outside one's own sib, since the children of two men
(or of two women) who were namesakes were considered
to be almost the same as children of the same individual.
All lineage-mates and sib-mates of approximately the
same age and generation classify themselves as siblings.
The children of men of the same sib also address each
other as siblings regardless of the sib affiliations of
their mothers, although in this case such 'sib-children'
are joking relatives (see pp. 485-488). The children of
men of closely affihated sibs in the same moiety may
also be rated as siblings. In some contexts, all the men
and women of a moiety are "siblings."
Strict rules of avoidance used to separate grown
brothers and sisters and also all grown members of
opposite sex in the same moiety. "Grown boy and girl,
brother and sister, can't speak or shake hands together.
She talks to him through his wife. If they broke this
rule, they would go crazy. They would get tied up for
witchcraft. A girl, when they [she] mature and are not
ashamed of anything?that shows she's a witchcraft.
They can't talk or look at their own brother's face. . . .
Don't do any funny [indecent] thing in front of your
brother, else you get murdered. [As for parallel cous-
ins]?it's the same thing. It's your [own] blood." (MJ)
"In the old days, and even when I'm a small boy,"
explained a man born in 1893, "a boy never looked at
his sister or talk to her. The women would hide their
faces," and he demonstrated by cupping his hands
over his face so he could just look between them.
"They would hide their faces if they found themselves
alone with their brothers. They have the highest
respect for their brother."
Brother and sister were not supposed to be alone
together. If they met out of doors, they would turn
their faces aside, the women usually bowing their
heads. Communication between them was achieved
by the sister talking to her brother's wife so that her
brother could overhear, and by the man talking to
his sister's husband. On such occasions, brother and
sister never faced each other. However, if it were
necessary to communicate with each other directly,
brother and sister could do so by speaking out of the
corners of their mouths, behind cupped hands.
The same restrictions obtained between sib and
moiety brothers and sisters. Such individuals could be
designated by the terms for siblings or by special
words. Thus, 'my woman' ('ax cawu; 'ax cawuwAn,
plural) would be used by a man in designating his
moiety sister. A woman would refer to her moiety
brother as 'ax hwayi ('ax hwayiyAn, plural). She could
also use the collective term for 'brothers' ('ax 'it hAs)
in designating her sib brothers. However, when ad-
dressing or referring to the women in her sib she had
to specify 'my younger sisters, and my older sisters,
and my mother's sisters' ('ax Mk hAs, qa 'ax cAtii
h.As, qa 'ax tlaliw hAs). Presumably a man would use
corresponding terms for the men in his sib, although
this was not specifically recorded.
Informants made it very clear that in former days
it was shameful for a man to speak or joke with a
moiety sister. Such conduct would be treated as an
insult by the woman and her husband. This rule
obtained even though the man and woman were
children of fathers in the same sib, a relationship which
involved joking between persons of the same sex (see
pp. 486-488). Thus, when a KwacKqwan man was asked
if he would joke with a certain Tl'uknaca, since both
were children of Teqwedi fathers,he answered: "I don't
talk to her. We don't joke with a woman. It's sisters.
Olden days they never talk to their own tribe [sib]
women, or Raven women?their own sister. Different
now, just like the White people. But in olden days they
never talk to their sister."
After the mission was established, these strict
avoidance patterns began to weaken, although a few
elderly people still observe them. One woman (MJ)
484 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
recalls how her "cousin-brother," that is, a parallel
cousin in her own sib, thought that the way the girls
bowed their heads when they met their "brothers"
was foolish, and to show his disapproval once fired a
shot over his "sister's" heads. When this woman was
first married, about 1901, her White husband could not
understand why she never spoke to her brothers when
they came to the house and why they never looked at
her. Of course, they never came when her husband
was absent. She added that she was then unable to
explain this behavior to her husband. Even today,
when she and her brother (CW) are both elderly, he
never comes into her house if she is alone; he just
pokes his head in the door to see if his widowed sister
is all right, but withdraws unless he finds someone
else with her. The first time they ever spoke directly
to each other since they were children was, she said,
in 1952 when I hired him as informant and her as
interpreter. Because this was a business occasion in-
volving, in effect, speaking to a third person, it was
apparently proper. Usually, however, the woman ad-
dresses her sister-in-law when she wants her brother
to hear, and I have seen the two women chatting
together, the brother sitting nearby, but turned away
from them.
A Kagwantan woman said of a CAnkuqedi man: "I
don't talk to him. I sure proud of him. He's just like
a brother. His father's father is brother to my [pa-
ternal] grandfather, so he is first cousin to me. He's
just like a brother to me."
Younger people, of course, pay no attention to these
old-fashioned niceties, although there is still unfavorable
comment by the middle-aged if moiety brother and
sister are seen walking together, behavior which would
never have been tolerated in former days. Marriage
between members of the same moiety would have been
considered incestuous. It occasionally takes place,
usually but not exclusively, between young people who
have been away at school and who therefore either
failed to learn the moiety affiliations of their companions
or came to consider these irrelevant. Despite the state-
ments of many that such marriages were "all right" or
could be excused, provided the couple were not too
closely related, it may be significant that only one such
couple has remained in Yakutat. A letter received after
my last visit to Alaska reported with concern that an
elderly couple had married within the same sib. All
these marriages at Yakutat have been within the Raven
moiety, probably because of its disproportionate size in
comparison to the opposite moiety.
Although brother and sister were once separated by
formal restrictions, affectionate ties between them were
close and were expressed in terms of special obligations.
"You feed your own brother. . . . In the springtime,
you put away things [food] for your brother. And when
food gets scarce, when things get severe, you have to
feed him precious stuff." When asked if the woman's
husband might be jealous, one informant replied: "Well,
she got a right to do that, and he can't interfere. . . .
Even if her brother is married, a girl gets it ready, too
[i.e. puts up food for him]. My mother taught me, too,
[when I was a little girl]: 'Don't eat or gobble down
precious stuff first without giving your brother a piece,
too. Don't gobble it right down without chewing it.' "
(MJ)
Of course, if the sister is widowed or married to a
poor provider, her brother will give her presents of
food. For example, MJ recalled how her mother's
brothers used to send food to her mother when the
latter had been widowed and was remarried to a young
man. "They think my mother is out of grub and they
go to Beasley's store and get a sack of flour for the
kids." One of the uncles had a big family of his own
to support and sometimes would send over only a
little cup of flour. "My mother just make fun of him.
. . . She'd just hint?brothers and sisters don't talk
straight to each other?'A little cup of flour for all
the kids!' She'd talk to his wife so Uncle B. could hear.
'Ckman [another uncle] knows what to give!' she would
say."
To some extent the same pattern of assistance may
prevail between fictitious "brothers" and "sisters."
Thus, one young man is considered to be the "brother"
of an elderly woman because his father is believed
to have been the reincarnation of the woman's father.
As the older woman explained, "His father is named
after my father. That's why C. calls me 'sister.' We
are both children of Xadanek. That's why sometimes
he gives me a dollar or two." The young man may
drop into his "sister's" house for a cup of coffee, and
bring her game or fish he has caught, or give her
money to buy coal.
I have already mentioned the presents given by a
sister to her brother's children and the handsome
return gifts he would make to her. We should also
remember that her sons would have to work for him
and in return could use his property. Ties between
brother and sister are thus reflected in the relation-
ships between the maternal uncle or paternal aunt
and their cross-nephews and nieces. We shall also see
them reflected in the relationships between siblings-
in-law.
Siblings of the same sex are so close that they are
almost interchangeable maritally, as is shown by the
customs of levirate and sororate. Not only was it cus-
tomary for a man to marry his wife's younger sister
after his wife's death (formerly, during her lifetime),
but a man was supposed to marry the widow of his
older brother, unless she had been assigned to her
husband's nephew. An older brother could even force
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 485
a younger brother to exchange wives, if he desired, or
at least could make his younger brother marry his
castoff wife. In one such case, the older "brother"
(actually a parallel cousin) at first had the younger
share one of his wives so that she might have a child.
Later he made the younger "brother" take her alto-
gether, because bad feeling had developed between the
woman and her young cowif e (although the latter was
her maternal niece). In another case, the older brother
gave his old wife to his younger brother so that he
could marry a young woman. In a third instance, a
man who was simultaneously married to two parallel
cousins gave the older to his younger brother so that
he could marry a third woman, his uncle's young
widow. In the first case, one gathers that the young
man was reluctant to marry the older wife, although he
apparently lived happily with her until his death. I
do not know what were the feelings of the two younger
brothers in the last two cases nor the sentiments of the
women concerned. How often jealousy between co-
wives or missionary condemnation of polygyny was
responsible for such transfers of wives to younger
brothers, can only be surmised.
The pattern of sibling equivalence, of sharing and
reciprocity, also colors the relationships which may
develop between sib sisters and sib brothers. Such
persons may be designated by the terms used for actual
siblings, but if this seems inappropriate, they may be
referred to as ax 'ina?'the one with me(?),' usually
translated as "my relative." It is probably used only
with reference to a sibmate of the speaker's sex,
although my information is not specific. Sometimes
the term is the equivalent of our expression "my
partner," when two sib brothers hunt together, or may
share fishing gear or cooperate in other economic
enterprises. Two such men, for example, continually
refer to each other in English as "my partner." A
woman who has such a sib sister, or "relative," in
Juneau, may visit her freely, taking as her contribu-
tion to the larder preserved native foods of Yakutat,
or such women may exchange local produce. These
"relatives" within the sib are, however, to be distin-
guished from trade partners or "friends" (yAqawu) who
belong to different sibs within the same moiety (see
pp. 355-356). Exchanges between the latter are con-
ducted on a more ceremonial basis and involve luxury
items.
The solidarity of the group of sibmates or moiety-
mates in general may be indicated by the term of
reference 'ax Uakxi, which seems to mean 'those behind
me(?)/ and which can be employed by a speaker of
either sex. The form for the singular was not obtained.
The terms 'my sib' or 'our sib' ('ax nayi, ha nayi)
would also imply all the members.
I was told that a person could address a moiety-mate
as 'my friend' or 'my little friend' ('ax xoni, 'ax xonM).
However, I suspect that this expression is the one used
in addressing a stranger, whose affiliations are unknown,
for in addressing a known individual it would always
be possible to employ a term denoting a consanguineal
relationship. Boas (1917, p. 157) translates x6n as
'equal (of one).' Harrington gives the form 'ax-xuunnf,
as 'my friend' and also as 'my relative.'
Sib-Children
Because the child of any man of a sib is the "child"
of his sib brothers, the warm feelings of fathers towards
their sons are extended to all such 'sib-children' (na-
yAtxi). The children of Teqwedi fathers are, for ex-
ample, called Teqwedi-yAtxi (singular, Teqwedi-yAdi),
and these children are supposed to have inherited their
father's traits (p. 461). The Teqwedi themselves re-
semble the Brown Bear, their totem, in courage. "I'm
a bear," they used to say, and the Teqwedi-yAtxi are
also supposed to be brave. A dying mother could thus
say to her grieving children, "Be brave. You're
Teqwedi-yAtxi. Don't take it too hard if I'm gone."
And also like the Brown Bear, Teqwedi-yAtxi have a
mean temper when aroused.
In a moment of common danger, one person en-
couraged another by exclaiming: "I'm Teqwedi-yAdi
and you're Kagwantan-yAdi. Who's going to be the
coward?" But this would be risky, since a reflection on
the other's inherited courage is really a deadly insult
and in the old days would provoke a fight.
Another insult is to tell a Kagwantan-yAdi that "the
Kagwantan are mean and want war all the time."
This might be used in retaliation if the Kagwantan-
yAtii accuse the Teqwedi-yAtxi of cowardice, (cf. p. 461).
While two sibs of the same moiety are definitely
rivals, especially when both are guests at a potlatch,
they are especially friendly to each other's sib-children.
The latter, like their own sib-children, belong to the
opposite moiety and are thus their sweethearts. For
this reason "They think a lot of each other. The other
tribe always has respect and love for them. Compose a
song for them. Compose love song for other tribe's
na-yAtii." Songs of this type are "peace songs," used
in peace ceremonies between sibs of opposite moieties,
since the peace hostage on each side is the sib-child of
his captor hosts. Similar peace songs, addressed to each
other's sib-children, are used as dancing songs by the
two rival guest sibs at a potlatch. Love songs, in fact
almost all songs composed by private individuals, fol-
low the same pattern, for though known to refer to a
486 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
particular individual, they are always addressed to the
group of sib-children to which he or she belongs. These
are either the composer's own sib-children or those of
another sib in his moiety (see pp. 572-574). To address
a person or group as the children of their father's sib
is to natter them and arouse warm feelings, and the
singer should be rewarded by a gift. At the same time,
such a song is especially appropriate as a peace song
at a potlatch since the fathers naturally feel friendly
toward those who honor or love their children.
Persons whose fathers belong to the same sib are
considered siblings, and may use the terms for "brother"
and "sister" in address and reference. Such persons are
obviously different from sib brothers and sib sisters,
for while they are members of the same moiety they may
belong to the same sib or to different sibs. The men and
women formerly avoided each other, just as did all
moiety brothers and sisters, but within each sex group
there was and is licensed joking. A person refers to his
joking relative as 'ax 'ina na-yAdi?'my relative's sib-
child(?).' "He is just like a brother, joking brother,"
a man explained. Another informant described
him as "a cousin on your father's side," in contrast to
a maternal parallel cousin or "cousin-brother." The
sib-child relationship, and the subsequent joking rela-
tionship, can also be established through a stepfather
or adopted father, as well as through the actual father.
A joking relationship also obtained between the
children of linked sibs. Thus, the Gaiyix-Kagwantan
are equated with the Eyak Tcicqedi, since the latter
are considered to be an offshoot of the former, and
these again are equated with the Kagwantan of Sitka
and Chilkat. Their members address each other by kin
terms appropriate to relatives in the same sib and then1
children are joking relatives. These sibs are linked be-
cause all are felt to be branches of one original sib.
The Teqwedi and DAql'awedi (an Eagle-Wolf sib of
southeastern Alaska) are felt to be "nearly the same"
because both share the Killerwhale as totem, and my
informants hazarded that their children would joke
together and would stand together in quarrels with
rival groups of sib-children. I was also told that
Tl'uknaxAdi, Koskedi, DAqdentan, and iatfkA'ayi are
"all the same" because they formerly lived together at
Gusex on the Akwe River, but since there are no
representatives of these last three sibs at Yakutat, we
do not know what behavior might hold between their
sib-children. Common residence in former times on the
Akwe River should link TlukwaxAdi and Tl'uknaxAdi,
and it apparently does in some situations although they
are rivals or trade partners in others. One informant
did indicate a joking relationship between their sib-
children, but apparently of a one-sided nature (see p.
488). She also specifically linked the TlukwaxAdi and
the Kwacl:qwan, however, because both were of in-
terior origin and therefore shared the same 'origin and
destiny' (cAgun). Members of these two sibs called
each other brother and sister, "just like they're one
family," and then1 children were joking relatives. "We
sure joke with each other when we see each other."
Of joking relatives one man said: "Sometimes they
say things they could get mad about, but they can't.
They always say [about these jokes]: Tie 'i 'ayAx 'awutc-
hAs-yA-gEsqetc?'Just bad like-that to-each-other-they-
say-continually.' But they can't get mad." It was
difficult to secure examples of such jokes "because the
way men joke ain't fit for a woman to hear." (MJ)
However, we were told that a group of Teqwedi-
yAtxi men used to call each other "big bombers,"
thereby accusing each other of flying around as witches.
"The jokes they tell to each other are mean things,
funny things."
One of these men, George, was visiting in Sitka, his
wife told us, and went to a dance with Sam, his joking
relative. At the dance Sam introduced a local girl to
George as "our wife?you can dance with her," although
Sam actually did not know who she was. "They just
call her from that floor and introduce her. And George,
every dance he rush to that girl to dance with her.
Sam says afterwards, 'George, we don't know her.
She's not our wife.' George just got embarrassed. They
did a dirty joke on him. They always tease one another."
The informant went on to tell about her own experi-
ences as Tl'uknaxAdi-yAdi. "I get teased sometimes
when I go to Juneau. In Juneau they just tease the life
out of me, and in Sitka, too. There's lots of Tl'uknaxAdi-
yAt?i down there. Around here they don't. [Apparently
there is not much joking between women at Yakutat.]
. . . Men do more teasing than women."
Another woman, MJ, however, likes to joke, and
reports that women "joke about lying and stealing, and
stealing each other's husbands." When she asked B,
another Teqwedi-daughter, where the latter's husband
was because she wanted him to drive her and a party of
women to the beach to collect seaweed, B said that she
wouldn't tell, because her husband would want to go
alone with MJ. The latter apparently arranged for the
trip in some other way, and "got even" with her joking
friend a few days later when B dropped in for a visit
and exclaimed, "Gee, you got a lot of seaweed! Where
did you get it?" "Oh, your husband took me out to the
Ocean Beach and I got it there," MJ retorted. I do
not know who drove her.
There is reason to believe that men's jokes are often
about love affairs, especially with each other's wives.
Possibly sex play was once permitted between a man
and the wife of his joking relative. Furthermore, if the
husbands were joking relatives, their wives would tease
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 487
each other regardless of the relationship between their
own fathers. This last was mentioned in connection
with a song which one man composed about the wife
of his joking relative. His own wife did not know of this,
or presumably she would have tried to tease her rival
in some way. The two women, Kwaclca and Tl'uknaca,
were Kagwantan-yAdi and Teqwedi-yAdi, respectively.
The jokes or taunts of fellow sib-children might also
serve to correct disapproved behavior. Thus, if a man
were too greedy in taking advantage of the traditional
generosity of his sister's husband (see p. 495) his joking
relatives ('ina na-yAtxi) could scold him, but they were
the only persons who could speak about his conduct.
Members of the large multifamily household could
utilize their license as joking relatives to discipline
naughty children by means of practical jokes and
teasing threats, and thereby minimize domestic friction.
"There were lots of Teqwedi-yAtxi in the house.
The house was just full of them. They're supposed to
be jolly," a woman explained in reporting such an
episode (see p. 510). On this occasion the roughhousing
that developed and which might have caused offense
was "just in fun, because they were all Teqwedi-
yAtxi." However, if older joking relatives went too far
in teasing their juniors with practical jokes, the children
might threaten to retaliate.
Sometimes the jokes between the children of a sib
turn on the characteristic failings of their fathers, which
are attributed to their sons. In such cases, the humorist
is in effect making fun of himself. The lay preacher at
Yakutat, a Teqwedi-yAdi, convulsed the congregation
with such a joke. As explained to us, he had said:
"Every one of Teqwedi-yAtxi has a quick temper, and
there was one of them that was Simon Peter." This was
because when the soldiers came to take Jesus, "he got
mean and cut off a man's ear." The Teqwedi-daughters
who reported this remarked how embarrassed they had
been in church?"I nearly went under the chair!"?al-
though they were actually laughing heartily.
"Pet songs" for children may refer in humorous
fashion to some foible or fault attributed to the child's
joking relatives. In the song some specific individual
is named, usually (always?) an adult, and the child's
joking relative, but the child's own name is not men-
tioned. This is because it is "just a hinting song" and
the person or persons named are "supposed to be
teasable" by the baby. Such songs are not owned and
may be adapted for any child. A song for a girl, for
example, is: "Who is breaking all the berry bushes
ahead of me? It's So-and-so! She did that for her little
husband." The singer pretends to be angry because
the other woman has taken all the berries, and because
she has also violated a taboo(?). "They dare not break
the berry bushes to feed the husband." Another song
for a girl, freely translated, is: "I thought I saw white
elderberry blossoms on the hill, but it was only So-and-
so's gray hair" (1954, 3-2-1 and J). This song may also
be sung to adults. "They try to tease one another, all
tribal daughters. It's a teasing song." (See p. 571.)
Children were sometimes incited to dance competi-
tively with their joking relatives at potlatches to
amuse their elders. One Kagwantan woman related
her experiences at a potlatch given by the Teqwedi
when she was a little girl. "I know one time I was
pretty small when they make me dance on that kit
gau song [the Teqwedi's Killerwhale Drum Song,
1954, 5-1-D and 6-1-F]. My 'ax 'ina na-yAdi was
dancing right in back of me, and my mother said,
'Hurry up, they're going to beat you!' And I work so
hard to beat her, and everybody clapping their hands
and yelling. I was just sweating. You know that song
is pretty fast. That potlatch was at Tus hit [Shark
House, Old Village #13]. That's James' mother
[Teqwca], she was a dancer. She was the one dancing
in back of me. Just two of us. They told me, 'If they
beat you, everybody's going to laugh at you.' When
I'm dancing, I look back at her. I worked hard and I
danced. Some of them . . . my 'ina na-yAtxi . . .
pulling my little blanket. They just forcing me to dance
. . . They don't dance; they just sit down. . . . They
just want me to dance some more . . . I feel that I
beat her. I don't know that I beat her?that's what
they told me. She's the bestest dancer, I heard that."
In southeastern Alaska I gather that the joking
pattern was and is still more highly developed, and
that at the feasts following potlatches the guests are
often seated so that joking relatives will be together
and can enliven the festivities with their wit. Of recent
years men and women have joked together, although
this would formerly have been impossible. Only one
Yakutat informant mentioned these practices: "The
Teqwedi-yAtxi get together around a table at a party
and tell jokes. They also joke with the ladies, and the
ladies answer back." Another informant, however,
indicated that while joking between the children of
linked sibs was permitted at Yakutat, as in south-
eastern Alaska, this had to be circumspect and there
were scruples against joking at potlatches, at least with
some persons. Thus, a leading Kwacl;qwan man,
Kagwantan-yAdi and adopted son of a Teqwedi man,
said: "I always talking to Charlie, [a Tl'uknaxAdi
leader and Teqwedi-yAdi], and I can say anything to
him I want. Make everybody laugh, tell a story about
me. . . . I can joke with Kagwantan-sons, too.
CAnkuqedi [-sons] - same thing, but not like [Teqwedi-
sons?]. . . . You can joke, but not too rough-like.
Kagwantan[-sons], not too rough either." However,
"not in a party, just outside. I wouldn't joke with
488 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Charlie in a party. He's too old. I respect him. . . . I
think it's just me."
It was virtually impossible to determine under what
conditions there would or would not be joking between
persons of widely different ages, or whether this was
purely a matter of personal preference. One man, J,
explained that although two other men, S and W,
were his joking relatives ('ina na-yAtxi) they were
also his 'elders' (cuqad^qa). "They can joke with me,
but I can't joke back with them. I have to take every-
thing they say, and I can't get mad. That's because
they were born before me. But then somebody might
come around, like my uncles, and they're going to say
everything to me about them. And they're going to
tell me to say that to them, but I can't [i.e., I can't
repeat the remarks of my uncles to my joking relatives].
Any time they come around they can say anything?
jokes, like, about them [about my joking relatives].
They want me to say it, but I can't. I don't say it.
. . . They all in Eagle tribe, but born before I did."
In this case it does not seem to be the difference in
actual age that is important, but the difference in
generation. Thus, while J and S are both Ti'trknaxAdi-
yAtxi, J's father was the true nephew of S's father.
As J's mother explained, her son had stopped joking
with S when he was small. "They have respect for
each other, you know. They call it 'they have respect
for themselves'?ciyAk 'awudine?Quiet gentlemans,
[they] respect each other. Even S, he can't joke with
J." How J and W were actually related I do not
know, for their fathers were not sibmates and I
discovered no genealogical connection.
In other cases, some persons evidently enjoyed
joking. "Ben, he used to be silly man. He likes to
joke! . . . All those Teqwedi-yAtxi he jokes." Ben
was older than the particular joking relatives mentioned,
and nothing was said about their behavior toward
Ben, although our informant indicated that Ben him-
self joked with older men also. "He used to be silly, you
know. He wants to talk."
In speaking of herself, the same informant insisted:
"I don't joke. My 'sisters' used to joke me?that
JW's mother and that SG's mother. Gee, sometimes
I got scared of them! They always talking to me,
joke with me. . . . I can't [joke back] because they're
qacudeqa [should be qacuqadeqa(?), 'elder']." The
specific women mentioned were both CAnkuqedi
women, long since deceased, while the informant was
Kagwantan and apparently belonged to a younger
generation. We do not know on what basis these women
were reckoned as 'sisters,' for the Dry Bay Raven
sibs of their fathers seem to have become confused.
The same informant was not adverse to joking in
general, for she mentioned a woman of her own age
with whom she joked. The latter woman was Teqwedi,
daughter of a Kwackqwan father, whereas our infor-
mant's father was TlukwaxAdi. These two sibs were
linked because they were both of interior origin,
"descended from same place." In addition, the fathers
were said to have been "first cousins," an expression
which can only be interpreted in this case as indicating
distant parallel cousins.
When another informant was asked whether one
could joke with older 'ina na-yAtxi, she maintained:
"It doesn't matter [about their age]. They can just
joke back and forth. Look at Minnie, how old she is
[70 years old]. But there's so many joked with her, no
matter who." She went on to say that her little grand-
daughters could joke with me, since I was the namesake
of the old lady (KDI) who was their joking relative.
However, it was clear from the grandmother's remarks
about the children's attitudes toward their Tlingit
joking relatives that the little girls did feel at a dis-
advantage when teased by adults. Some unpleasant
experiences of this kind might well make a shy or slow
child anxious to avoid the sharp tongue of an older
relative by taking the difference in age or generation as
an excuse for treating the elder with respect.
While this account has attempted to outline the re-
lationships between children of the same sib, or between
closely linked sibs, it should not be taken to mean that
that there were not jokes or fun between sib brothers
and between sib sisters. Rather, the group of sib-
children were supposed to follow in a more formal and
spirited fasion the friendlier aspects of intercourse with
sib-mates. As one informant put it: "Different tribes
[sibs] had to be careful what they said to each other,
or they would have a fight. You can joke with your own
tribe and they won't get mad." (VS/or KDI)
Husbands and Wives
A man addresses or refers to bis wife as 'my wife'
('ax cAt) or 'my baby woman' ('ax caw Adi). His sweet-
heart is 'my little wife' ('ax cAtki). Similarly a woman
would say 'my husband' ('ax xox), 'my man' meaning
"my he man" ('ax qawu), or 'one near me' (ax xin 'a).
All of these terms can be used for direct address and
for reference.
Formerly a man might address his wife as 'mother
of my daughter' ('ax sik du tla) or 'mother of my son'
('ax yitk du tla) after the first child was born. "A
woman can call her husband 'ax yitk du 'ic ['father of
my little son']. They used to say that here. But I don't.
I just say his name, that's all," explained one woman.
This old-fashioned usage corresponds to teknonymy in
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 489
personal names, whereby a man or woman may be
called 'Father of Ceq' or 'Mother of Ceq' (Ceq-'ic,
Ceq-tla), for example, when Ceq is their first or favorite
child. As already indicated, such names may be in-
herited and so do not necessarily designate the parents
of an actual child.
The terms 'husband' (xox) and 'wife' (cAt) may be
compounded with other kin terms in referring to vari-
ous affinal relatives, except those who are designated
by special terms (father-in-law, mother-in-law, sibling-
in-law of the speaker's sex) or who are actually con-
sanguine relatives. These compound terms are used in
direct address, except where intercourse is forbidden by
avoidance rules. In such compounds as 'my husband's
nephew or niece' ('ax xox kelk) or 'my husband's older
brother' ('ax xox hunx), the woman employs the same
kin terms for the sister's child or for the older brother
that her husband would use. (Presumably this would
be true of a man referring to his wife's sister or his
wife's brother's child.) Some of these compounded affinal
terms are of especial importance in designating potential
or preferred spouses: a man's 'older brother's wife'
(hunx cAt), 'uncle's wife' (kak CAt); a woman's 'hus-
band's younger brother' (xox kns) and 'husband's
nephew' (xox kelk). By some oversight, the term speci-
fying the wife's sister was not recorded although I
would assume it would be CAt (du) cAtx or cAt (du) kik,
depending on the relative ages of the women. (See
also p. 490.)
Curiously enough, I was told that the same expression
was used to designate both the widow and the widower
(1 sati cawAt)?literally, 'no master woman.' A similar
expression was used to designate the personal property
of a dead person (1 sati 'At), here translated freely as
"there is no owner for that thing" or 'masterless thing.'
This suggests that the first phrase applies only to the
widow. In any case, it serves to indicate something of
the relationship between husband and wife.
In former times there were polygynous marriages.
"A chief always had one young wife" in addition to
any older ones (Jack E). Cowives addressed each other
as 'ax kAcayi, and were referred to as wuckAcayi.
"Sisters call each other that if they are married to the
same man. They're always 'sisters'?not different tribe
[sib.]." If the cowives were from different sibs they
would quarrel. Being sisters, however, did not neces-
sarily mean that they would live together without
friction.
A man was jealous of his rights in the younger sister
of his wife. "They marry the older sister first, waiting
for the younger sister to be old enough to marry. They're
jealous of that young girl."
There is some uncertainty about polyandry. While
one informant denied the possibility, another main-
tained that a woman might have two husbands at the
2&5-517?72?TOI. VII, pt. 1 33
same time: a man and his nephew, but I do not know
whether he was speaking of a former practice at Yakutat
or at Controller Bay, or whether there was any differ-
ence. I was also told of a specific case in which a man
made his younger brother "marry" his wife, so that she
could have a child (p. 485). For a while the woman was
said to have been married to the two brothers simul-
taneously. We should also note that sibmates may refer
to the wife of one of them as "our wife" (see p. 486).
The evidence suggests, not so much formal polyandry,
as sanctioned sex relations with the wife of an uncle or
an older brother. Thus, what sounds like polyandry
may be only an arrangement of this kind. For example,
the Dry Bay CAnkuqedi married a woman of the mixed
Tlingit-Tutchone Nuqwaqwan of the upper Alsek.
"They married this interior woman. She was called
Duhan. . . . I don't know how many of them marry
her. They brought her down [from Nuqwa'ik]. But she
ran away from them, her husbands. And she ran back
to the interior, I think." (HB jar FI) This was told in
explaining how the CAnkuqedi had obtained rights to
two "sitting down songs" from the Southern Tutchone
(1954, 3-2-E and 3-2-F).
An instance of brothers sharing wives occured in
Dry Bay in 1879. A woman had previously been married
to the older brother, and was than married to the
younger. However, she was still "just fooling around"
or "just running around" with the older brother. The
younger brother was also married to the woman's
sister, which made it almost impossible to disentangle
the parentage of the various children. The informant
said that it was all right in the old days for a woman to
"run around" with her husband's brother. However,
some 30 years later a young Dry Bay girl was warned
against walking around with her husband's brother.
Even more interesting was the confusion or evasion
that baffled attempts to discover the occupancy of
sleeping rooms and the actual parentage of children in
a household of the 1880's. This included several brothers
or male parallel cousins, at least two of whom are re-
ported to have had two wives at the same time. It
would appear that in this household the younger
brother, though married, had access to his older broth-
er's wife. In still another case that occurred at Yakutat
at the turn of the century the younger unmarried
brother appears to have had sexual rights in his older
brother's wife. "He just stay around," the implication
being that the youth could sleep with his older brother's
wife even during the husband's lifetime. The story
of the war between the Sitka Kagwantan and the
Wrangell people (see p. 281) would indicate that even
paternal parallel cousins in different sibs, living in
different districts, had the same rights as actual
brothers. "His father's brother's son . . . took his
wife away, because that's the Indian custom. They
490 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
always take the oldest brother's wife away. It's fine
and dandy with him." The husband "called that man
his brother, so he don't care" until the remarks of his
sib-mates made him angry.
Through an oversight I neglected to obtain the kin
terms used by a man to address his brother's wife.
One informant gave the form xwaca which I understood
was the man's term for older brother's wife, but which
is really the word for 'I married.' In other words, the
younger brother speaks as if he also had married the
older brother's wife. "Xwaca is what they call [say
about] the older brother's wife, if they marry her or
not."Swanton (1908, p. 425) makes clear, moreover, that
a man calls his brother's wife and a woman her sister's
husband by the same terms that each would use for his
or her own spouse (cAt, xox).
Marriage was evidently considered as involving ac-
tivity on the part of the man and passivity on the part
of the woman, as is indicated by the employment of
active and passive verbal forms for the two sexes.
Thus, a man will say 'I married' (xwaca), or one may
say of him 'he married (her)' ('awtrca). A woman,
however, will say 'he (or someone) married me' (xAt
duduwaca, or XAt wixduwaca), and one will say of her
'she was married' ('uwaca; see Boas 1917, p. 45), to
mean "she is a married woman." Similarly a man will
say 'I will marry' (kuqwAca), while a woman will say
'I will be married' (xAt gugwAca, 'me he will marry').
These usages suggest the slightly greater freedom
that a man had in the choice of a spouse. While most
first marriages of boys and girls were arranged by their
elders, the girl had rarely even the power to refuse an
unwelcome suitor, while the boy could take the initia-
tive of asking his relatives to request for him the wife
he desired. The grown man also seems to have enjoyed
much more freedom than the grown woman in arranging
a second marriage.
Marriage was not considered to be exclusively or even
primarily the concern of the two spouses, but was
rather an alliance between their two lineages. If high-
ranking lines were involved, a marriage between them
linked their respective sibs in much the same fashion as
a union between royal families might ally two sovereign
states. For this reason, a young person often had little
to say in the matter, for the marriage was arranged by
the parents, older brothers, and maternal uncles, some-
times gathered in a family council, and they considered
how family fortunes and prestige might be affected by
the projected alliance rather than the preferences of the
young man or young woman involved. Family con-
siderations were especially important if those to be
betrothed were of high rank and if a substantial ex-
change of property were involved (pp. 458-459).
Marriages took place, of course, between members of
opposite moieties, for in the old days a union within the
moiety would have been considered incestuous. Further-
more, it was considered especially appropriate for the
spouse to be a member of the father's lineage or sib.
That is, a paternal aunt or her daughter ('at) was pre-
ferred as a wife, and a paternal uncle or a paternal aunt's
son (sAni) as a husband.
Equally or perhaps even more desirable when chiefly
lines were involved was the marriage between a man
and his mother's brother's daughter (du kak si),
especially since previous unions in the parental genera-
tion are likely to have made the girl the daughter of a
paternal aunt. (It will be remembered that parallel
cousins are classed as siblings.)
Even little children absorbed the idea of who were
the relatives most desirable as their future spouses.
One woman in speaking of her husband's two little
nephews, reported: "Even when they were small,
P and J says, 'I'm going to marry H. Have lots of toys
when my uncle dies.' J says, 'I'm older.' They have it
just in their mind, I guess. They were just born with
it, all these things [ideas]."
Most first marriages were with the widowed spouse
of a maternal relative, often with someone older than
the young person's own father or mother. Substitutes
for the deceased wife were her younger sister or parallel
cousin, her daughter by a previous marriage, or the
daughter of her sister or of her female parallel cousin.
Those who took a dead husband's place were his younger
brother or male parallel cousin, or his maternal "neph-
ew" (the son of his sister or of his female parallel cousin,
or even of his sister's daughter). There was no known
rule against marriage of a man with the widow of his
younger brother, yet while one informant hazarded
that this might occur if there were no junior male to
marry the widow, she knew of no case in which this
had actually happened.
What was stressed was the necessity or propriety
for perpetuating the previously established marriage
arrangements. "A man has to marry his older brother's
widow. If the younger brother dies first, his older
brother marries the widow. As long as they keep that
woman in the tribe [sib]. It's a disgrace if they don't.
It hurts for her to go to any other tribe. . . . If there's
a younger one in the tribe, that's the one she has to
marry. If there's none, the older brother just have to
marry her." "A widow is supposed to marry her dead
husband's brother, either the younger or the older one.
If there was no brother, the widow goes free to marry
someone else." "[They] never let the widow marry
another tribe. Pick the youngest man in the family to
take care of her and keep one girl as his second wife
when the old lady dies."
Very frequently the husband of a woman designated
the young man, traditionally one of his "nephews," who
was to marry his wife in the event of his death, just as
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 491
the girl in the above instance was chosen. Such a
young man is called a "reserved husband," 'husband
intended-for' (xox sukw) or 'her near-one's stand-in (?)'
(du xAn du 'ayi). The young man was presumably his
uncle's heir.
In one sense, all "correct" marriages renewed the
previous alliances that had linked two lineages, since
they were contracted with a paternal kinsman (or
kinswoman) and so duplicated the earlier ties between
the parents, or they involved taking the place of a
deceased relative and so preserved the ties with affinal
kinfolk. There was a strong feeling that when a suc-
cessful marriage had been contracted it should not
be allowed to lapse because of the death of one of the
principals. The surviving spouse had not only the
right to claim a substitute spouse from the lineage
(or sib) of the deceased, but was also under obligation
to take another mate from it. To turn elsewhere im-
plied that the first alliance had been unsatisfactory.
Thus a widow was entitled to receive support in the
form of a new husband, and the lineage or sib of her
dead husband had to provide him. Conversely, she was
still the "wife" of that sib, and was not at liberty to
marry outside it except at the risk of making trouble
between the relatives of the old husband and those of
the new one. It would be a "big shame" to the sib
of the deceased, and they might fight.
A widower also had the right to claim a replacement
for his dead wife, but was not under such strict obli-
gation to contract a second union with his dead wife's
kinswoman. From personal reminiscences we gather
that a girl had more chance to refuse a suitor when
there were no close prior ties uniting the two lines
than if she were chosen to take the place of a dead
relative or if she herself were widowed and a new
husband had been appointed for her. Similarly, a
youth could rarely escape the obligation of marrying
the widow of his uncle or older brother, but as he
himself grew older he had far more freedom of choice.
A fully established man did not have to accept the
substitute wife proffered him if he were widowed,
but was often in the position of being able to arrange
a shift with a younger brother in order to get the
woman he desired. The degree of freedom to choose
or to reject a proposed spouse must have depended
to some extent upon the determination and strength
of character of the personalities involved.
One of my older informants in speaking of the past
often had occasion to make such comments as the fol-
lowing: "They made him marry Bess, his uncle's
widow. That's customary a long time ago. No matter
how old a woman [is], you got to take your uncle's
place." "They make him marry after Kate, so he had
to marry that woman with all those kids." "My oldest
brother, L, they made him marry an old lady. Oh, I
was just crying myself. . . . She had been married to
Y, my grandma's brother [mother's mother's brother]
and had children. He died, and a close relation's got to
take his place. So L married her." "She was married
to Q [an old man]. They make her take her aunty's
place. She was just a young girl. It's a dirty shame!"
(MJ)
As already mentioned, sometimes a nephew was
named in advance as the "reserved husband," but such
arrangements might fall through. In one such case, the
older brother of our informant had been appointed.
"His uncle promise his wife his nephew is going to take
his place. She wouldn't allow my brother to marry
anybody he wish to. She made him stay single." How-
ever, the youth died long before his uncle, and the
latter did not designate a successor because the most
eligible remaining nephew "wouldn't stand for it."
Of a similar case involving another brother and an-
other uncle, my informant said: "The nephew's got to
take their uncle's place. He's supposed to take my
uncle's place. Uncle is supposed to make his nephew
marry his wife. A few days afterwards [after the uncle's
death], my brother refused to take his uncle's wife. . . .
That woman takes it for granted [that he would marry
her]. She won't allow [him] to talk to anybody [any
other woman]. He went out to escape that trouble,"
and met with a fatal accident.
Another case involved a more serious rebellion on the
part of the nephew of a lineage chief who died in 1890.
Everything had been arranged for the nephew's mar-
riage with the widow, when he ran off with another
woman who was already married and had two children.
"They felt so bad about it," remarked our informant.
(MJ)
In later days, when young nephews refused to assume
their expected obligations, the widow might keep or
try to keep her husband's house and property in order
to force the nephew to marry her. There are still some
in Yakutat today who feel that the young man is
under an obligation to care for his uncle's widow, even
though he does not actually marry her. There have
been recent cases of bitter disappointment when this
did not happen.
Not all young men, however, were reluctant to marry
an older woman. Thus one informant explained that her
father, when only 16 became "stuck on" her mother,
then a middle-aged woman, because "she's neat and
clean and sews good, and when he's married he'll not
lose money." The woman at first said that she was too
old to remarry, but finally accepted him.
It is difficult to judge how much freedom a widow
might have in remarrying. I was told: "The widow
492 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
remarries as soon as her husband's things are divided
[among his relatives]. She can say which one she wants
for her next husband, even if he is already married.
Then he has to give his former wife to his brother and
he takes the new one. The widow would never invite
him to bring his old wife, too." This statement may
reflect more modern Christian ethic, for it is apparent
from genealogies that the widow did sometimes accept
a cowife, and often had no choice in the selection
of her next husband. The same informant went on to
tell how her own mother wept when forced to marry
the young nephew allotted to her. "You have to do
what your family says." Another woman said: "When
your husband died, that's the time they take out
your husband's things [to distribute. Then they say:]
'This man over here, he's going to marry this woman
over here.' That woman, even if they [she] don't want
it, they [she] can't do anything." A third woman, how-
ever, affirmed: "The widow chooses her own husband,
and if he's already married he gets a better man to
take his place. But if she marries someone outside the
tribe, that means war."
Marriages with the deceased uncle's widow often
resulted in such disparity of age that the young man
who "took his uncle's place" was given or promised a
young girl to be his wife in addition to the old woman.
This girl might be her younger sister, younger parallel
cousin, or even the woman's daughter. This last case,
of course, results in marriage with the mother's brother's
daughter. Sometimes it was the mother herself who gave
her daughter to her young husband when she became
old. We were also told about a somewhat different arrange-
ment whereby the uncle married a young girl and gave
her older sister to his nephew. Eventually when the
older spouses died the young people would marry each
other. This was felt to make up to them for having had
to marry their elders. Quite possibly the uncle had been
originally married to the older sister, but "shifted the
fat and old one" to his nephew, as he might have to a
younger brother, in order to get the younger sister.
Furthermore, as already indicated, the nephew in
former times had access to his uncle's wife.
About one marriage between a widow and her hus-
band's nephew it was said: "She raised him since he
was 6 years old. Li old days they would marry an old
woman and marry her young cousin [also] to take care
of the old woman. But in old days, even if I use cane,
he [my husband's nephew] is supposed to marry me to
take care of me. That's the way olden time is. [The
old woman] just like a mother to him. That's the way
[So-and-so] is?takes that young girl besides [the old
widow]."
I was also told of a number of cases of marriage be-
tween a man and his stepdaughter (maternal uncle's
daughter or brother's daughter).
While relations between individual husband and wife
obviously varied according to their respective person-
alities and were often characterized by deep affection,
traditionally there was always the feeling that the wife
was the foreigner in her husband's house. In time of
trouble between their respective sibs the husband's
people could not count on the loyalty of the wife, for
her allegiance was usually to her own brothers. There
are also stories of wars provoked by faithless wives.
If a relative of one spouse were injured or killed by
accident and a relative of the other were held responsi-
ble, a situation which was likely to occur if the victim
were the child of the couple, then the father and
mother, no matter what their private grief, were
perforce alined on opposing sides until a formal peace
ceremony had been held and damages paid to settle
the case. Always at potlatches the husband and wife
were separated, affiliated alternately with the hosts
and with the guests, as one moiety or the other gave
the ceremony. Although husband and wife did actually
cooperate as an economic team and in fact helped each
other informally when one had to make a contribution
to a potlatch, in theory they were completely distinct
legal and economic personalities, and could not hold
joint property nor could one inherit from the other.
Only in matters of magic and religion where the strict
observance of taboos might be necessary to insure
success in dangerous or uncertain undertakings, was
the wife closely linked to her husband, for her behavior,
as much as his own, had a direct effect upon his luck.
All of these considerations undoubtedly gave the
marriage relationship a distinct cast.
Mothers-in-Law and Fathers-in-Law
Most Tlingit marriages were not conceived as adding
new relatives so much as changing the relationships
between already existing ones. For the new husband,
a formerly beloved paternal aunt ('at), uncle's wife
(kak cAt), or older brother's wife (hunx CAt), or some
woman of the opposite moiety with whom he had
once flirted, now might become his mother-in-law
(tcan), a woman whom he had to avoid. "It's worse to
talk to her than to 'ax cawu ['my moiety sister']," one
man explained. "The son-in-law can't talk to his
mother-in-law. She has to hide her face when she
meets him." "She is ashamed to be near him. She's
ashamed to talk to her son-in-law, du si xox, or to her
own brothers." Since the young couple usually lived,
at least at first, in the house of the wife's father and
mother, the latter and her son-in-law must have had
to develop techniques of mutual avoidance. Presum-
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 493
ably when a man married a stepdaughter during the
mother's lifetime, her mother retired as wife and
assumed the status of mother-in-law, but I obtained
no information on this point.
The son-in-law (si xox) and the father-in-law (wu)
also observed almost as strict avoidance, even though
the father-in-law might be the brother or mother's
brother. "The son-in-law never spoke to the girl's
father or mother?too much respect. . . . [The father-
in-law] don't talk straight to his face?just talks to his
own daughter. If he wants something to be done, he
has to ask his daughter." "In the old days a man
wouldn't take a look at his wife's mother. Also a man
would never talk to his son-in-law. He would talk to
him by way of his daughter, saying, 'Daughter, fetch
the wood,' or 'Daughter, I want you to get that canoe,'
for example. . . But the mother-in-law don't say a
word."ffl "Respect?they sure respect each other.
Your wife's mother and father you're going to respect.
You're not going to talk to them. Sure got respect."
It has been noted that the son-in-law owed bride-
service to his parents-in-law and often lived with his
father-in-law until he had rendered it. Of course, if he
were no longer a young man but an established man
of some wealth, he would give gifts instead. These
would be reciprocated. For example, "precious" sib
songs have been mentioned as included in the property
given by the bride's sib to the son-in-law of rank. In
this manner the Chilkat Kagwantan gave a mourning
song to Cada, the Yakutat Kwactqwan chief, when
he married a Kagwantan girl. The son-in-law in a
number of instances established himself in a house
near that of his father-in-law. If the men belonged to
different sibs, the son-in-law was, of course, permitted
to hunt on the sib territory of his father-in-law, whether
he were settled permanently with or near the latter or
simply staving temporarily with him. I was told of
one man who became rich because his "fathers-in-law?
du wu hAs?gave him the best trap lines."
The relationship between daughter-in-law (yit CAt)
and mother-in-law (tcan) seems not to have been
formalized. One woman, when pressed for details, said:
"A woman is respectful to her mother-in-law. Her
mother-in-law teaches her." She herself treats her
daughter-in-law just as she would her own daughter,
she said. Perhaps it would be safe to say that a woman's
mother-in-law carries on the role played by her paternal
aunt, especially since they are likely to be in fact the
same person. Nevertheless there were evidently
naughty young wives who resented the teachings and
63
 Durlach (1929, pp. 36 ?.), reports that Louis Shotridge, her
Chilkat informant, and his mother-in-law used to communicate
with each other in the same manner as that described for the
father and son-in-law.
supervision of their mothers-in-law (see p. 893), so this
ideal relationship did not always obtain in actual
practice.
The daughter-in-law and her father-in-law (wu) are,
however, on terms of the greatest intimacy, and this
is the more surprising since they are members of the
same moiety and, by preference, of the same sib or
even lineage. "A daughter-in-law is like your own wife.
You can be friendly, walk around together. The husband
lets his wife go with his father, nobody else. [This did
not imply sexual relations.] She could go to the sweat-
house with her father-in-law. He showed her off in all
kinds of public places. At the potlatch the daughter-
in-law sits alongside of her father-in-law. That's why
they got to marry different tribe [sib in the opposite
moiety]. It's a shameful thing to be father-in-law to
your own son's relation. But now it's different."
The relationship also involved joking in public, and
the license extended to all sib daughters-in-law; that
is, a man could joke with any woman married to his
son's sib brother, or to the sib brother of his adopted
son. Reciprocally, a woman could joke with any man
of her husband's father's sib, but she was apparently
less likely to avail herself of this freedom.
As one woman explained it: "Father-in-law and
daughter-in-law are the best jokers. They called me
tlakw [mother's sister] because I was bashful. All [my
husband's paternal uncles] called me that." That is,
her "fathers-in-law" teased her because she was too
shy to joke back, yet classified her as a maternal aunt
because this was one of the few women hi one's own
moiety with whom a man could talk. On another
occasion she said: "They always joke with daughter-
in-law. All Teqwedi call me tlalkw They adopt me as
a mother [in fun] because I'm married to their adopted
son. Old and young, all the men joke with me. They
tease me about myself, not about my children. When
I was young, I was bashful. Just the men joke." This
woman is Kagwantan, and therefore her husband said
that he could joke with any woman who was married
to a Kagwantan man because they would be just like
the wife of his Kagwantan son.
A man whom I was questioning about moiety sisters
went on to comment: "I can't talk to them, or josh with
them. I can't joke with any woman in the Eagle tribe
[his moiety], until one of them marries to my son. That's
the only one." The speaker, who is Kagwantan like
the woman HK, mentioned that the latter's husband
is the son of a Kagwantan father. "HK is 'ax yit CAt
[my son's wife] because her husband is Kagwantan-
yAdi. I can joke with her." However, he could not
joke with her sister because the latter's husband is not
the son of a Kagwantan man. My informant was not
sure of the kind of jokes that were formerly used be-
cause "that was way before my time. They joke with
494 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
their son's wives only in potlatches, and things like
that?not every day." Apparently to joke with a sib
daughter-in-law when the occasion was not a formal
or public one, such as a potlatch, was like an insult or
like a challenge which automatically put the husband
into a potlatch situation. "It costs them money, if
they do it any day. Like if I go down there and joke,
or say something to her like 'Let's go to the dance,'
[HK's husband] has to spend lots of money to my tribe.
Even if he had a big boat he might have to give up that
boat, just give it away. That's the way they are. They
just give up everything that's valuable to them, to
Kagwantan [the sib of the wife and of the speaker]."
When asked for further clarification, he added: "If
you joke with a woman you're not supposed to, it's
an insult"?in this case presumably to the husband.
No other informant, however, restricted the joking
to potlatches. One older woman said, "Yes, it used to
be you have some kind of fun with that son's wife in
the olden times. Like that?they give them lots of
nicknames, just like friends give each other nicknames.
Yes, my husband's father and I would joke if I see him
and if his father was Tlingit [her husband's father had
been White], I call him 'ax wu ['my father-in-law'].
The man calls his daughter-in-law 'ax yit CAt ['my
son's wife']."
HK's nickname of "mother's sister" is a joke of this
type. A more striking example is the name Xatgawet,
by which the famous Teqwedi shaman and rich aristo-
crat is usually known. He is said to have acquired it
when his daughter-in-law broke wind in public and he
asked "XAt gawE?"?'maybe it's me?' or 'is it I?'
So he was called Xatgawet, the nickname being formed
by adding a final t to the question. One of my informants
believed that he said this to save his daughter-in-law
from embarassment, but it is more likely that he was
teasing her. Mention of this nickname still provokes
amusement, even though it has been assumed as a honor-
able title by the Bear House Teqwedi.
The only other example which I heard of joking
between a father-in-law and daughter-in-law occurred
during a funeral potlatch in 1945. The "father-in-law",
Peter L., was a Kagwantan man "who had so many
wives he couldn't keep track of his family connections.
He would always flirt with the girls no matter how
old he was." My informant and a friend, who were
both his "daughters-in-law" because they were mar-
ried to Kagwantan-sons, used to "have fun with him."
He had been singing some traditional mourning songs
at the potlatch given for the dead mother of our in-
formant, when the latter suggested to her friend,
"Let's have some fun!" Perhaps she said this to prevent
the man from monopolizing the affair, or because the
time had come to turn from sorrow to comedy. The
women therefore fetched some pictures of bathing
beauties and of naked girls, and when the time came
to distribute presents to their Raven guests, they an-
nounced that these pictures were being given away
in honor of their "father-in-law." The latter, however,
evidently did not get the point of the joke, or realize
that the pinup girls were to twit him about his many
matrimonial ventures, for when the pictures were
displayed before the distribution, he remarked seri-
ously that they were "pretty good pictures."
Despite the great differences in connotation and in
behavior, the same terms for father-in-law (wu),
mother-in-law (tcan), son-in-law (si xox) and daughter-
in-law (yit CAt), are used by both sexes.
Brothers-in-Law and Sisters-in-Law
Siblings-in-law of the same sex called each other
'ax kani in address and reference, and were designated
by a third person as wutc-kani-yAn (collective plural).
The husband of a man's sister's daughter and, recip-
rocally, the brother of a wife's mother are also con-
sidered as kani. The term may be extended still further
by a male speaker to apply to any man married to
a sib sister or by a female speaker to any wife of a
sib brother. Thus, any Kwackqwan woman may greet
HK as sister-in-law (kani), because HK is married
to a Kwackqwan man and is a "Kwackqwan wife."
(However, if the speaker's father were Kagwantan,
then she should address HK as 'my paternal aunt'
('ax 'at), since HK is Kagwantan cawAt, and a con-
sanguineal term is preferred to an affinal one.) Con-
versely, the Kwackqwan husband of HK is said to
have "married into Kagwantan," and is called 'brother-
in-law of Kagwantan' (kani of Kagwantan).
At such intersib ceremonies as potlatches or peace
dances, the married-in brothers-in-law of a sib play
an important role as go-betweens, messengers and
masters-of-ceremony. They are called 'sib brothers-
in-law' (na-kani). Thus, the hosts send men who have
married then- sib sisters as nakani to escort the guests,
that is, the sibmates of these brothers-in-law, when
they come to the hosts' village. The sib brothers-in-
law distribute the hosts' gifts to their own people,
the guests. In their turn, the guests have their own
nakani as their spokesmen, members of the hosts'
sib who have married their sib sisters. In time of war
such nakani acted as negotiators between the two
sibs. On some occasions by preference, and on others
in default of a man, a sister-in-law acted as nakani.
When a woman was asked how women behaved
toward their sisters-in-law (kani), she maintained:
IN THREE PARTS THE SOCIAL WORLD 495
"We don't joke and we have no special way of respect."
"Kani can't insult each other. They are respectful to
each other." A man was more explicit about the be-
havior of brothers-in-law. "He [my wife's brother] has
to give me lots of things, so I can have a lot of respect
for his sister. But if I wanted something, I'm going
to give him something, and then there will be a time
when I'm going to need something, and then they're
going to go up and give me all I need." He explained
that while kani was a reciprocal term of address, the
gift-giving was all in favor of the sister's husband. Of
the wife's brother:?"If there's anything he really
like, [if] he'd rather give his life than give that thing?
if I come over and talk about how I like it, he has to
give it to me. That way I have all the respect to his
sister, my wife. Myself, if I give him anything, there
will be a time when I need something, in a potlatch
mostly?sometimes they will tell a person to sing
and that costs money. And they [my wife's brothers]
going to gather up and bring everything they can,
everything they got." That is, the brothers-in-law,
although among the guests, will help to defray the
contribution which the sister's husband must make
if he sings.
It was also appropriate for a man to perform a
ceremonial service for his sister's husband. For example,
I was told that the Tl'uknaxAdi man who carved the
Bear Post for the Teqwedi Bear House on Khantaak
Island (pp. 319-320) refused pay for it at the house-
building potlatch because he was the 'brother-in-law'
of the house chief, his sister's daughter's husband.
Obviously the Teqwedi were under obligation to make
a particularly generous payment in return if the house
post were to be valued.
Traditional gifts given by a man to his sister's
husband were furs and, more recently, clothing. The
Tlingit of southeastern Alaska either introduced or
took advantage of this custom in developing trade
relations with the Gulf of Alaska natives. It should
be noted that under normal circumstances there was
a strong feeling of reciprocity. We thus find the woman
giving her best preserved foods to her brother (that
is, contributing in effect to the larder of her sister-in-
law), and acting as the most important relative in all
ceremonies attending the life crises of her brother's
wife and children. For these services, as well as for
the gifts to her nephews and nieces, she was handsomely
repaid by her brother.
However, we get the impression that the major
economic flow went originally from the man to his
wife's father and the latter's sib, and that subsequently
the return came back to the husband from his wife's
sib. Despite the gifts given by him to his brother-in-law,
it seems to have been the sister's husband who profited
in the long run. As between sisters-in-law, it was the
brother's wife who received most, either for herself
or for her children and her household.
Those persons who had married siblings were known
by a special term ('Atica). This is used only in reference,
not in address. (No special relationship, however,
linked the siblings of a pair of spouses.) Helen and
Esther are each other's du 'Atica because they have
married half brothers. As one man explained it, James
and William are wutc-'Atica (reflexive) because they
have married two sisters. They are "like brothers-in-
law, I guess. . . . If I marry a woman, whoever her
brother is married to?his wife would be my 'ax 'Atica."
In other words, this relationship was recognized be-
tween persons of opposite sex, as well as of the same
sex, provided they were married to a pair of siblings.
A woman expressed this in similar fashion: "See, I'm
married to Mrs. D's brother, and that Mr. D is my
'Atica. That's the way." When asked how she addressed
Mr. D, "I don't say anything to him, just say 'hel-
low.' . . . I just like him because he's married to my
husband's sister." It is doubtful whether wutc-'Atica
of opposite sex ever addressed each other directly in
former times, for they would have been sib-mates or
moiety-mates. Rather, it was the relationship between
those of the same sex that was important.
Between wutc-'Atica of the same sex there was
supposed to be rivalry; sometimes real, sometimes on
a purely friendly and joking basis. One man said:
"Wuc-hAs h-tcic?'they got to beat each other.' I
got to beat him. I got to do everything I can to make a
better living than him, and satisfy my wife's parents.
Man-to-man, same way?got to be best hunters, good
at everything. He's, going to try to do the same way,
too." The rivals do not boast, but "people on the
outside, I guess," would compare their respective
merits. If the men who were rivals lived in the same
house, "that makes it worse then. You have to work
real hard." The informant believed that wutc-'Atica of
opposite sex were also rivals, although he did not know
how they would compete.
A woman in speaking of the relationship stressed
the friendly joking, perhaps because she herself was
on such good terms with the wife of her husband's
half brother. "The women kid each other. Sometimes
they deny the relationship, try to be higher than the
other. . . . (They may say), 'I'm not your 'Atica. You
don't have to criticise me like that!' . . . Some people
just hate one another. . . . But we share. . . . If I have
something new, I have to share it with her. . . . But
some people don't get along together. Men and women
du 'Atica kid each other," and she mentioned that
she jokes with her husband's sister's husband (both
members of the same moiety). When asked how she
and her husband's brother's wife addressed each other,
496 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
she exclaimed: "We never say anything to each other and would joke about their own or each other's poverty,
[use kin terms]. We just insult each other when we They would "always say that Ti'uknaca are rich and
meet. We never get mad. We like each other. I can't proud; Galyix-Kagwantan are poor, in rags. When we
get along without her." The two women belong respec- have lots of skins, then we say we look like Kwaclica
tively to the Qalyix-Kagwantan and DAqdentan sibs, [their husbands' sib sisters]."
The Life Cycle
265-517?72?voL VII, pt. 1 34
498 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
BIRTH
Introduction
The Yakutat think of the life of an individual as
similar to a journey around the curving shore of a bay
(p. 530), during which he grows old and finally becomes
childlike, when he dies and returns as a baby once more.
Thus, there is no real beginning of the life cycle in the
native mind, since every baby born is believed to be
the reincarnation of some maternal relative who has
died, and each individual nearing death is consoled by
the prospect of a future incarnation, while the relatives
anticipate his return to them again as a baby. There-
fore, as a beginning, I can only select arbitrarily the
time when a woman conceives, and follow her child
through his life on earth, reserving for later pages a
discussion of the great ceremonies that honor his
memory, and the nature and fate of his soul in the
afterworld.
I did not attempt to secure information about sexual
practices, respecting the obvious reserve of friends in
such matters. There is certainly nothing to suggest that
the Tlingit were ever ignorant of physiological paternity,
although I do not know how knowledge of physical
procreation was fitted into beliefs about the return of
the soul. While two episodes of the Raven myths (the
Birth of Raven, p. 844; and the Theft of Daylight, p.
853) deal with miraculous conception caused by
swallowing something, these events owe their dramatic
quality to the knowledge that they were miraculous.
In other myths, as in biographical sketches of real
persons, physical resemblances to the father or to his
relatives may be pointed out, even though it is resem-
blance to a deceased maternal relative that often gives
the clue to the identity of the reincarnated soul. When
tracing genealogies, informants were just as anxious as
the ethnographer to indicate who were the true parents
of an individual, even though this was difficult in cases
where there had been polygynous families or ones in
which the spouses had been married several times.
Despite the matrilineal structure of society, the father's
line is as clearly defined and emphasized as that of the
mother, although in a different way. When children
were born into a polygynous family, they often did not
seem to know who were then* full brothers and sisters.
Minnie Johnson, who referred to both her true mother
and the latter's older sister and cowife as "my mother,"
seems actually to have become confused as to which was
her true parent.
It was difficult to ascertain whether boys or girls
were more desired. One woman (MJ) thought that boys
were believed to be better because: "I guess they
think the boy can take care of family . . . because a
man strong enough to support. But a woman can't
do it." Then she added: "A man can't get along without
a woman, that I know." Another woman countered,
however: "That girl, you know, that family counted
to ten. There's going to be ten people out of that woman.
More than anything they think about it." This pro-
voked the first to comment: "More particular about a
girl than the boy. Boy's only boy, and girl increase the
family." The second woman explained: "White people
count with the father. Tlingit people, that's their
mother's side. That's why." She also believed that
girls were punished more than boys, because wars were
provoked by bad women.
On another occasion, MJ stated: "A long time ago
girls were more valuable than boys. [When] a tribe
getting low down [few in numbers], a girl will always
raise more kids to increase the family. . . . [If an
indemnity is paid for a killing], they don't pay much for
boys, but they pay double for girls, because a girl more
valuable than a man. Man is husky enough to take care
of himself, but they value a woman more than a man."
(However, see p. 604, where a woman is reckoned less
valuable than a man.)
At present, large families of both boys and girls are
desired, and a baby of either sex seems to be welcomed
and loved, no matter how poor the family. If the parents
drink, however, their interest, even in a young baby,
may soon be lost and the older children suffer extreme
neglect. In these cases, there is usually some older
relative to welcome and care for the children. Very few
children have been sent to asylums, for orphans are
usually adopted by grandparents, or by an uncle or
aunt. Sometimes the child of living parents may be
given to a widowed grandmother for adoption, es-
pecially if she needs the child's help and the parents
have many children. In this respect, I believe that old
women are generally more fortunate than old men,
although there are perhaps too few cases on which
to base a generalization. In the old days, the multi-
family household offered a secure home not only for the
aged but for the baby. Only the bastard was without
status, except for one close to that of the slave. Now
even the fatherless child is a beloved member of the
family, at least as long as the unwed mother remains at
home.
In former days, even a woman who had children of
her own could ask for and receive a baby from her
sister. Thus, one man born in 1893 was given at birth
to his mother's sister for adoption, to console her for
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 499
the loss of her baby son. He did not learn who his
actual parents were until he was 16 years old, when
his true father died. As a boy, he lived in both families,
and mourned both real and adopted parents with
equal grief.
Personal Characteristics Believed
Determined at Birth
Many physical characteristics, such as birthmarks,
are believed to be scars received in a previous incarna-
tion. Stuttering was explained by some as due to
careless construction of the baby carrier, while others
said it was because the child had drowned in his
previous incarnation; the water had gone into his
mouth when he was trying to call for help, so he could
not talk properly.
If a child were a deaf-mute, the explanation was:
"Raven make believe he can't talk. He puts pitch
around his mouth. People is talking about it. He start
to explain to them, but he goes 'hmm hmm.' [There is a
saying:] 'Even Raven pitched his mouth together and
is starting to talk. He just mumble.' That explains why
some people can't talk. . . . [Raven had done this
because] Raven don't want to get into trouble with
the people." The informant cited two examples of deaf
and dumb children in the KwacRqwan sib, one of whom
had been born in that condition, and the other who
had lost his hearing through illness in infancy. "They
would say about [the latter], it's because he's Raven's
tribe."
No explanation of left-handedness (yAtsat) was
known, although I was told that parents might try to
correct this. "They wrap up his [left] hand so he won't
do it [use it]. . . . It works, but the minute you take
the rag off, they grab with the left hand. It's the natural,
I think." However, "left-handed people seem to be
more handy. I don't understand why," and a number
of left-handed persons who were skilled carpenters or
hunters were mentioned.
While it is evident that in former times abnormal
babies were destroyed at birth, I heard nothing to
indicate that twins fell in that category. They are
known to run in certain families, and a number of
examples were cited by my friends. Contrary to the
belief of other Tlingit groups that the birth of twins
presages disaster (de Laguna, 1954, p. 182), the Yakutat
people say: "Twins are really precious. . . . Twins is
a pleasure to us. No, we don't have much luck with
twins in Yakutat," and a woman enumerated all the
twins that had died.
Another woman confirmed the belief that twins were
desired. "It's good. That's a lucky people got the twins,
they says." And the twins themselves, if they survive,
are also lucky. This attitude seems to be particularly
close to that of the Chugach Eskimo (Birket-Smith,
1953, p. 4).
Since infant mortality has always been high, it is
natural that twins should have less chance of survival
than children born singly.
Sex might or might not be determined before birth,
according to native belief, and it was uncertain whether
there was any way to determine or control it. At any
rate, it was believed that certain babies had been boys,
but turned into girls at the time of birth (see p. 778).
TRANS VESTITES
There were apparently sexually abnormal persons,
who grew up to be transvestites or berdaches, although
it is believed that the nature of such individuals was
determined at birth. "It's a man mostly acts like a
woman; that's the one they call gAtxan." This word is
usually translated as "coward."
"They claim the one that got 13 children, the last
one becomes gAtxan." The number in this case seems
to reflect European fairytale influence.
In one version of the story of the woman who married
the Sun, the woman had eight children: seven boys,
and the eighth, half-girl and half-boy, a gAtxan. This
woman was CAnkuqedi, the narrator explained: "That
'coward,' half-girl and half-boy, always comes back in
this tribe," meaning that the transvestite's soul was
reincarnated so that the condition was hereditary in
this sib.
According to another version (p. 875), there were four
sons, and it was the fifth who was a 'coward.' These
were Teqwedi, which is why the Teqwedi shamans have
the Children of the Sun as familiar spirits, and why
the Teqwedi have a title to Coward House (gAtxan
hit). There was no suggestion, however, that this sib
had actual transvestites.
There were apparently a series of stories about a
particular transvestite, who was unusually strong and
very stupid (p. 895). "That story is always funny.
And the way he talks, too, he's always funny." This
person always made mistakes because he was too stupid
to understand what people said, taking metaphorical
or magical expressions in their literal meaning, or
confusing two words that sound alike. As the narrator
explained:
"It's more funny when they tell it in Tlingit." He
believed that the transvestite wore woman's clothes,
although "all they say is he acts like a woman." He
would attach himself to another man, "the one he
claims is his husband. . . . Maybe he might use the op-
posite tribe for his husband.... He laugh at it, too, the
way the story goes." There was, however, no institution
500 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
of "marriage" or of permanent liaison between men.
"They don't marry them. He always goes around with
it [the berdache] though, just can't get away. Maybe
he's the one try to kill him. . . . Here in Alaska they
never like it. They always try to kill them; make it
look like accident."
The berdache was not supposed to be magically
gifted, or lucky, or skilled. When the informant was
asked if he knew of any, he recalled a young man who
had died about 1942 in a sanitarium. "He acts like a
woman, even uses women's clothes sometimes. I forget
his name. They said he may be that gAtxan [i.e., the
reincarnation of the berdache of the stories. This young
man was a Eaven], Funny though, he's not real strong.
They're always strong [in traditions]. . . . No matter
what they do, they won't die. Stronger than a number
of men. The funny part of it though, this Md, he's
not the 13th child. But he acts like a woman and he
always goes among women."
There was apparently no recognition of female homo-
sexuals, although Dr. Grace de Laguna, when passing
through Yakutat in 1933, saw a woman who appeared
to be such from her physical appearance, bearing, and
clothing. One informant, who apparently recognized
the individual from this description, claimed that "she
was not a real one. It was just a girl who liked to dress
like a boy and had her hair cut short." The man from
whom most of this information is quoted, denied that
he had ever heard of a woman who acted like a man,
though some women work as hard as men do. Such big
husky women, as well as women who can take a man's
role at a potlatch (p. 642), are admired. One such
woman, even though she affected a man's big hat was
described as a "big, respectable woman." She was
married, although she never had any children.
Pregnancy
Conception is known to follow intercourse, and preg-
nancy is said to last "10 months." This expression may
refer to lunations, not our calendar months, although
to judge by the number of instances in which this and
similar expressions were used, I believe it means that
pregnancy lasts through 9 months and that birth occurs
during the 10th. However, when an experienced mid-
wife said: "[They] count the months they carry a
child. First baby is 10 months," I believe that she was
using the expression as we would, to mean that the
birth of the first child is usually delayed.
During pregnancy the baby is supposed to occupy a
different position in the womb each month, and this is
symbolized in the stories about the fate of the soul
after death and before rebirth (see p. 769).
The experiences of the mother during pregnancy were
supposed to affect the child, in illustration of which a
number of monstrous births were described. Thus, one
woman was delivered of a baby that looked like a
devilfish.84 "The face of it is human, and the rest was
just hanging down . . . and they had to kill it. . . . I
was told afterward, when you are carrying, before you
go 3 months, anything that frightens you?that's what
cause it. You mustn't let anything frighten you, or the
child will look like that."
Similarly, there was a poor Eyak woman at Cordova
who had lost all her children by drowning. She became
pregnant soon after that, to her joy and that of her
husband. But one day when she was sitting and roast-
ing some salmon over a bonfire, "a little mouse crawl
just over her legs. When her baby is born, its face is
just like a mouse. It's just terrible!" As a relative
explained, " 'My uncle's wife got a baby, but it had a
mouse face. The mouse that crawls over her legs just
come back to her.' "
Still another woman gave birth to a child covered
with hair. "They had to kill it. I don't know what
caused it."
The same informant (MJ) also gave an extreme
example of prenatal conditioning. Long before she her-
self was born or even conceived, a family of five brown
grizzlies had come out of the bushes toward her mother,
who was carrying a baby son in her arms. All the
terrified woman could do was to lie down quietly
while one of the bears stood over her. Finally it went
away, and her husband killed the bears. "I used to be
cranky and fight with my brothers. I was the only
girl [in the family]. My mother blamed my disposition
on her experience."
There were rules in former days governing the be-
havior of the husband when his wife was pregnant,
but these are now largely forgotten. Thus, informants
disagreed as to whether he should chop wood and do
similar masculine work if he wanted a son, or
should be quiet, lest the "boy turn into a girl."
A woman who desired an easy delivery might drop
a doll (or something) and make a wish, but the Chugach
practice of dropping stones through her dress as she
walked along was denied (Birket-Smith, 1953, p. 84).
Childbirth
Almost all of the information on childbirth was
obtained from a professional native midwife. She de-
81
 This occurred long before the use of fetus-deforming drugs
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 501
livered her first child when she was only 13 years old,
following the instructions of her mother, and by 1954
(age 60) had successfully delivered over 40 babies. In
the old days, the midwife and her assistants were
supposed to be gunEtkAnayi?members of the opposite
moiety, women either of the patient's father's sib or of
her husband's sib. Actually, any womaD or girl would
be expected to help in an emergency, and the most
skilled would naturally be called. However, the women
who were close relatives in the opposite moiety were
supposed to do what they could to help the mother
and the new baby.
One of the first things the midwife does when con-
sulted is to ascertain the position of the baby by feeling
the mother's body. Native women are often very skilled
in diagnosis through this external manipulation, espe-
cially in predicting the date of birth. Sometimes, if
the afterbirth has slipped or the child is in a wrong
position, the midwife endeavors through massage and
pressure to push the child "right up in the right place,"
so that the head will be down. This may be done
several days before delivery, and the mother's body
may be wound with a tight sash or belt to hold the
child in position (as she did for a patient in 1954).
"If the baby is born feet first, get the one foot and
then the other; put them together. Then you get one
hand down by its side, and the other over its head.
The second arm must be sure to be up, otherwise the
baby will choke to death. This is handy to know in
case you get stuck."
Birth always took place outside the house in former
times, for the blood of parturition was contaminating
to men and offensive to the spirits of the animals and
fish they hunted. At a summer camp, the woman
might be confined in a tent or temporary shelter.
"They had a tent up for her. They were pretty strict
then, and the woman who is going to have a baby has
to stay outside until she is well. She lays on her back
9 days, but if it's necessary they can take her in. But
they are putting up grub then and don't want no sick
woman in the house." (MJ) In one recent instance an
objection was raised by fishermen when one woman
planned to have her child in a hut which they felt was
too near a fish stream.
At the village, the birth house ('ayun 'awuca hidi)
was a permanent structure to which every woman in
the large household went when she had a child or
when she was menstruating. It was just large enough
to accommodate the parturient and the three women who
attended her. The hut was made of branches (or
boards?), and had thick walls. There was a fireplace in
it, and the hut could be heated like a bathhouse by
means of steam produced by pouring water over hot
rocks.
In the hut was a pit, dug as deep as the distance
from the fingertips to the elbow; it was filled with soft
moss almost to the top?to allow a space into which
the baby could slide yet not fall far enough to be
injured.
"Funny?I saw my grandmother fix it up for my
mother lots of times! They dig a square hole about a
foot deep, and they fill it with moss all around, spongy
soft moss. There are two boards on each side of the
moss, on the sides [to kneel on?]. They put a cloth of
any soft kind over the moss."
According to the myth about the Theft of Daylight,
babies are born on moss because Old Raven "sets the
style. You see, they dig a hole and get all kinds of
marten and mink [furs] for him, anything real expensive
on that place where he's going to born. But he keep
his mother suffering so long. He doesn't want to be
born on expensive things; he helps the poor people.
And after that babies begin to be born on moss." (MJ)
And on another occasion, referring to the myth which
Frank Italio had recorded that afternoon (p. 854): "At
first her father [Raven's mother's father] give orders
[to his slaves] to line that place with marten skins.
That makes Frank laugh! Suppose we all have to be
born like that! We wouldn't be grow up! Poor people?
Raven looks after the poor ones. That's why the babies
[are] not born on precious skins like that girl's father
had." As soon as moss was substituted, Raven was
born at once.
The woman in labor squatted over this moss-lined
pit and grasped a vertical pole in front of her. The
midwife crouched behind her, supporting the buttocks
of the parturient on her knees and holding her by the
shoulders. An assistant in front held her by the waist,
and braced her knees against hers. The third woman
was at the side to balance the mother "in case anything
come up," and was ready to receive the child. When
the pains came, the mother pulled against the pole,
and was instructed: " 'Just swallow your breath down,'
because everytime you got your breath back, the baby
comes up." As the pain subsided, the woman would lie
back and rest on the midwife's knees. "Some womans,
they having a hard time; some womans, it's easy. . . .
If the baby comes on the back, they just push it in,"
that is, the midwife behind would press her hand
against the small of the mother's back.
When a woman begins labor, the membrane around
the child (dudakA xasi or xasi?) breaks, and the water
comes out. Just before the baby is to be born, the
"water bag" (du cAt 'ek hini), on which the baby's
head is said to rest, also breaks. "When it bursts, you
know, the baby's coming now. You've got about 10
minutes?three or four pains," the midwife told me.
Another woman added: "That's why that baby's born
easy. It wets itself down, you know. . . . If [a pregnant
502 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
woman goes outside [and] don't use warm clothes,
you know, it [the "water bag"] don't open, you know."
When the baby was delivered, said the midwife,
"then they make you lay down for a while for the
afterbirth. . . . After the baby was born, they put
you in steam. . . . They put rocks right in the bonfire,
and as soon as the rock's warm enough, they put it
under where you're laying, and then just sprinkle a
little water on it, and it keeps you warm like that."
Another woman, explaining how she had delivered
a baby in an emergency, said that she tied the umbilical
cord "so she won't bleed to death," and after cutting
it, wrapped the end around the mother's toe, "so the
cord won't go in." The midwife reported, however,
that in former times the cord was tied only on
the baby's side, and after it was cut, the other end
was put between the mother's toes, "just so the blood
won't run off from it." Now the cord is tied on both
sides of where it is cut.
To assist the woman to eject the afterbirth, the
midwife "get hold of her around her waist when she
get her pains, and she pull out little by little" on the
cord.
"One woman's afterbirth stuck. . . . My hands is
small then. I feel it around [from outside?]. I moved
it. I put my hands in hot water and I cut my finger-
nails. . . . I followed the cord with my hands. I keep
moving with my fingertips, very slow. Finally I reached
where it was stuck, and I got it. It come into my
hands, real easy. I took it out very slow." This was
one of the informant's first cases.
No man, of course, may enter the hut where the
woman is confined, and apparently a shaman is not
called upon to assist in any way at the birth hut,
although he might be paid to use his powers at a dis-
tance (p. 708). However, the woman's brother might be
told to walk sunrise around the hut and give a good
kick to the wall when the baby's head appeared. This
would hasten delivery.
If the baby does not cry at birth, it may be turned
upside down and slapped on the back. Sometimes it is
necessary to put the baby into a basin of warm water
and stick a finger into its mouth to induce the first
breath.
If the child is born in the cowl (dudakA xasi qutsiti),
and if the cowl is dried and saved, the child will be
lucky (wealthy), and long-lived.
The mother should not drink cold water during her
confinement. As a medicine for the afterpains, the
midwife said that the mother was given broth made
from a seal stomach in which oil had been stored for 9
months. Presumably this would have been prepared
when she first became pregnant. "When the baby is
born, they cut [the seal's stomach] in small pieces and
put it to boil. . . . It's thick, like rich gravy, like
white sauce?thinner, but rich. Then they make you
drink it for 1 day. . . . After that, they took hemlock
limbs and they boil it. That's for the afterpains. And
they make you drink it. It makes you flow easy, stops
too hard hemorrhage." "Tea" or infusions were also
given to produce abundant milk.
The afterbirth (du kigi) "and everything bloody"
was burned. "It dare not get near the men who do the
hunting. It makes their lives short, they claim."
It is difficult to ascertain just how long the woman
was confined to the birth hut. I have already quoted
the opinion that she should remain there, lying down,
for 9 days, and this seems reasonable in view of the
S-day period usually enjoined for all life crises, especially
if we are to think of this time as 8 days after the day
of the birth, or 8 days plus the day on which she leaves.
However, I was told by the midwife: "They keep you
there 5 days until they know you're all right. Oh, they
get so excited when they bring the baby into the com-
munity house! Everybody wants to see the little one?
some wishing for a girl, some wishing for a boy."
While the mother was confined, the father could not
visit her or the baby. "First-born baby, man doesn't
take it for four, five days. Then the blood's going away,
they say."
At present, the midwife prefers to keep her patients
in bed for 2 weeks, and all the older women were critical
of modern hospital practice which has the mother up
and walking within a day or two after childbirth. In
the old days, a woman wore a bark belt for 6 or 7
months after delivery, and even a young mother of 16
was supposed to use a cane when she first got up.
INFANCY
Care of the Baby
At present, the practice is to wash the newborn
baby in warm water and place it wrapped in clean
blankets in a big basket. If the child is premature or
delicate, hot water bottles may be added. I do not
know how babies were cleaned in former tunes, or
whether they were ever warmed by anything, for
example, by a hot rock.
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 503
, * .
-2 '
a
FIGURE 59.?The baby carrier (tuk) from paper models made by Maggie Harry, a, Pattern for cover, b, Frame of tuk. c, Cover of
tuk. d, Baby in tuk carried in blanket fold on the back.
In the old days, indeed as recently as 1912, the little
baby was put into a baby carrier or pouch (tuk, ?uq,
or ftikw; Boas, 1917, p. 125, ink), and for the first 10
days was kept in the dark, so that he would not get
sore eyes. This was accomplished by putting a circular
frame of arched withes, like an inverted basket, over
the baby's head and covering this with a cloth. The
frame and cover were removed only when feeding and
cleaning the baby.
The newborn baby was always wrapped up at once,
even though the carrier might not be ready. "You
know a cloth called 'Capital'??a tough white cloth,
they call it. It's a thick white cloth. They make a
long string [band] of it. My mother used to make two
or three yards of it. They arrange the whole body with
the hands down. They fill it with moss all around.
They put a blanket [on] then. If you haven't an outside
cover ready, use that long strips temporary, until you
make a fancy t'uk?until that navel [cord] comes off
the baby. It's easy to get at him. By that time the
tuk will be ready. And Yel [Raven] was tied up like
that [referring to the Theft of Daylight]. They straighten
out the arms and legs after the bath and then wrap it
up. And when the tuk is ready, by that time the navel
will come off."
The baby carrier (t'uk; fig. 59) was made from a
basket about 2% feet deep, cut in half on a slant, so that
the sides -were cut away at the head or top of the basket,
and about half of the bottom was left, about as deep
(wide) as the hand. The basket was strengthened
around the edge by a piece of flexible young hemlock
branch (su; Boas, 1917, p. 126, su, withe), "so when
they pick it up, it don't get out of shape . . . Su is the
round rim. Ends of it got to meet just right [i.e.,
squarely]. . . . If that thing don't meet the right way,
that cause the baby to stutter" (see p. 499). Down the
middle of the basket, on the outside, was a thin board
about 3 inches wide "to keep the body of the baby
straight, and so it won't get disfigured." Across the
lower part of the basket, attached to the two edges, was
a strap of twisted (braided?) spruce roots. "You put the
little feet [legs] over it. . . . You can't make your
baby's feet straight all the time. He rest his little
knees on this." The lower part of the basket was filled
with soft moss, covered with a cloth, and the head of
the baby rested on a feather pillow (cAyet). Over the
entire basket was a skin cover that laced down the front,
so that only the baby's head was exposed. In more
recent times, this cover was of cloth which buttoned
down the front and could be removed for washing.
Often the cover was beaded. The baby was thus rigidly
confined within the basketry cradle. "It keeps them
straight so they don't get broken bones. The body
don't get out of shape, and there's also something to
keep their ears flat to the head . . . some kind of cap.
Some people's ears stick out of their head." (MJ; also
other women.)
The basketry baby carrier was sketched and described
by Surf a at Port Mulgrave in 1791. He also gives us a
little information about infants:
"When the Indians are newly born they put them
in a cradle made of a kind of reed very well worked.
Two skins hang down from each side of this which
they fold over the breast of the baby and which
covers it down to the knees. These are joined by a
skin [thong] which through various holes extends
from one side to the other. The creatures are dressed
with their arms inside, all with skins, and thus they
put them inside the cradle, and cover them very
well down to the feet as stated. Thus they manage
the affair, giving them to suck and leaving them
stretched out on the ground." [Wagner, 1936, p.254].
504 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Suria's sketches show a woman holding such a
cradle in her arms (pis. 54, 55). It is exactly like those
described by my informants. The more modern type
of carrier with cloth covering was photographed by
Professor Libbey in 1886 (pi. 63).
The nasal septum of the newborn baby was pierced
with a feather, Suria further informs us, and his sketch
shows the child in its basketry cradle wearing a nose
pin (made of two dentalia?). The baby in Libbey's
photograph wears a small nose ring.
The baby carrier was usually made in advance; in
the specific examples cited, it had been made by the
baby's grandmother. The first carrier (t'uqwmeyi
yanayi; cf. Boas, 1917, p. 132 yanA, a pack, burden)
was used for about 3 or 4 months. Then a larger one
was made and the baby was kept in this until he was
ready to learn to walk.
When the baby's umbilical cord (du tanii) became
detached, it was enclosed in a small round, flat skin
bag (du t&nu dakBt, or dakAgwel), covered with bead-
work. This might be made by the grandmother, or
given to the mother by her husband's sister. This bag
was fastened to the cover of the baby carrier over the
child's right side, and preserved as an amulet. Some-
times the father of a boy might make a miniature bow
and arrow or gun to attach to the carrier.
Long before the expected birth, moss for diapers was
collected. "They get sacks of it from the big trees. The
men climb the trees. Women who are going to be con-
fined get plenty ready." (MJ) There is apparently no
feeling that it is bad luck to collect moss or make the
baby carrier in advance, one woman said, although
some criticism was expressed when a "shower" was
given in March 1954, for a baby that was not expected
until June. "Too many things might happen."
The moss (si?qa; or 'as ciyi xawu, 'tree-limb hair'; or
'as djiwAn si^qayi, 'moss under the limbs') used for
diapers was the same as that used for menstrual pads
(p. 528). It was "just like hair?long, soft. The one
hanging on the trees." (MJ) According to another
woman: "It's kind of yellow-like, soft. It just grows
short on the limbs, just like cotton. It's softer than
cotton. . . . You get it out from spruce. . . . When
they take it out from alder tree or the spruce tree?
when you take it from the limb, you shake it, so there
will be no worm in it. And then you hang it up and
dry it."
The moss was said to have been changed three times
a day. "The mother, she never forgets. They wouldn't
leave it [soiled moss] behind, because they don't want
any worm, any rats to get into it. The first thing when
they go camping, the first thing when they come back,
they take it in the woods, put it under a stump [symbol
of longevity], way in back, and burn it. [If rats or
worms got in], they say the baby's always getting any
kind of diseases. [Was there not also a fear that witches
might secure the moss?] You has to make the baby's
life real clean and clear, so the baby will grow up pure.
That's the way that goes." This informant felt that
moss was cleaner than ordinary diapers, although
apparently she had used diapers on her own babies.
"Gee, clean! Moss so clean in the old days. Don't have
to have your baby wet." The use of moss seems to
have been abandoned before that of the baby carrier.
During infancy the baby was never separated from
the mother, except when fondled by other loving rela-
tives. "The native people never make their babies
separate. Keep it by them till they're about a year
old." At night, the baby in the carrier "sleep with the
mother all the time, before. Right on your arm, [i.e.,
under the blanket with which the mother covered her
head]. When you're going to turn, you turn the baby
over. That's when I roll, I won't roll on the baby. . . .
First thing in the morning, you take the baby out
before breakfast. Change the baby. About the time
you're having breakfast, the baby sleeps. They never
let the kids cry. They living so many together that
time. The whole place disturbed when the baby cried.
They never liked to hear babies cry."
FIGURE 60.?Baby hammock (gegAte) from a model made by
Maggie Harry. "There's a little hammock. We put the baby
in there?that's his crib." Maggie used two strips of scotch
tape between the arm of her chair and a box to represent the
two root ropes, and folded a napkin over them to represent
the blanket.
During the day, while the mother was working, the
baby in the carrier might be leaned up against a box
beside her, but it was more customary to leave the
baby in its carrier in a little hammock or swing (gegAtc;
cf. gis, 'place between the folds of something/ and gAtc,
'mat'). The swing was made of a blanket or of a seal-
skin, tanned on one side but with hair on the other,
which was folded over two spruce root ropes, so that
the fold between them made a secure bed (figs. 60, 61).
The ropes were stretched across a corner of the main
room of the house. A few hammocks were netted, if
the mother knew how to make them or wished to buy
one from some woman who did. Hammocks of blankets
are still used until the baby is about a year old and able
to climb out.
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 505
FIGURE 61.?Tlingit child in a hammock. The hammock (or baby carrier) is slung from a beam similar to that supporting the fishracks
shown in plate 81 depicting Bear Bit Billy's house on Khantaak Island. (Sketch by Peixotto after a photograph by Taber.
From Bugbee, 1893, p. 186.)
"After they feed the babies, they put them in the [string], and rock it. No trouble for mother. . . . You
swing and have a string tied to it and swing them. swing it once, and it rocks about ten minutes. . . . Oh,
Then they go to sleep and the women make their it's cute! You pull it once and it rocks itself," another
baskets." (MJ) "You have the hammock right in the woman said.
corner. If you working around, making baskets, as soon The second informant continued:
as the baby starting to cry, you just pick up that root The mother will soothe the baby: "AWWWWE?Love.
506 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
NatadeeeeyE?Go to sleep!" (Compare the first word
with the soothing cry for the peace hostage, p. 59S.)
At nighttime, the baby is rocked to sleep in the
mother's arms. She croons " 'Suuuu'?That's the way
we put them to sleep. We never wake the people. Just
rocking hi the arms like that."
"In the morning, the father, mother, little sisters
[and brothers?], all take turns to hold him. He goes
round."
When the mother goes outdoors, perhaps to pick
berries, she carries the child on her back. The carrier
was held in a fold of the blanket which the mother
drew over her shoulders and secured with a belt around
her waist. The baby was in a somewhat slanting posi-
tion across the mother's back, "the little head sticking
out" and on a level with the mother's shoulder. The
baby faced to the side and to the rear, so that he would
not be scratched when the mother went through the
bushes. "You can look back [over your shoulder] and
see if the baby's all right. And then the father always
looks [too]. Sometimes the father is carrying the baby."
MJ commented that it was easy for the mother to shift
the baby to her breast when he was hungry. Apparently
there were no straps fastened to the carrier that could
be slung over the mother's shoulder, like that put on
the baby doll MJ made for Dr. McClellan (pi. 134).
Grandparents used to carry little babies or small
children on their backs, although they did not use a
strap around the bottom of the blanket. "My grand-
father used to pack me around in a blanket on his back
until I'd get so sleepy. Even in those days they believe
in fresh air. . . . [Sometimes the grandfather] used to
get us babies on his lap and puts us to sleep like that
[cradled in his arms, while he hissed between his teeth],
'S, s, s, s!'" Older children in the household, as well as
adults, also carried the baby on their backs.
It was when the larger carrier was used that the child
began to enjoy more freedom of movement. "First exer-
cise when the baby is about 4 months old. Take his
little hands out. Then he starts to play. . . . They
keep his hands in the t'uk [carrier] until he's about 4
months old. Then they make him exercise." But the
baby's hands were apparently tucked in again at night.
The baby was given the breast whenever hungry.
Sometimes he was given other foods, such as berries
that had been crushed in someone's mouth. A baby was
fed "all the time."
"When it's old enough and the next one coming and
they have to wean them, they put something bitter on
their breast?hot pepper, anything strong. I used to
watch my brother Jim. He likes milk so much, and he
sucks and spits. He's 2 years old and my mother was
pregnant again, and don't want him to bother her all
the time. She told him his mouth is going to get burned
and he won't have any more tongue left. He like it so
much, and spit! I used to pull him away. He don't yell
[that] he wanted some more. He talks. 'U'ma'?wants
more milk.' . . .
"He used to suck when mother was asleep. The other
one was born then. He gets his temper and mother gets
awake. He almost crush the baby. He try to crawl in
mother's bed."(MJ)
The "native pepper" was made from a wild heliotrope
(Valeriana sp.), called "medicine that stinks" (itcAni
nakT, p. 658).M "They powder it and put it on and it
burns [the baby's mouth] like pepper. It doesn't harm
the mother."
Weaning seems to have marked the end of infancy,
and the account just given suggests that this was
frustrating to the baby and likely to result in sibling
rivalry. At present, most babies in Yakutat are raised
on bottles, the usual formula being condensed milk and
corn syrup. This is probably because most deliveries
take place in hospitals where the suckling of babies is
virtually prohibited by the institutional routine. How-
ever, bottle feeding probably eliminates some of the
conditions of sibling rivalry.
Magic for Babies
Before discussing the life of little children, it would
be well to mention the magical exercises (hexwa) that
were performed on behalf of the infant or small child.
If the newborn baby were sickly, the afterbirth might
be wrapped up to look like a man and the baby's hands
be manipulated to knock it down. This had been done
by the mother and grandmother of one of the in-
formant's sons. "Gee, you talk about a husky man
when he does that! They make him knock his after-
birth down. And then they says 'Gee, the strongest
kid! Oh, he's husky!' " While this was undoubtedly
a magical wish, no set formula was required. It was
denied by another woman, however, that the baby
boy was made to shoot his afterbirth in order to make
him a good hunter, although perhaps this was
formerly done.
The model bow and arrow or gun, fastened to the
baby boy's carrier (p. 504), was supposed to influence
his development.
Most magical treatment for little boys was intended
to make them good hunters. Thus the "muscle or
nerve" (tendon?) from the hind leg of a wolf was tied
around the baby's ankle so that he would be swift
when chasing bears and mountain goats. "They claim
that when he runs, the alders will break right over his
85
 Boas, 1917, p. 141, h-tcAn, '(to have a) stench.'
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 507
shin, he is so strong" said a man. Or, a tiny splinter
of wolf bone was broken over the center of the boy's
forehead, or perhaps poked into the skin and then
broken, but the woman reporting this was not sure.
"That boy just like a wolf, go around the mountain,
run fast, just like a wolf." To make him a good runner,
the baby's hammock might be made from the skin
of a wolf or wolverine: 'He swings (?) inside a wolverine
skin' (nuskw dugu tut wuduh'qeq; cf. Boas, 1917, p. 145,
li-gAq, 'to swing' a hanging skin). The slime from a
bear's mouth might also be put on a boy, so that he
would become brave (SJ).
The umbilical cord was preserved as an amulet
attached to the cover of the basketry carrier. Later,
the little child wore the umbilical bag around his neck,
until he was "old enough to learn" (MJ), or until he
was 2 or 3 years old, another specified. A restless, mis-
chievous little child was said to have lost this amulet
and to be looking for his umbilical cord. The cord
is finally disposed of in such a way as to benefit the child
in later life. That of a little girl, for example, will be
stitched into something her mother is sewing, or woven
into a basket, to make the girl skillful at sewing or
weaving, reported one woman. That of a boy may be
put into an animal's hole, so that when he is grown he
will not be afraid to pursue bears in their dens (MJ).
Or, his cord may be laid in an animal's trail, while one
utters a wish: "GAX tfaxetl'?cry luck! 'At sati naxsiti??
master of things, i.e. a hunter, let him become!"
Similarly, the mother may take the fingernail paring
of a baby girl and weave it into a basket to make her
daughter skillful with her hands, or a maternal uncle
may bind the fingernail parings of his nephew into a
paintbrush so that the boy may acquire artistic skills.
This was done for a boy who was 7 years old in 1921,
when his uncle used the brush to paint the screen for
Thunderbird House. In another case, the father of a
little girl (MJ) fastened her fingernails to his paint-
brush.
Most magical rites for a girl are not performed,
however, until the time of her first menstruation.
There was also magic for crying babies. "And kids,
little babies when they cry-?they got some kind of
cotton or something [Alaska cottongrass?]. They put it
around their mouth for 4 days." My informant made a
gesture of rubbing around the lips, to show how the
mother wiped the baby's mouth. "And they tie it up
with roots [magical plants or spruce root cord?], and
put it under their pillow, or else in the ground like that.
They make a little hole, you know. They put that
cotton in there, and 4 days, they stay [it stays]. They
take it up again and they take it on the other side
[of the bay]. Or else you put it under your pillow.
When you sleep on it, that baby's going to sleep, too."
CHILDHOOD
Small Children
When the new baby came the mother was obviously
occupied with him and care of the small child that
had been weaned fell largely upon the grandmother,
although the grandfather, paternal cousins and aunts,
and older siblings?all members of the large house-
hold?also helped. Thus MJ remembers that when she
was a little girl she took care of her younger brothers.
She carried one on her back and led one by each hand
when she went out to play. Her father also took into
his household the crippled daughter of his sister, "just
so she can take care of me. . . . This crippled girl was
supposed to be our nursemaid."
Small children might continue to sleep in the same
bedroom as their parents, or a little girl might sleep
with her grandmother aDd a small boy with an older
brother. As the boy grew older, however, he could
not sleep with his parents. "Boys ain't supposed to
sleep near the mother."
Grandparents were and are especially beloved by
children. "I liked my grandfather better than my
mother" (MJ). "The grandchild loved the grand-
mother more than their own mother and father,
because their grandmother is always there" com-
mented a second woman. "We love our grandchildren
better than our own children," said a third.
I secured practically no information about toilet
training, but doubt if this was a matter over which
much fuss was made, to judge by the following story:
"There was no pot in the house, and I don't want
to go outside in the dark. Once I make a mistake on
my grandma's bed. She had a lynk and eagledown
robe. I caught myself and started to squeal. I thought
she'd throw me out, but instead of that she got up
508 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
and put dry clothes on me. My dress was wet." The
little girl could not have been over 4 years old at the
time (MJ).
If a child wet his bed, there was apparently no
punishment, but instead, various magical remedies
were tried. First, "they pick up a fine moss and put
it under them and let them pee all they want for 4
nights. And take the moss back where they get it
from. That's a cure for that." However, if this was
not effective, the same procedure was employed with
the soft shreddings of spruce cones, "nuts" ('as tsusAni),
left by the squirrels. No special magical formula or
wish was spoken. If even these remedies failed to cure
the child of bed-wetting, then he was made to eat the
gills (?) of the crab (tsaw xexu)?"that stringy stuff
that grows inside the shell. . . . Only crabs have it.
. . . You don't supposed to eat that, but they use it
for that. . . . Just eat that one time. If it don't help,
eat some more."
Two "pet songs" for children which were recorded
(1952, 5-1-A; 1954, 3-2-L; pp. 1272-1273) refer to the
beloved child as a "stinker" or as "stinking," which
suggests that when little children dirtied themselves
the parents made no particular fuss over it, but treated
this as the natural condition of small children.
On the other hand, there seems to have been more
concern felt for the safety of the child who went out
at night to urinate, because of the dangers from land
otters and witches. Thus, a watertight basket was
kept in the house as a chamber pot, and very small
children were not allowed out of the house at night,
while the older ones were cautioned not to go too far.
Small boys apparently went just around the corner
of the house.
Little children were treated with great indulgence
and affection. They could apparently go to any house
in which they had a relative and be sure of a warm
welcome. My informants remember only a few persons
in the village of whom they were afraid as little chil-
dren, and these were described as ugly old people,
feared perhaps because they were relative strangers,
or were queer and cantankerous. Children were fed
whenever they were hungry, to judge from rem-
iniscences, and even today, regular mealtimes would
probably not be imposed on Tlingit children if it were
not for school. Similarly, while the household usually
went to bed early and rose early, when exciting events
were going on at night the children were not put to bed
at regular hours. They were expected only to keep
quiet and not to interfere.
Children were given presents as valuable as their
parents could afford. Such gifts including clothing,
ornaments, toys, and good things to eat. Today chil-
dren are given money to buy candy or soft drinks
whenever they ask for it, without a thought that too
many sweet things may be bad for them. In conse-
quence, their teeth decay and relatively young people
are forced to wear dentures, while toothache is accepted
as a common affliction of childhood. It was almost
impossible for a grandparent to deny anything to a
grandchild. Thus, the myth that describes how Raven
obtained the precious stars, moon, and daylight from
his doting "grandfather," simply by crying for them,
reflects and explains current Tlingit attitudes.
"That's why up to this day a person thinks more of
their grandchildren than of their own child?because
Raven taught them how."
Paternal uncles and aunts were also especially
generous to their brother's children.
Children took part in many adult activities, such as
potlatches, where they might dance in costume, give or
receive presents, and be honored with "big names."
Even if they were babies, the parents would make
gifts in their name, and their "grandparents" would
give them potlatch names, so that more active partici-
pation began almost before the little children could
understand what was happening. Small children also
danced at home to the special "pet songs" composed
and sung for them by parents and grandparents.
Although information on aboriginal clothing is scanty,
it would appear that children dressed like adults. This
was certainly true in the 1880's and 1890's, when White
styles were worn. Children also had their own elaborate
costumes for potlatches.
Little girls of well-to-do families wore heavy orna-
ments (tcin) made of beads or dentalia attached to
their hair in back (p. 446). The swinging of this was
supposed to resemble the motion of bushes and young
trees in the wind, symbolic of growth, and so promote
the growth of the child. Such hair ornaments might
be worn as early as the age of 4 or 5, be put aside at
puberty, and resumed until the girl married.
Discipline
Only a few restrictions were imposed on very small
children, and it is hard to tell how severely children
were disciplined in former days. On the whole, Tlingit
children are far quieter and less mischievous or demand-
ing than White American children of the same ages,
even though there are, of course, great individual and
family differences. Certainly quiet children were
formerly desired. "Nowadays people realize children
should be active. In the old days they wanted the
children to be quiet."
When asked what people did to make children stop
crying, MJ retorted: "Feed them! They find out if
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 509
they're hungry, or something wrong or not." Yet if
they cried for something they could not have, "they
train them so they wouldn't cry for anything they
wanted. . . . Gave them a good shaking up, if they know
enough [that is, if the children were old enough to
understand]." Things which children were not supposed
to touch were usually put in boxes, tied up tight and
set high above their reach or suspended from the rafters.
Little children had, of course, to learn to avoid such
dangerous things as the fire that burned in the middle
of the house, hot objects, sharp knives, the swift running
river, and dangers they might encounter if they
wandered off into the woods. Dangerous things were
pointed out to little children. " ']?! ? ! X!' we talk to
baby, to scare them. 'Don't touch! It burns!' That's
baby talk"? "We call it 'Xox' when we try to scare the
children."
I do not know just how children were taught to
keep away from the edge of the river or other dangerous
places, but ^adanel Johnstone fenced in the quiet
shallows of the Situk River where his children could
play safely with their toy boats.
"You know my father got a sidewalk like from the
house down to the river. The gravel spit around there,
my father made a big fence out of alder wood, so we
don't fall in the river. And he dug a big hole; he made
a pond for us to play with our canoe in there." (MJ)
Malaspina in 1791 also noted that some parents
provided their children with enclosed places in which
to play. He interpreted this as evidence of social dis-
tinction, but it may have been equally due to a concern
for their safety. He had noticed an old man who seemed
to share respect and authority with the Ankau. "This
ancient, when questioned by me as to the object of
a circular enclosure made of stones, which we were
passing, replied that only his children and those of
the Ankau entered it to play, thus being separated
from those of the common people" [Malaspina, 1885,
p. 348].
Stories of Land Otter Men that kidnap people who
fall in the water or who are lost in the woods, as well
as the real fear evinced by the adults of such creatures,
must have prevented all but the most adventurous
children from wandering away into dangerous places.
In the woods, of course, there are also bears. Even
today, children who accompany then* elders on ex-
cursions are warned to keep close. MJ interrupted an
account of how her little sister had been lost and
presumed stolen by land otters (p. 754), to exclaim
to her granddaughter, "That's why when you run in
the woods, you stay with grandma when you go any-
where. You stay with me when we go pick berries,
you hear?"
It is hard to tell how much physical punishment
was formerly administered, although there is no doubt
that children feared it. However, none of the reminis-
cences of my informants suggested the brutality with
which the Chilkat punished their children; for example,
roasting them in a box beside the fire (Olson, 1956,
esp. p. 691). One Yakutat woman, born in 1900, said
that there was "spanking in my days," but that she
had never heard of it in former times. However, older
women spoke of it. Thus, when I asked MJ, who had
been born in 1884, if children used to be spanked, she
exclaimed: "You bet! You always get a spanking if
you do something wrong. You can't let your child do
wrong things. They believe in that a long time ago."
Another punishment mentioned by her was to "keep
them inside and don't let them out to play until they
get over it. . . . If children run around too much, they
tie their feet together, trying to make them behave.
When they first begin to walk, you know how children
are. You go in a strange house, you can't keep them
quiet. They just make you sweat, ashemed. Now
children know it all. But long time ago, they punished."
Another woman, born in 1896, was asked what was
done if a child said something naughty. "That happened
to me. Chase me in the room, stay there. Sometimes
they slap their mouth if they using bad words, you
know. They don't want it. That's a lower class people
[who speak that way]. They don't have respect of [for?]
big people. Oh, my mother used to be strict! But that's
the way, if you want good kids."
The woman who doubted that naughty children
were formerly spanked, said: "They tied their feet
together. My mother used to tell me that when people
used to settle down by the open fire, that means they're
going to tell a story, and the women would get the
children and tie their feet together, and then every-
thing would be quiet, so the men could tell the story."
But this seems to have been a precaution rather than
a punishment.
"I know when you get fighting with your brother
or sister, they tie you together and put water between
you, so you won't fight anymore. . . . The water was
in a bucket. You face each other." The pail of water
was evidently so balanced that the children would
drench themselves if they did not quiet down.
"In the old days they used to cure spoiled boys and
girls who did wrong by putting their heads in kwAS
[urine]."
"I was afraid of a spanking and being put in a dark
corner. The dark corner is a little room, no light, no
window. I don't get that often. . . . Mother or father
or my uncles might punish us." (MJ) A grown-up
brother might also punish a small sibling, the same
informant said, and she told also how her mother had
once pulled her hair when she was naughty.
Children must often have escaped merited chastise-
ment because it was taboo for the mother to punish
510 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
them when her husband was out hunting (pp. 365,
373, 378), and by the time he returned her anger would
have cooled and he may have been too tired to want
to bother with such domestic matters.
Although children certainly anticipated spankings
when they were naughty, they were actually disciplined
much more by threats than by the administration of
physical punishment, to judge by the many stories of
childish escapades. MJ reported that once when she
was a naughty child, her mother reached out as if to
scratch her face, "but it's just make-believe. I'm
scared they tie me up to the pole and I get whipped."
When asked if such a whipping were customary, she
answered, "Yeh. They do that until they promise they
won't do it any more. I never see it, but them days
they mind their mother better than they do now. . . .
They are just strict." She explained that you would
expect a whipping "if you tell a lie, and your mother
find it out. You got to mind your father, unless you
get whipped to death, so I did tell the truth."
On another occasion, when the children had helped
themselves to some mountain goat tallow which their
mother had been saving for a special occasion, the
angry mother told them: " 'Wait till daddy comes home.
You're going to get a licking?no fooling!' . . . My
father is out seal hunting, [so] my mother can't lick
us." However, on this occasion not even the older
boys who had been the leaders were punished.
Several other times when one of the children had
been naughty, they were all lined up and asked who
had done it. Sometimes the culprit tried to lie, but
again, even when detected, usually escaped with only
a scolding.
Scoldings might take the form of a phallic gesture,
with the thumb protruding between the fingers of the
clenched fist, thusting this towards the child's face,
saying "Na'na 'fna!" (MJ). This is very similar to the
Eyak insult, in which the same gesture is made ac-
companied by the word "Na!" said to mean ' Kiss this!"
(Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, p. 145.)
The child's adult joking relatives were often effective
disciplinarians, utilizing the same techniques of public
ridicule or practical joking that they might towards an
adult joking relative (p. 487). This must have afforded
a welcome outlet for irritations produced by a naughty
child in the big multifamily household, especially since
no one, including the victim, was supposed to take
offense. Thus, when a spoiled little girl (MJ) had made
trouble between her father and mother, so that their
quarrels and her crying disturbed the whole household,
one old lady who was the child's joking relative set a
basket of urine to boiling, grabbed up the child, and
pretended she was going to put her head in the basket.
The child was so frightened that she stopped crying.
Then another woman, the joking relative of them both,
picked up the old woman and threatened her in the
same way. In her fright, the child upset the boiling
urine on the floor, so all the women had to snatch
away the supper dishes and clean up the mess. But
there seems to have been no ill feeling in consequence,
for the old woman later taught the little girl many
skills.
Joking relatives of the same age as the child were
sometimes held up as rivals with whom the child was
encouraged to compete.
Another method of disciplining children was to let
them suffer the consequences of what they had done,
often supplemented with threats. When MJ as a little
girl took her mother's sharp ulo without permission in
order to learn how to slice seal fat, she cut her finger.
The paternal(?) aunts to whom she appealed for help
at first refused to bandage it, telling her that she was
going to die. On two occasions when the same little
girl was involved in escapades in which another child
in the family was injured, she was punished by having
to wait on the hurt child until the latter recovered.
Another time, when her brother cut her finger and she
cried, nobody paid attention to her because she was
always "squealing." When the same woman's mother
was a little girl, she was also something of a tomboy.
Once, despite the remonstrances of her older sister, she
attempted to walk on a log across a deep pit that had
been dug for a cache, and fell in. The child could not
climb out and began to run from side to side, crying
with fright. The other children notified her older
brother, who only laughed. '"Let her suffer a while,
learn a lesson.'" However, her father was afraid she
might be caught by a cave-in and rescued her.
Other threats involved bogey-men, that is, creatures
which the children were told would punish them. Once
when MJ was a very little girl and had been naughty,
she ran out of the house and refused to come in even
when it got dark. "Finally my uncle said, 'If you don't
come in when I tell you, the Crow's [Haven] going to
kits you, and you'll drop dead.' I start to squeal, and
stand there till he come and take me in. They even
say they going to shoot me, but I don't come. But
'Crow going to kits you' was the only thing scared me.
I don't even know what it means till recently." Since
kitsA means 'seesaw,' the threat was evidently that
the Raven would seesaw with her.
Children were also frightened by owls. "That's why
I'm so scared of owls. When I start to cry, they say
'Keep quiet! The owl will hear you and take you
away!'" She was quite familiar with the story of the
boy who was stolen by the owl and fed what he thought
was delicious food, but what was really ants and other
insects that ate up his insides. (Swanton, 1909, Tale 11,
is the same story told about a Land Otter Man that
carried off a crybaby.) Adults are also frightened or
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 511
disturbed when they hear an owl, since the bird foretells
misfortune.
It is evident that myths were used as cautionary
tales for children. For example, the story of the KiksAdi
girl who turned into an owl (p. 893; Swanton, 1909,
Tale 37) is used to point a moral. "That's why they
always says, 'Don't hurt your mother-in-law. You will
become an owl.' . . . Tlingit people always say that.
Some girls, you know, don't want their mother-in-law?
some crazy girls. Because they watch, their mother-in-
law [watches them]. They say it's true. That girl?she
turned into owl.'
And when the children ate their mother's mountain
goat tallow without permission (p. 510): "That's the
time my mother said, 'You mustn't steal anything,
take anything without asking. See what happened to
those girls!' " Then she told her daughter (MJ) the story
of the two sisters who stole their mother's mountain
goat tallow (p. 892; Swanton, 1909, Tale 65 and 92
about Mountain Man). Then- mother scratched out the
inside of then1 mouths and drove them out to marry
the Man Inside the Mountain, and they became owls.
"That's why people lick the stuffing out of kids when
they do something wrong. . . . That's why my mother
and them preached to me." (MJ) Apropos of the story
of the blind man who shot a moose but whose greedy
wife deceived him about it (p. 888), the same informant
said: "My parents preach to me about it so I won't
cheat. . . . My grandparents preach to my mother
about it."
Myths and stories were also told to teach children
correct conduct, and the heroes of these stories, as well
as real persons, were held up as models to be copied.
Thus, QakBnaxkugE, the woman from whom all the
present Drum House branch of the Teqwedi are de-
scended (p. 279), was cited as a female paragon. "If
you grow into be a good woman, you be like that woman.
That's why I'm so particular about it [raising girls].
That woman had more Teqwedi out of her. She start
the whole Teqwedi tribe. My mother preach to me:
'You're crazy. You'll rot in your grave before you're
a woman!' Oh, they bawl me out!"
However, there was real concern over being too
severe with children. Thus, "My grandfather dared not
bawl my mother out when she was scolding me. He
loved her too much. But he would scratch his head and
make a noise: 'HnA! H"A!' [a complaining grunt]. He
used to say to her, 'Xatcdaqet [her name], you be old
like me [some day]. You get some use for your kids,
when I'm in the grave. They'll grow up healthy if you
don't get after them.' HLs idea is that they get nervous
and excited" if she were too severe, and also that they
might then turn against her. It is perhaps significant
in this connection that in the myth the daughters who
were punished for stealing tallow eventually secured
revenge upon their mother who had been so harsh.
"My mother would get after us when we done wrong,
but my grandfather don't want us to get spanked.
'Some day they're going to be a help to you, when I'm
laying in the grave.' " (MJ)
It is interesting that fathers were often particularly
indulgent to then1 daughters, as the quotation above
indicates. Another woman reported that her mother
used to spank her with a stick or with her hand, but
never when her father was present. Her father used
to tell her mother not to punish her, because her
older brothers and sisters had died and he wanted the
little girl to be happy. (Does this suggest that an
unhappy child is believed to be especially likely to
die?)
A third woman said, "We were raised poor but
my father was a good, kind man. He never touched
me. But my mother?the number of times she hit
me! . . . Mother had a quick temper. She's not mean
but she had a quick temper. But not my father. He
never even licked a dog. He was the jolliest man.
Everybody in Yakutat liked him. . . . And he used
to be kind. I'm kind because I'm his daughter . . ."
"My mother spanked me, but my father spanked
my brothers" (MJ). Or again, "I'm not scared of my
father, he never put his hand on me, but I'm scared
of my older brother. He's quiet, but he gets mad."
She also said, "My mother never used to spank me
when my father is around. He wouldn't let her punish
me! . . . He used to tell my mother, 'Don't you be
mean to my little daughter. She's just the image of
my mother. I don't want to see that girl cry.' " Be-
cause of this resemblance, the father called his daughter
'my mother' ('ax tla). Often when the mother had
scolded her daughter, she would try to make the latter
stop crying before her husband returned home. The
daughter recalls how spoiled she was as a child and
how she used to play her father off against her mother,
The devotion of this man to his own mother, for
example, the care he lavished on her gravehouse which
stood close behind his house, was made clear by the
accounts of his daughter. Unfortunately we lack full
personal reminiscences from now elderly men about
their childhood, but comments made by one about
his first trip away from home (see p. 517), suggests
a strong emotional bond between mother and son,
comparable to that between father and daughter.
Today grown men speak of their mothers with greater
warmth than they do of then* fathers, even though
it was their mother's brothers who were their strictest
disciplinarians. Conversely, we can find examples of
the over-indulgent "mom" who cannot believe that
her grown sons are old enough to take care of them-
selves and so continues to mother them in the way
all too familiar to White Americans. On the other hand,
512 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
one woman told how she had beaten her 16-year-old
son with a broom, believing him lazy. When she dis-
covered that he had shirked work because he was
sick, she never beat him again.
Education
Children began to learn practical skills by watching
and imitating their elders. There seems to have been
a great deal of variation in the amount of formal in-
struction given. Thus one Dry Bay woman recalled,
"I go with my mother all the time. She showed me how
to weave baskets. She gave me one [already started?]
and showed me. I was 10 when she gave me a knife to
slice fish. I squeezed the fish all up." She also remem-
bered that, "In my days, my mother used to tell me,
'Do this thing. You're going to have 10 husbands if
you don't work hard.' That's the way she says to me.
[That is, husband after husband would divorce her if
she were lazy.] When I make basket she help me. I do
one row; she does the next; I do the next. That's how
I learn it so quick." Her father and mother were
drowned when she was 11 years old, and after that her
father's sister cared for her.
MJ told me, however, "My brothers were pretty
small when my dad passed away. As the only girl, I
had to learn to do all kinds of things. My mother didn't
want to teach me, but I watched and learned." She
also mentioned the old woman, her joking relative (p.
510), who taught her how to do many things. This was
the little girl who took her mother's ulo without per-
mission because she was so anxious to learn how to
strip blubber from a sealskin. Another woman recalls
how eager she was to learn how to slice fish for drying
and how she nearly cried when she made mistakes (see
p. 400).
Little girls learned how to cook, not only from helping
their mothers, but because they were given toy dishes
and pots in which they could really cook. They also
had toy lamps that would really burn oil and their
parents would caution them to be careful with the
fire. Little boys were given small bows and arrows with
blunt heads to play with, and thus learned to shoot.
Little boys and girls also fished with hook and line or
with gaffs. Children might be given small canoes big
enough for them to paddle.
It should not be supposed that small boys did not
learn many of the arts normally practiced by women.
Thus MJ is proud of how skillful her little brother was
at beadwork. As we shall see, boys were taught to
cook, especially by their uncles. In Yakutat today
there are a number of small boys who are just as
reliable and competent in caring for small siblings,
cooking and washing dishes, and in performing other
domestic tasks, as are little girls. There are, of course,
great individual differences, and it is usually the oldest
child in a well-managed household who can do such
things.
In former times, children learned a great deal by
listening to the older people talk, especially when the
old men gathered in the sweathouse to bathe and chat.
Then the children might sit outside and listen to their
stories. It was perhaps characteristic that when one
woman was telling us about a monstrous birth (p. 500),
she interrupted her narrative for a moment to turn to
her 10-year old granddaughter who was sitting at the
table making paper dolls and told her not to listen so
hard. Naturally, the little girl was listening and her
grandmother knew it, but went on with her story. In
this account she told how she and another little girl
had sneaked over to the tent where a woman was in
labor and had listened with fearful interest to her
cries. On another occasion, her mother had taken her as
a small child to witness a cremation. Perhaps the only
thing that children were not supposed to see or learn
about was sexual intercourse.
Moral education was stressed and children were in-
structed by moral lectures and the recitation of proverbs
and stories. In these, correct behavior was explained or
illustrated and the benefits were pointed out, just as the
consequences of improper behavior were made explicit.
Such moral instruction was usually given by the house
chief and was all the more impressive because it was
directed not simply to the children but to all the mem-
bers of the household. The education of aristocrats
(pp. 465-466) has already been discussed; that of ordi-
nary children was similar but less comprehensive or
strict.
"As soon as a grandchild could talk, the chief tells
him what is right and what is wrong. Each person has
a power or spirit above you to punish you if you do
wrong?same thing as God, only we didn't know about
only one God then?-so people won't lie and steal. . . .
Bad people goes to Dog Heaven, they used to say?just
like Hell. . . . Witchcraft, too?nobody likes it. Indian
doctor says it's people who lie and steal are witches."
All this was taught the children.
"Kindness," that is, gentle speech and manners were
stressed (see also p. 467). "My father tell me: 'Don't
take after your aunties. My sisters are no good.' . . .
They were too out-spoken. 'Be kind to people. Don't
run away with the idea you're above other people. . . .
If you are too outspoken, that's when people will find
fault with you.' " "My grandma . . . trained me. She
would say, 'Don't be like a yellow cedar.' A yellow
cedar sparks loud when it burns. 'Your ma's that way
with a hot temper. She didn't take after her father
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 513
either.' My grandfather was the kindest man, old
man?even to his slaves." (MJ)
Again the same informant reported, "My grandfather
always preached to my mother to 'Be kind to your own
people and don't try to insult and bawl them out. Do
what you can to help. That's the way to get along with
your own people.' My mother?just like yellow cedar,
put it on the fire and it cracks, makes noise?'You got
to cut that out,' he told my mother. . . . And my
mother answers my grandfather, too. 'How come at
Diyaguna'Et you make that little slave killed? Get
somebody to kill her?put a piece of pole over her neck?
That's not nice!' My grandfather don't know what to
say. 'You preach to us to be kind to everybody, and not
hurt somebody's feelings. . . . And you make other
people kill the slave!' . . . And my mother get back at
him. She never get over it, you know. The slaves all
sitting around when they give a potlatch. Just grab
that little girl out of her mother's lap and take it outside
and kill it. She [my mother] is only a girl then. She
never forget it. She come back at her father for that."
[For other accounts of this incident, see p. 471.]
Small boys were taught not to kill or torture little
animals. (This prohibition did not, apparently, extend
to playing with hummingbirds on the end of a string.)
But one small boy (CW) used to rebuke his grand-
mother. " 'How come you always throw my little dog
out? You're mean! . . . You're not so kind to animals!'
. . . My grandmother's got a mink skin robe, clean.
My father and mother got that for her. And that little
dog always go for it and lay on it. That's why my
grandmother chase it out. Sometimes [she] get ahold of
it and throw it out. And Charley says, 'How come you
always throw my little dog out and hit it in the face?' "
I judge, however, that such retorts were not common.
Frugality was also a virtue. "I hear my grandmother
and grandfather talking about it?preaching to my
mother about that. 'Don't be careless with grub.' "
(MJ) The story of Salmon Boy (p. 889; cf. Swanton,
1909, Tales 99 and 100) could serve as a reminder to
those who treated food disrespectfully. "My grandma
said that some people never look ahead," and MJ told
a story of starvation as an example (p. 399). "That's
why my grandma preached to us. 'Don't say 'Iiii!' to
anything. Eat what you can get!' She say that to them
also."
Children were also taught not to be greedy, but to
share choice food with each other, the sister being
especially enjoined to give food to her brother (p. 484).
Children were scolded when they were lazy. "My
mother preached to me to put things away. 'Pick up
your things and put them away?and your brother's
things, too!' "
Laziness ('uska) was conceived as something on the
left shoulder. It was said that if children hung their
heads to the left when told to run an errand they
were "asking their lazy" if they should do it. "Am I
going to do it? (ye 'Agi ywAsane?)" And the 'uska
would say "No." "Don't ask that 'uska!" children
were told. "It drags you down, slow. When you turn
your head to the left, people will know that you are
going to be slow. When you turn your head to the
right side, people will know you'll do it right away. . . .
That's what my mother said to my brothers." (MJ;
also others.)
To make children obey quickly, "Olden time, they're
going to take that charcoal out, put it by the fire.
'Go get water! Kun as fast as you can!' That's the
fastest one?before it go down, they [the fast ones]
coining back. . . . That charcoal is still red when they
come back."
Laziness was equated with worthlessness and poverty
(lA-'ican, literally 'to be pitiful'). "When I was young,"
said a man, "I always wanted to go out all the time,
and [when] my dad would tell me to pack water or
get wood, and I would turn my head away, he used to
say that to me: 'LA-'ican 'awe ?ewus?You're asking a
lazy [poor, worthless] person!' "
Poverty (lA-'ican) was conceived almost as a living
thing, and there were a number of taboos connected
with it. Thus, children were not supposed to stand
around near the fire?"that's bad luck"?or to sleep
late in the morning, for lA-'ican would suck them. It
lurked in their pockets or under their armpits, and if
children stood about idly, warming their hands in
their pockets or under their arms, they were told:
"That lA-'ican, they say, they suck your hand. You
never make any money."
Boys were not supposed to sit on rocks, according
to one man, for this would make them heavy and slow
as hunters. They were not allowed to "sit lazy," but
were to "sit ready to get up all the time," that is,
squat on their heels. This was because they "got to
be quick. Whenever big people want something done,
they just get up. . . . If you sit with your legs out in
front, the old man would just take his stick and hit
you right over the shin. They used to be strict about
it."
Lying and stealing were particularly abhorrent be-
cause they were believed to be characteristic of witches.
"Father tells they tie you up for witchcraft [if you tell
a lie]. The Indian doctor announces what is bad for
kids, so they learn. Just like the Bible?Ten Com-
mandments: Don't he or steal! My father says, 'Don't
bring something and say you find things. Nobody
throws away things for you to find.' Anybody who
steals or lies, they think he's a witchcraft." (MJ)
514 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
When some children used to help themselves from a
maternal uncle's garden, he would chase them away
with a club. "He just hates stealing. You know, father-
less kids [bastards] always steals for their grub."
The higher the rank of the child, the higher the
standards to which he had to conform. "My grand-
mother used to tell me, 'You're descended from big
man. You're going to try to be good. That's the way.'"
The myths, legends and stories that were told chil-
dren served to instruct them in the history of their sib
and in the deeds of their ancestors. "They told us
when we were small. When we start to smoke fish
[that is, when the children were old enough to help],
Uncle put us together and tell us. Then he quit. He
don't say he quit, he just talk about something else.
Then he go away. Next night he put us together and
ask us where he quit. Then if I know, I tell him. If
we make mistake, he told us to think it over. That
way he can tell who listen, who's smart enough to
learn stories. He don't say anything to those that don't
listen. But he start over again from the beginning.
That way he tell how they're going to be in the family."
These methods were very important in selecting and
training the successor of a chief (pp. 465-466).
While Yakutat children were certainly not en-
couraged to brag and show off as are the children of
White Americans, yet their skills and accomplish-
ments were praised by their elders, and there was
always a big and appreciative audience in the old-
fashioned household to applaud the deserving child.
This is revealed in personal reminiscences. Parents
and grandparents today are proud of their children
when they can sing, play a musical instrument, recite
or dance at the school commencement, just as White
parents are.
Food Taboos
There were a number of food taboos that had to
be observed by children. These seem to have lasted
until the girl married and until the boy became a
recognized hunter. In the case of the girl, such taboos,
as we shall see, became intensified when she was
adolescent.
Boys could not drink soup made from bear or
mountain goat meat, or they would have heart trouble
when they hunted on the mountains. Indeed broth of
any kind was forbidden to young hunters except that
made from animals they had themselves killed, for
it was said that broth from another's kill "would make
them heavy, they can't kill anything." Girls could
not drink broth, either, until they had married and
their husbands supplied the meat. Otherwise, no man
would ever love them.
Bo3rs and girls were also forbidden to eat fishskins.
Boys were told that if they did so, they would miss the
fish they were trying to harpoon. The reason why
fishskins were forbidden to girls was not given, but I
suspect that the underlying sanction was based on
an analogy between the fish and wealth, specifically
between the shiny scales and silver dollars, and that
to eat fishskin was to risk poverty.
Children could not eat marrow: "They claim they
get rheumatism." If they ate developed seagull eggs,
"when they're turning into little chicks . . . they claim
they get cold easy." Halibut stomachs and the intes-
tines of all animals were also forbidden, although
my informant did not know the reason.
Children were not supposed to eat bear paws. "My
mother used to stop me from eating that black bear
feet. Just like pigs' feet?it tastes good. That's
why I always eat it. She says, 'When you get old you're
going to have hard time?chapped finger,' because
the bear paw is rough."
"We don't drink water when we're little girls, because
it's bad luck. Money comes to you?that'll wash the
money away. They used to train us so we would drink
just a little water at night. Then when we get married
we could drink as much water as we wanted to. Any-
thing we wanted to do, we could do it, if we stayed
with a man."
Because of this early training, older women say that
even now they don't care for water, and find it hard
to drink the six or eight glasses a day prescribed by
their physicians. We should also note that a married
woman was not free from dietary taboos, since she
would have to assume those of her husband.
Other food taboos were specifically mentioned in
connection with a girl's puberty, although they may
actually have been imposed upon her in advance.
One informant commented, "We used to say 'Things
the old people wants to eat, they don't want us kids
to eat.' " While the taboos mentioned applied to both
boys and girls, he also remarked, "Girls?it's stricter,
because girls from the time they start growing up [are]
getting ready to get married. They have to live just
right. . . . Little girls have to be careful even before
they're wetedi [adolescent]."
On the other hand, things which, we would regard as
bad for children were not denied them. Thus, a little
girl (MJ) was given a drink of whiskey, and children
used to eat the liquor-soaked dough used to plug the
cracks in the still. Some boys (CW) and girls regularly
chewed snuff or smoked tobacco, and at smoking feasts
for the dead, all the participants, even small children,
were supposed to smoke.
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 515
Children's Games and Toys
No adequate picture of childhood could be given
without mentioning children's games and toys. Rem-
iniscences of childhood include climbing rocks on the
beach, going wading, swimming in ponds, picking
flowers, paddling in small canoes, and other simple
amusements.
Boys and girls "used to make a big hole in the sand,
just big enough to get your head in. . . . Get your head
down and hear the surf?sound funny. . . . You hear
all kinds of music when the sea is rolling, or like some-
body is whispering to you when the surf is sound-
ing. . . . Each one has to hear what it sounds like."
(MJ) She also recalled how she and her little brother lay
down together under her red blanket in the sunshine
to see how red everything looked.
Children played "teeter-totter," or seesaw (kits!).
Little girls, at any rate, used to play jumping games to
see who could jump the best. Or two older children
would take a little one between them by the hands
and swing her along to make her jump.
Small boys had bows and arrows, little fishooks, and
dogs for pets. Little girls had dolls, dishes and pots.
While some of the latter were big enough for real use,
others were doll-sized. "My father used to carve a little
dish as a plaything" from shelf fungus. He also made
her a toy canoe in which she could keep her toys, and
she played with her dolls in the canoe at the wading
place her father had fenced on the Situk River. (MJ)
Another woman remembers playing with little tin
cans and paper boxes when she was small. Love of the
miniature or the toy is not confined to children, for
older women were delighted by small pots or dishes
(for example, those in a mess kit), and one old lady,
Mrs. Frank Dick, posed for her photograph holding the
model of a skiff which her husband had made because
she was so fond of the toy (pi. 4).
Dolls (silk, 'little daughters') were made by mothers
for little girls. The heads were of white rocks from the
beach, the bodies of rags. The Dry Bay people sold
dolls obtained in the interior. These had heads of a
white rock (marble), described as powdery, which came
from a mountain near the head of the Alsek River
(p. 89). This rock was easy to carve when fresh, but
hardened when exposed to the air. Suria described
the same kind of dolls: "For their children they make
some toys with heads of marble for them to play with"
(Wagner, 1936, p. 256). Emmons obtained a stone
doll's head at Yakutat about 1885 (AMNH 19/242).
About that time big china and wax dolls were bought
from the traders (MJ). Little girls rocked their dolls
to sleep just as their mothers did the babies, said
another woman.
Little girls also had real animals as pets. "My brother
used to bring home black and brown bear cubs. My
mother fed them with her breast as a pet for me. When
they were a little bigger, my father made a cage for
them. They would go in there. I used to pack them
around like a baby. They would follow us on the beach
like dogs. They got a couple of brown bear cubs as
company for me. . . . But when they get older they
get angry. They scratched my ma and snap at me, so
they shot them. . . . My mother stuffed the dead cub
with moss, and I played with it, like teddy bear. I had
brown bear, squirrel, ermine stuffed. But I was afraid
of groundhog. It's got fuzzy hair. . . . 1 also had a
stuffed baby seal." (MJ)
Children also used to catch hummingbirds with
something sticky, and fasten the little thing to a sinew
thread which they held while the bird tried to fly away.
MJ remembered how her little brother bad ruined her
new red blanket by pouring molasses on it, in order to
lure hummingbirds.
Children used to play a blindfold game. They divided
into teams and stood on each side of a hole dug in the
sand, "just big enough for your legs to go in." One
child was blindfolded and swung around. He then tried
to cross to some one on the other side of the hole with-
out falling in. If he did so, he was "captured" by the
other side, and had a chance to blindfold another child.
The game ended when all those on one side had been
captured, or when one fell into the hole. This game was
called tanAx kugAtsa.
A great deal of children's play involved imitating the
activities of older people. Thus MJ recalls how girls
would play mother and daughter in a little house made
of branches and blankets. One small girl would be shut
in behind a blanket at the back, as if she were an
adolescent. While small children might be taken into
the sweatbath house by a parent, older girls might
make a bathhouse of their own and take baths in it,
in imitation of their elders. This was probably done
because the regular bathhouse was the special sanctuary
of older men and of older women.
Children, that is girls who were not yet adolescent
and boys old enough to go hunting but not old enough
to marry, indulged in sexual games on the sly. They
"play house, like husband and wife. . . . Them days
they just play together, just play man and wife?
nothing wrong. But nowadays they get into mischief....
Johnny cuddle up with the girls, and I don't know
nothing. We're little kids. And the big grown up girls
[almost adolescent] know something about the business,
you know." (MJ)
As children grew older, the brothers and sisters,
including parallel cousins and other members of lineage
and sib who were considered siblings, began to be shy
516 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
of each other, although the rules against looking at or
speaking to a sibling (or moiety mate) of the opposite
sex were not strictly enforced until they reached
puberty.
By this time, too, children had already acquired a
good notion of the ramifications of the kinship system
and of the importance of sib and moiety. Thus, they
realized that if a playmate were hurt when a group of
children from different sibs were together, the affair
was likely to be treated very seriously by their elders,
for it might necessitate the payment of damages. In
such cases, no matter how the injury had occurred, it
would be the children of the opposite moiety who would
be held responsible, and their kin would have to pay
the relatives of the injured child. Children who found
themselves in such scrapes, would, if they were wise,
keep quiet about the circumstances to protect each
other from parental wrath.
GROWING UP
Training of Boys
As we have seen, the preparation of the boy for his
future life as a hunter began at birth with magical
exercises (hexwa). Active training for this role was
started when the boy was only 6 or 7, when he was
supposed to leave the house of his parents and live
with his mother's brother who became his mentor
and disciplinarian. What is most clearly remembered
by all informants is the way in which the small boys
were made to take icy baths in order to harden
themselves.
"If I had a brother, [my son] is going to stay with
him," explained one woman. ". . . They leave their
mothers when they're about 6 or 7 years old, I guess.
In the morning, they [the uncles] take it [the nephews]
out and put it in the snow and the water, icy water, so
they can be strong. If they stay with their mother
they weak and they poor. . . .They sure respect
what their uncle says and what their [older] brother
says. When he was small [my husband] stay with his
uncle."
However, it is evident from personal reminiscences
and from the lists of occupants of the various old
houses that many boys did not go to live with their
uncles, even when the latter lived in multifamily
houses large enough to accommodate all the nephews
of the owners. Very often the boys seem to have stayed
at home until marriage, or sometimes after marriage,
although in such cases the uncle usually lived next
door or near enough to fulfil his traditional functions.
Furthermore, the hardening process seems to have
been initiated by the parents. One woman who was
doing this to her children is said to have been stopped
by the U.S. Marshal, for the Whites were bitterly
opposed to such exposure of the children. The woman
herself believes that she prevented her children from
getting tuberculosis by bathing them in the snow twice
a day, "even the baby."
Sitka Ned is reported to have said, "My mother
used to throw me in the water. [She said] 'If you get
poor and lazy, somebody's going to take your uncle's
body away from you and pay for it [the burial], and
you die poor, and you my son!' "
CW, born about 1879, told of his experiences as a
little boy. "Everything I do. I jumping in the water?
that kind of water [the bay]. No clothes on this weather
[March]. That's why I get strong. No get sick. No get
chest cold. That salt water, it's pretty cold! My mother
told me, 'That's your uncles die. Your uncle he die.'
That time they throw me in the water. 'That's good
man!' my mother tell me. 'Good man! Next time, big
boy. No more in your family. Your uncles all die.'
That's why I jump in the water, see? No consumption."
In other words, some of his uncles had died of tubercu-
losis, and the boy was to grow strong to take their place.
His sister (MJ) had a somewhat different version of
her brother's training. "Charley's uncle beat him when
he tries to get out of the cold water. His father used to
do the same thing in Situk, even when the ice was run-
ning. I used to squeal, I thought be would drown."
"My uncle made his nephews go out in the winter, cut
blocks of wood. They had their shirts tied up, no
clothes on. Or else he throw them in the water. Ice
in Situk River. My brother goes in just a little way."
When telling the story of a youth who had acquired
supernatural strength by bathing in icy water (p. 890;
cf. Swanton, 1909, Tale 93), MJ interrupted her narra-
tive to remark, "I know my grandpeople preaching to
Charley. A boy ain't supposed to stay with his mother?
supposed to be raised by his uncle in the old days.
Everytime Charley refused to go anywhere, they all
preached to him about it." In concluding, she added:
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 517
"That story, that's as far as I go [know], because my
mother and them preached to Charley. In Situk, he
hates to go in the water. They had to drag him in. My
uncle and them had to drag him down in the water.
That's how come they tell him that story."
The severity of the training and the punishment that
might be imposed on cowardly boys are illustrated,
though presumably in exaggerated form, by the story
of CAKW6, the female shaman who revived the nephews
that her brother had stabbed because they tried to
evade the cold baths and the floggings with branches
(p. 714).
The cutting of firewood was a daily chore for older
boys and young men, one preferably performed before
the raven called at dawn. In referring to an illustrious
ancestor, an informant remarked: "He had a big name,
that man from whom we are descended. That's why I
try to be good, I guess. . . . He's a big man; he's the
luckiest man. He chop wood, he chop wood all the time.
The fire never go down. The fire was just going like that.
After a while he got lucky; he got what he wants.
. . . He's just a young boy, but anybody he sees?his
uncles or his grandfathers?he always chop wood [for
them.] He goes around without eating. In the winter
time he just puts a belt around him and goes around
without clothes. He just wears shoes [moccasins] hi the
winter time. Then he gets lucky."
Such hard exercises in the cold dawn not only
strengthened the body but were purifying and virtuous,
and hence rewarded by good fortune.
Cold water baths were not discontinued with adult-
hood, but rather were intensified as the youth became
older and stronger, and were considered a necessary
preparation for any dangerous or chancy undertaking,
especially one involving the supernatural.
"When they wanted to be strong, they throw the
kids in the water. Big people like me [?the speaker
was a man of 41?] stays in the water till they drop
dead like. To bring them back alive, they pour hot oil
in their throat. If it's going to be four times, that's tough.
[It was early in the morning.] They get so cold they
float up in the water. They froze up, so they put hot
grease in them. In the winter time, when it's freezing
weather, it comes to him, the blessing?ktsln [strength],
they call it. It comes to him?what he been wishing for
comes to be true. They used to whip each other with
branches. My dad used to."
The uncle was also responsible for seeing that his
nephews took nourishing food. "Gee, how my uncle
used to make the boys eatl He makes them drink
hooligan [oelachen] oil. Whole spoonful at a time. But
Jim hates it. . . . My brother Jim didn't like him
because he give him that horn spoon full of hooligan
oil. In winter time it's frozen white. And dried fish
soaked overnight with it is good healthy food. Jim
hates the grease. Mother sends the boys over to help
pack wood. . . . 'Go to your uncle,' my mother said.
'No, I don't want to drink no hooligan oil. It stinks!
. . . I don't like that oil he feeds us with. It stinks.
I puke every time I smell it!' " (MJ)
Uncles also helped to teach their nephews how to
hunt, and took them on their first hunting trip when
they were very small. As SJ told: "[My uncle] took me
hunting when I was small. We left early in the morning.
There was the moon. He fixed bait for me in the canoe.
I fell asleep. . . . I don't think we got anything. We
came ashore on Knight Island and went hi the woods.
I remember I came down to the beach and he fixed a
place for me to sleep. We went to a big lake on Knight
Island, but I don't remember where. . . . I was 6 or 7
years old. . . . We came back the same day. Another
time we went to sealing camp. He shot a newborn seal.
He told me to pull it aboard. I couldn't make it, I
was too small."
Another man, CW, described a hunting trip with
his uncle:
"I been hunting with my uncle two times up at Icy
Bay. Long way?hand power [i.e., paddling the canoe].
One time I been there he killed two yuxtc [sea otter].
I was lonesome that time. I was little boy. I think of
my mother. . . .
"He was teaching me. He told me, my uncle, 'You
go with me now.' I say 'Yes, I go with you.'
"Early morning we start way up to other side [of
Yakutat Bay], All way hand power, hard work. That's
one day up there. We stay all night. We get up early
hi morning, and started again. Go to Icy Bay. . . .
"Next morning, next day, go hunting sea otter.
Come back same place [to the camp]. Next day going
out, come back same place." The small boy paddled
in the stern of the forked prow canoe while his uncle
used a shotgun in the bow. Neither could eat while
they were out in the boat (see the statement quoted
on p. 378).
"Wind blow all that time. I was thinking of my
mother. Sometimes I cry, I think of my mother. Pretty
hard staying with my uncle?talking, talking! 'Don't
sleep too long. Wake up early in the morning!'. . .
Every morning I heard no yel [raven?it was before
the raven called]. It's pretty dark, dark two mornings.
'Make the fire! Make the fire!' my uncle [told me].
'Cook some coffee!' "
This was the first time the boy had left his mother.
Most of what he learned on the trip, we gather, was
how to handle a canoe, make camp and cook, and some
of the magical rules to follow on the hunt. According
to his sister (MJ), he was about ten years old when he
went sea otter hunting with his uncle.
518 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Others who might take boys on hunting expedi-
tions were their fathers, older brothers or brothers-in-
law. When they were young, they never went out
unaccompanied by an older relative, but as soon as
they had more experience and were older they might
hunt alone, even though such an expedition might not
be fully approved.
It is interesting that one of the things which the
uncle traditionally taught his nephew was how to cook.
Presumably this was on hunting trips. Thus one woman,
who has no brothers, reported that her husband had
said that if their sons had been raised by an uncle they
would have been able to cook.
The uncle could get his nephews to work for bim and
also might expect to receive the spoils of their chase,
or a large share. On the other hand, they were free to
use his property. Legally, they seem to have formed
one 'person.' But the uncle was always "the big boss."
It is my impression that the abandonment of the old
pattern of rearing by an uncle has meant that in some
families there was no effective disciplinarian of the
older boys, since the father might be too old-fashioned
to assume this obligation for his own sons.
There was no event in a boy's life comparable to the
first menstruation of his sister. Yet in former times, his
first success as a hunter was a matter for rejoicing by
his family and meant an increase in his personal status.
I was unfortunately able to learn little about how this
event was celebrated. SJ denied that he had ever heard
of any specific ceremony, but that what might be done
"depends on the class of people. High class likes to do
something for their children. They are always feeling
good when a boy kills something. It proves he'll be a
good hunter."
An older man, however, reported that when a boy
killed his first game he was called "master of killing"
('At sati, literally 'master of things [animals]'). The
boy's father would divide up the game, but whether
this was simply given away or cooked as part of a
feast, and who were the recipients, I did not learn.
At any rate, the act of sharing was supposed to make
the boy lucky the next time he went to hunt. He was
not allowed to eat any part of his first kill, lest the head
of the slain animal bite him in the face. This was ex-
pressed by the saying "The head of what he lolled will
bite him" (du dJAq 'AtcAyi keyAxa yax[?]. (MJ and
CW)
As already noted, the specific food taboos which
children had to observe were lifted for the youth or
man with respect to the animals which he himself had
killed.
Adolescent Girls
Almost the most important event in a woman's
life was her first menstruation, for her conduct during
her long puberty confinement was supposed to influence
not only her own future life for good or ill, but the
fortunes of her relatives and of her future husband.
For this reason she was surrounded by taboos and
enjoined to perform magical tasks. Many of these
were to be repeated when she became a widow, and
a similar pattern was followed by any one taken as
a peace hostage, for such a man, like the young girl,
then "became a woman" (pp. 536-538, 598-599).
Mothers watched their little daughters carefully
from the time they were about 12 years old, anticipat-
ing this critical period. One woman explained: "They
watch the 12-year old girls to see if they menstruate.
They usually menstruate in the night or before break-
fast. So they eat last [in order not to contaminate the
food of others by accident]. And if they menstruate
before they eat, they go without food and water for
4 days."
The little girls had been warned what to expect.
"My mother told me beforehand that blood was going
to come, so I wasn't scared. She said, 'If anything
sticks your clothes to your body, look and see if it's
blood.' When I wake up that morning, my nighty
was all over blood. I told my mother. Afterwards
I'm sorry." The child's regret was because she was
then promptly secluded. This same woman, however,
as a grandmother taking care of four granddaughters,
forgot to give them any hint about menstruation,
probably because the old taboos had become obsolete,
and she told how the children were panic-stricken at
the sight of blood when the oldest began to menstruate.
In former days, little girls were well aware of the
confinement and restrictions they would endure,
because they knew what had happened to their older
playmates, and themselves had even played "mother
and daughter," pretending to "shut in" the smaller
child as a menstruant. Although other children were
not supposed to play around the place where the
adolescent girl was secluded or to visit her, they some-
times did so; fortunately this did not mean a serious
breach of taboo if only little girls were concerned.
The consequences of concealing the first signs of men-
struation were, however, quite another matter. Once
when a young girl cut her knee in an escapade and the
blood from the concealed wound was finally discovered,
the older women were in a panic. One exclaimed:
" 'Here, examine the kid. Look at the blood stains on
her clothes. She's mature! Shut her in quick!' "
When the older informants were young, puberty
observances already were being modified or omitted
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 519
because of pressure from missionaries, other Whites,
and from the younger, more acculturated members of
the group. Most of our information comes from two
women who were adolescent at Yakutat in 1897 and at
Dry Bay in 1909, but whose confinement was apparently
not as rigorous as it would have been a few decades
earlier. Another Yakutat woman who reached puberty
about 1902 or 1903 escaped entirely.
The oldest informant said: "They used to keep girls
shut up for a whole year, but the missionary made
them let me out early" (MJ). She was confined for
perhaps 4 months, the younger woman for 3. "They
had a tent over my bed so I won't see daylight. Every-
time Johnson [the Eeverend Albin Johnson] came,
they told him I was sick in bed so I can't go to the
Mission. When Hendrickson came they took up my
tent and made me sit up in bed. After he left they
shut it down." (MJ) In former times, some girls,
probably only the most aristocratic, were said to have
been confined for 3 or 4 years, although this period
is probably exaggerated. The maximum or optimum
period was probably 2 years, I should hazard, a round
of eight seasons for the "eight bones" of the body
(see p. 761).
The adolescent girl (wetedi, wEtedi) was confined
in one of the rear rooms of the house, at least after
the Old Village of Yakutat was built. In earlier days,
she was probably kept in a back room or partitioned-off
place near her parents' room, or in a special annex or
hut behind the house. Such a place at the old village
on Khantaak Island was said to have had its own
toilet or latrine, through which one could enter from
outside. Perhaps the birth house was used, since this
was where older women went when menstruating. In
any case, the place of confinement was dark because
the girl was not supposed to look at the sky. In the
framehouses of the Old Village the rear bedrooms had
windows, and for this reason a tent was put over the
girl's bed. The period of seclusion was called being
"in the hole," which suggested that the original place
was underground. During her confinement, the girl
was in theory supervised by her father's sister, since
rituals at life crises were the responsibility of the
gunEtkAnayi, although in practice her mother or
grandmother might perform all the necessary services.
The first 8 days were the most rigorous. Originally,
the girl was not allowed to eat or drink except for
a little food or water given to her at the end of the
first 4 days. Later, this period of abstinence was short-
ened, and she was given her first nourishment after 2
days, although the total period for fasting and thirst-
ing still lasted for 8. Possibly modifications could
always have been made if necessary for the girl's
health.
The first water was apparently offered at the end
of 2 days, and when the girl reached for it, the water
was spilled. "They spill the first water to see if you're
going to be nasty." Thus, "They test them. They
trained them so they wouldn't get so greedy about
water. They tease you when they give you first drink
of water. . . . They test?just when you're going to
handle it, they spill the water, just when you're going
to reach it." This was done because the drinking of
water was supposed to wash luck and wealth away,
and even before puberty girls had been taught to
drink as little water as possible. They were told that
if they drank too much, "things that flow to you will
flow away from you" (MJ). According to another
woman, "[If] they likes water, drinking all the time,
you know?that water's no good to use it?luck all
floating away. Even when you got a boy friend, they
going to floated away. You not going to get lucky,
they says." The water which was given to the girl
during the first 8 days was traditionally offered in
"a little basket the size of your thumb" (MJ), evi-
dently a miniature version of the old-style basketry
drinking cup. Informants denied that bone drinking
tubes were used.
The younger woman described this ordeal; and the
following account is pieced together from statements
made on three occasions (July 12, 1952, February 21,
1954, March 21, 1954).
"I don't eat for 8 days. After 2 days they give me
some water." "My aunt [father's sister] comes in. . . .
She give me that water, you know. Soon as I grab it?
I'm thirsty, you know?she spill it. Oh, I just get sore
about it! Next one, she give it to me, I don't take it.
Two days more?." "For 2 days more I never eat.
That fourth day I dream about that stream under our
house. I dream I go over there and drink that water."
"Fourth day, I dream about it?[that] I go down by
little stream by our house; I go drinking. Gee, it's
dirty, that water! But if I steal it, going to get bad
luck." "Gee, I get so shamed! Then on that fourth
day, I wouldn't eat or take water. I'm still so shamed.
I'm just crying. [My aunt] said, 'Eat now. You going
to get sick. For four days you don't eat.' Then they
give me boiled fish and some kind of potatoes with it
and canned corn for a side dish. I eat it. It was store
potatoes and canned corn. They got it from a scow
that was there [Dry Bay]. . . . See, that's why I'm
lucky. Four days, and then I eat?one day I eat,
another day I don't. That way until 8 days. Then I'm
sure healthy, though."
MJ, though older, had a less painful ordeal. "They
don't let me eat the first going off. A whole day?and
not even water! My poor grandmother [mother's
mother]?when my mother's out she come in and say.
'You want glass of water?'?'No.' [Our informant said
520 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
she was sure her grandmother was going to spill it, so
she made up her mind not to drink]. . . . [My grand-
mother] think I'm so dry, and she just want to sneak
me a glass of water. . . . My grandmother just took
pity on me. She wants me to drink when my mother's
not around." "My stepfather, my father's nephew,
was a young fellow. He said starving me was old-
fashioned. He told my mother to cook for me and give
me some water. For the first 8 days I had to have
special dishes, special cooking pot. They made me
drink water out of a plain tin can. After 8 days they
buried all my dishes, the can, and my cooking pot
under an old stump."
The 8 days had a mystic connection with the "eight
bones" of the body, and the old stump was a symbol
of longevity (see pp. 761, 764-765).
When the girl breaks her fast, "all the preserved
things in the house are shared all around the village,
but only if the family can afford it. . . . The family
puts up special food for the girl's feast. It is called
du^axoni?share of what the girl eats." (MJ) This
feast corresponds to that given when her brother made
his first kill. MJ's parents gave a big party to all the
village when she broke her fast after her first 2 days
''in the hole." But she herself, of course, was not present.
To this party were invited her cousins on her father's
side, gixnEtkAnayi, and she had to "potlatch away"
all her dolls to these girls when she was "put in the
hole," but it was not clear whether the dolls were
given to them at this feast or whether they had been
distributed previously. Her mother told her who was
to get which doll.
During the first 8 days of confinement the girl was
supposed to remain quiet. She wore strings laced around
the fingers and thumbs of both hands. This was done
to our oldest informant, who explained that the practice
was "so money wouldn't slip through her fingers"
(MJ). The younger woman said: "Olden time, they do
it like that?wetedi, each finger, so they can't do any-
thing, you know." (See the similar explanation given
for lacing up the hand of the peace hostage, p. 598.)
She demonstrated how the fingers were laced together
with twining, beginning with the little finger and drawing
the thumb tight across the palm of the hand. This
was not done to her. "Just one day I stay in that
room, I start weaving basket. Soon my aunt come in.
'Your hands going to be cuts all over. Just lay down.
Don't do anything.' That's how it got that way, just
cut," and she exhibited the scars on her fingers. "I
didn't have my fingers tied then. . . . Way older
people before us do it like that."
A girl was not supposed to cut anything with a
knife during the 8 days. This was probably because if
the adolescent girl, like the widow, used a knife this
would be equivalent to cutting short her life and the
lives of others.
"For the first 8 days they got one of those old rotted
trees (nAk; cf. Boas, 1917, p. 142, yi-nAqu'?'to be
rotten'. They put it in that toilet place. You have to do
it on that. That's to keep you clean when you are
old?so you don't have to go the washroom so often.
So you won't rot away. They don't have doctors those
days." "They fix the soft dead wood like a powder
for you to pee on for eight days. Then they put it back
again where they got it. This will keep you from dirtying
the bed when you are old."
The girl's hair was also specially treated to keep it
from turning gray. Although informants admitted that
hair was washed in urine before soap was available,
they did not associate this practice particularly with
the puberty rituals. At Dry Bay, at any rate, the hair
of the adolescent girl, like that of the widow or mourner,
was washed at the end of the 8-day-period with blue-
berry juice, while a wish was made for luck, for a good
husband, and for permanently black hair. This practice
was denied by my Yakutat informant, "but they put
a black loon skin on her head, to wish for black hair,
so it wouldn't turn gray" (MJ).
"When they shut in, they generally get the skin of
that?a duck that sets around on the rocks?big long
neck?yuqw [cormorant]. That thing never grow
old. . . . You know that black duck?just long slim
thing, good for nothing, they don't eat that. That's
the kind. . . . They skin it . . . and they get it
on the round pot, and they dry it that way. When you
become mature they make you wear it, and they making
you wish. . . . They skin it and they make a cap
out of it for you. . . . They heat it up and put it
on your head. . . the first 8 days. Just so you
would get the feeling. . . That's what the old people
use. But they never made any for me, because I was
around the White people so much they think I don't
appreciate what they do for me. Don't even make me
wish for anything. Just shut me in and keep me away
from people's talk." (MJ) She commented on how,
long ago, few old women had gray hair. One very old
woman, her aunt (Mrs. Emma Joseph, 1867-1950,
wife of Joseph Abraham), had told her that "her
aunty put it on her, and that's why she never get gray
hair." MJ was skeptical; "I think that's just a nature."
The Dry Bay woman told how evergreen branches
had been fastened above her for 8 days. "And my aunt,
my father's sister, put trees right on top of me. . . .
They put some kind of branches above me, and they
tie a string to them. Every morning when I wake up,
I pull the string and the needles fall on me, and I
wish for money: 'That's money falls on me!' This type
of magic (hexwa) was like that practiced by the young
man, Lkettitc, who made a similar wish when snow fell
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 521
on him from the branches when he was cutting wood
(p- 244).
This same woman said that her hands never seemed
to get cold. This was because, "when I was wetedi
they put my hands over hot water, and I wish I never
get cold. I hold my hands over that and I say: 'I wish
I'm not going to get cold on my hands!' You just say
it to yourself."
The girl was given a hard round stone from the
beach. It was not, however, made clear whether this
had to be white. " I know that same tune, my grand-
mother go to the beach before the crow [raven]
sounds. . . . She got an 'itc [boulder] and she rub it
eight times on my mouth. She go round in a circle
eight times. . . . They rub that 'itc around the face for
the first 8 days to keep them from being talkative.
It's for the eight joints, big bones. It's your upper arm,
lower arm, thigh bone, lower leg bone . . ." enumerating
the main bones of the arms and legs. (MJ) This sym-
bolism is discussed later (p. 761).
The Dry Bay informant said of the adolescent girl:
"They gave her a stone to rub on her mouth. It has
to be round. Just called tE [stone]. Every time they
hear something [gossip], they put it on the mouth."
She gestured to show how it would be rubbed around
the lips. ''Then put it under your feet, step on it.
Whenever something is going on and people talk about
it, they do that because?." "So they won't become
gossips?" I suggested. "Yes. That's why they do it.
They rub it along the face. If you put it around your
face when you're wetedi, you going to be like that
stone?not do any trouble or bad thing. You're going
to be good. That stone is good. They can't move it.
It's heavy?tEyAx kudAl qaya [stonelike is-heavy
one's-face]. You can't turn your face around to do
bad things. I do it. Now nobody comes to me, say,
'You been talking about me?' After 4 days"?the
informant probably intended to say 8?"they put that
rock. . . under an old rotten fallen tree . . . dig in the
mud under it. . . . It stay there forever. That's hexwa,
medicine. Her mother or aunt put it under. It's going
to stay there for good. It makes you good and lucky."
All the time the girl was secluded she used a stone to
scratch herself, apparently to avoid self-contamination
from her fingers. The scratching stone was described as
"a long thin stone," and was obviously a different one
from the cobblestone which had been buried.
Widows (p. 538), peace hostages (p. 598), hunters
(p. 666), and shamans used similar rubbing amulets
(pp. 689-690).
It was denied that the adolescent girl was given
advice through the earbone of a salmon, as was prac-
ticed by the Inland Tlingit (information from Dr.
McClellan), but she might throw the humerus of a seal
in order to divine what her luck was to be and what
kind of a man she was to marry. The position in which
the bone fell when tossed determined whether the
answer to her question was favorable or unfavorable
(see p. 807). This form of hexwa would be practiced
"the first thing in the morning when they get through
'exercise' and make a wish" (MJ).
During the remainder of her period of seclusion, the
girl was given various tasks to perform, not only to
educate her in a practical way but as a magical "train-
ing." For example, "When I was in the tent, they
ripped sheets and I had to sew them. I just had a
a quilt of my mother's. I don't know how many times
she ripped it and I had to sew it together again."
"They would rip up clothes?rip up the seams and
throw it at you. You have to sew it fast and wish that
you be handy. The red tape the wetedi go through!"
(MJ) The same woman said she had to pluck the down
from five swans.
The adolescent girl would start to weave a basket,
then twirl it around very fast, pretending to weave,
so that she would be a quick worker. In addition,
of course, she was supposed to learn how to make
baskets.
A third woman remembered how, when she was
adolescent, the woman who had charge of her gave her
dresses to sew. "She made me sew it. I sew fast. She had
little fingers, and she stuck them through the stitches and
pulled them all out. I had to do it over again. Oh,
I believe I'm the baddest girl ever!" She did not make
clear whether the seams were ripped because the stitches
were too big, or whether this would have been done
in any case, as good training. The same girl was also
supposed to cut out and sew up two pairs of gloves
or mittens, "but I cut them all for the left hand . . . so
they cut out four more, and I had to sew them. . . . I
believe I'm the most naughty girl when I am young.
I get a licking, but I do it the same."
There were also food taboos to be observed. "You
dare not eat fresh stulf out of the salt water. It has
to be dried up. [Fresh] fish will make you flow lots?
especially halibut." "You doesn't dare eat fresh fish
or anything fresh, or your mouth will be moving [when
you are old]?you can't stop it. . . . I see a wo-
man. . . . Gee, her mouth goes constantly at it, top
and below!" (MJ)
"A young girl after she menstruates never eats any-
thing from the beach for 2 or 3 years," commented one
woman. To eat beach food makes you poor. "Never get
rich. . . . Sea food brings you tough luck. And when
you going to eat [dried] fish . . . you start at the tail
part so you wouldn't be so hoggish and eat too much.
. . . [Otherwise] the fish swim away quick. That way,
you don't have to be so hog. There's not much grub
that time, long ago, only what they put up. No stores.
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1- -35
522 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
They training the girls that way so they won't eat all
their husband's wages up when they get married."
Here we see a combination of the general fear that
eating "beach food" will mean poverty (p. 405) and the
special training in frugality which the young girl must
now undergo.
All this time the adolescent girl had her own dishes
and spoons, kept separate from those used by others.
What my informants remember most vividly, after
the initial deprivation of food and water, was the long
incarceration. As one recalled, "Oh, what a hard time?
3 months?summer, too! You couldn't look out the
window. You couldn't look at the sky?it's bad weather.
It's going to be bad weather." "They had a tent over
my bed. Shut me in so I couldn't see daylight. It was
cruel. My mother slept in that room. . . . Girls my age
were running around and playing, making noise with tin
can, and I had to stay shut up under that tent." "It
was hard being in there. All the other girls were out
picking berries, and me in there!" The only miti-
gation of boredom might occur when two girls were
confined together, as happened in one instance.
During this period the girl was not supposed to look
at anything alive, or at any fresh killed game or fish,
and she was not supposed to touch anything moving,
the penalty being a "shaky head" in old age. The taboo
against touching moving things still had to be observed
for a time after she was released from confinement.
"Even after you are in there and first go free, you can't
touch any berries or your head will go like that. Don't
take anything out of the bushes. Your head will wave
back and forth before you get old, because the wind
blows the bushes."
In folklore the glance of the adolescent girl is repre-
sented as so baleful that it can turn living creatures to
stone; bears (cf. p. 64), dogs, men, and even the girl
herself may turn to stone from breaking this taboo
(cf. Swanton, 1909, Tale 31, p. 106). If she looks at the
sky it will bring storms, and a shaman may have to
perform magical rites to restore good weather.
It should not be supposed, however, that all girls
docilely observed the regulations, for one of my inform-
ants cut a hole in the tent over her bed with a pair of
scissors so she could peak out. For a time her cousin
was confined with her, until the other girl shot off her
father's gun by accident, while they were playing
"husband and wife." No one was hurt, but the cousin
was sent away. Later, when the informant's term of
confinment was almost over, the family moved to fish
camp. Her mother carried her from the house in the
Old Village to the canoe on the beach, with a blanket
over her head, for if she set foot to the ground or saw
the sky it would storm. The girl, however, peeked out
of the blanket to watch the property contest between
Situk X and Nakitlan (p. 643), and when it did storm
later, she was blamed. At fish camp, where she had a
little room and private toilet built as an annex to the
smokehouse, she woke early one morning and caught
sight of a mink by the riverbank near the pit where the
fish entrails were buried. She was so naughty that she
ran out, caught the live animal in her blanket, and
released it in the smokehouse. Still later, when her con-
finement was over, she could not resist the temptation
to go with other girls to pick berries. For these misdeeds
she was not punished, but merely scolded by her
mother, who pointed out that most of these restrictions
were for her own good (MJ). This girl had been at the
mission, which may in part explain her behavior, but
in addition she was bright and naturally mischievous,
to judge from other childhood reminiscences.
When the girl was finally released from seclusion,
her old clothes were burned with the tips of spruce
branches, and the ashes were pounded into an old
stump, so she would have a long life. This presumably
also removed any contamination. She was then given
new clothes, which might include a button blanket and
other finery. "My mother put lots of gold bracelets
and rings on my hand when I came out of the hole. . . .
They cut the labret hole when they mature, and they
get a tattoo." (MJ) At the period when our informants
were adolescent, labrets had become obsolete. Tradi-
tionally, tattooing and cutting the labret hole would
have been performed by a relative in the opposite
moiety, who would have been rewarded for these serv-
ices at a potlatch. I saw only one woman with a small
design tattooed on her hand, but did not feel that I
knew her well enough to question her about it.
For a time the young girl's head was covered with a
hood; at a later period a Hudson's Bay Company ker-
chief was substituted. " 'Anqawu?? a rich man's daugh-
ter puts on wetedi saxw [puberty hood] when she gets
out, so nobody will see her face until her husband,
until she get married." "After the girls come out
of the hole they wear hoods with tassels of dentalium
shells until they get used to being seen." This was
then described as "like a raincoat hood. . . . You keep
it to give to your children. Mine was my mother's, and
used to be my grandmother's. The white shells (den-
talia] came from Tsimshians' place. [They were sewed
in parallel lines to cover the moosehide hood.] Someone
swiped my hood at Situk." (MJ)
"I stay in wetedi 3 months. I don't like to see any-
body. I get shamed when I stay in the room," another
woman said. "I'm in a room in a dark place for 3 months.
There's just a little light. I'm weak. When they open
that thing, everybody just watch me. Gee, I got
shamed!"
"When girls come out of the hole, they are white;
their hands are like glass." This very clear white skin
was much admired. "I was paralyzed in the legs so I
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 523
couldn't walk when they let me out" (MJ). Girls who
had been confined "can hardly walk or stand when they
come out," commented her friend.
Even though the girl was no longer shut in, she was
not really free, for her mother exercised a strict chaper-
ODage until she married. "They didn't let me go free
for good. Everywhere I go, my mother went behind me.
I never went alone." "I dare not go without my mother.
Even when I go to the wash room [latrine], my mother
takes me out." (MJ)
This period of supervision did not usually last long,
however, for a girl was considered marriageable as soon
as her puberty confinement was ended, and careful or
aristocratic parents would arrange for her marriage as
soon as possible. Sometimes, she was even betrothed
while still secluded.
Premarital Sex Knowledge and Illegitimate Babies
Although girls were not given sex instruction, they
were impressed with the desirability of attracting a
good husband. Modest and quiet behavior, skill and
industry, a gentle tongue, good looks?all were impor-
tant. Long beautiful hair was evidently much admired.
"Used to be just like million dollars, that hair. A man's
like it, too. All the boys like it. That's why when you
had a little girl you going to tell her to take care of
hair. So she can be cute, that girl?man stuck on her?
so big 'anqawu [noble] will marry her. That's why they
think about your hair?beautiful!"
Despite the ideal that girls should be sexually inno-
cent at marriage, there is no doubt that some actually
knew more than they were supposed to know, as may be
inferred from stories referring to sexual games played by
children, and to what they might overhear from
women in childbirth. Tlingit children, then as now,
evidently followed the maxim of watching and listening
and not asking questions, especially when forbidden
matters were concerned. Unfortunately I do not know
how boys usually acquired sexual knowledge or their
first sexual experiences. The Tlingit are exceedingly
reticent about sex and about all bodily functions, so
this was not a subject which could be freely discussed
with friends.
In the 18th century, girls must have been familiar
with the appearance of the man's naked body, since he
so often went about with little or nothing on (pp. 145,
435; pi. 61). Although women then, as now, dressed
very modestly, with clothing from the neck to the
wrists and ankles (p. 435; pi. 53) and probably then
also were prudishly reluctant to uncover themselves
even in the presence of other women, nevertheless there
were slave women who served as prostitutes (p. 145).
Even if boys and youths were denied as free access to
them as older men, because of taboos connected with
training, they must have known what went on for they
were the ones who were offering these poor creatures to
Malaspina's men.
When I asked MJ what she had been told as a girl
about the origin of babies, she said: "There's no such
thing as Santa Claus in them days. But my grandma
would tell me that she had found a baby on the beach
and brought it back to my mother to feed. I was so
used to seeing my mother feeding even those brown
bear cubs," that this explanation seemed reasonable.
I asked if she had believed that story and if she had
herself looked for a baby on the beach. "Yes, and it was
some time before I found out that babies don't come
that way, or that easy!"
This woman had been first married when she was not
yet 16, and at that time apparently knew little about
sex and procreation, for she told a funny story about
how a cat had frightened her by having kittens on the
bed where she was sleeping with her husband. "The
funny thing," she explained, was that she hadn't
known cats had kittens. She didn't know "a single
thing about it." But all I could learn further was that
' 'some girls didn't know a thing when they were married.''
Another girl had been taught by her mother to be
afraid of men. "My mother would tell me, 'Don't
talk to a man. You talk to a man, you going to get
big stomach!' " Mothers did not instruct their daughters
about intercourse or conception. "They tell them, but
they don't tell the truth. My mother says, 'If you walk
or talk with a man you going to have a baby without
husband. It's going to be too bad.' "
For a girl to have an illegitimate child was formerly
a terrible disgrace.
"Fatherless people is good for-nothing. In the old
days there was no such a thing. They killed both the
mother and the baby. The girl's uncles and brothers
did it because she brought that disgrace. It's the
same as with the Whites." (MJ)
However, when I asked a younger woman about such
unwed mothers, she said: "Just the poor people with
nobody to help them." That is, these were girls whose
parents had died and who were neglected by their
relatives. Probably the girl who was not chaperoned or
who lacked protectors was considered fair game by
the youths. If such a girl became pregnant, /'they just
says they got sick. They got a big blanket around.
Nobody can see. . . . They kill the baby. When they're
born they kill it?smother it, choke it. If they raise it up,
that family's relations going to die off, they |says.
All that people's going to disgrace."
A mother of an illegitimate child was called ck&lye'ye,
a term apparently applied to any woman who was
524 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
promiscuous or "a girl going around with a man,
without husband." The bastard was "a child of the
empty beach" (?, mtckA yAdi), or "the child between
fun" (tu sA-gu xak yAdi).
Informants had never heard of native methods of
contraception. "But when they do without husband,
though, they try to kill it, you know. They do heavy
things. Sometimes they fall on themselves, you know,
so the baby can died. That's the way they do, they says.
Or else their mother do something to them. That's
the way I hear, but not that stopping baby, I don't
hear that." She said that the mother of the pregnant
girl might "fight with" her daughter, that is, punch
her in the belly to kill the baby. "It's pretty danger,"
the informant agreed, "but it's big shame olden time.
Even they're going to kill it when they're born, before
their uncles or brothers knows it. They going to tell
that girl is just sick, you know. It's a big shame. And
all that family going to die off if they raise that baby.
All their relatives die off. That's a big shame. That's
why they kill it."
I doubt that the relatives were expected to die off
because of sanctions against illegitimacy, but rather
because the attempts to keep the birth and the origin
of the baby secret would have meant the violation of
many serious taboos.
MATURITY
The Missionary's View on Marriage at Yakutat
Albin Johnson interpreted the seclusion of girls not
so much as a preparation for adult life, but for marriage.
"Marital conditions among the Tlingit people were
very mixed up when we opened the mission there
[1887 or 1888, p. 198]. Here was a great work for the
missionaries to carry out in teaching Christian cus-
toms and ethics. The people lived in polygamy. Old
men married young girls and young men old women.
Their customs and laws allowed this. When parents
had opportunities to marry out their daughters?this
happened when they were quite young, say 10, 12,
or 14 years old?the gir] was closed in a little room
by herself. Only the mother was allowed to see her.
Here she occupied herself with weaving, handicrafts,
etc., painted or stained dark on her face. After six
weeks or three months she was taken out of this
prison. The belief was that she would grow prettier
through such a procedure and that her parents would
receive a higher price for her. When she now came
out, she married, and the one who got her had to
pay a large bride price to her parents. The payment
consisted of blankets, bearskins, sealskins, or other
skins, from 100 to 400 blankets or a lot of skins,
according to the rank of the girl's tribe. The old
widows were often married to youths, since the latter
were poor and the youths did not have to pay any-
thing for them. As is easily understood, the conse-
quences of this were hate and misery, quarrels and
adultery. This is heathendom hi its ugliest shape.
"Through the Christian mission polygamy is now
almost entirely abolished. The younger generation
have acquired the taste for cleaner habits and be-
havior, and it is now considered shameful for a
native to live in polygamy. They now come to the
mission to be properly married. So-called church
weddings are now held." [Johnson, 1924, pp. 73-74.]
The photograph of a bridal pair in the parlor of the
mission (ibid., p. 73) shows the groom stiff hi a dark
suit and impeccable high white shirt and stock; the
bride in a high-necked, ruffled white cotton dress, holds
his hand and glances timidly at the photographer.
Marriage
All individuals were expected to marry, and as far
as can be ascertained, there were no old maids or
bachelors, except for the occasional transvestite. Even
men and women bund from birth, crippled or subject
to what appears to have been epilepsy, or sick with
tuberculosis, seem to have been married or sought in
marriage, according to genealogical records and bio-
graphical sketches. Most persons married young, and
even when old and widowed married again, although
they might be too old to lead an active sexual life.
In 1954, there were in Yakutat only one middle-aged
man who had never married, and two younger men,
one of whom was suffering perhaps from slight cerebral
palsy and had homosexual traits; the other was ap-
parently disappointed in love. There were also a few
old widows and widowers who had remained single
after the deaths of then- last spouses; several of them
later remarried. A number of young men had not yet
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 525
married, although in former times they would have
been old enough to do so, since boys married at 16
and girls at 15. Perhaps these youths had remained
single because of the scarcity of young women of the
opposite moiety, for the dwindling numbers in the
three Wolf-Eagle sibs have in recent years produced a
serious imbalance in the population. Marriages to
White men have also cut down on the number of
native women available as spouses. Nevertheless, there
have been only a few persons who have broken the
old prohibition against intramoiety unions. Economic
conditions have also made it more difficult to marry,
and therefore have encouraged philandering by boys
and girls, especially since love affairs and fatherless
children are no longer condemned as they once were.
In former days, although marriage was important for
the individuals concerned, it was not regarded as a
union between private parties but rather as an alliance
between two family lines or lineages in opposite moieties
(pp. 491-492). It was felt to be especially fitting to
marry the young person to someone in his or her
father's lineage, thus reinforcing the bonds between
the two lines. A man might marry a father's sister or
her daughter, and a girl her father's brother or her
father's sister's son (p. 490). Very commonly the first
marriage of a young man was to the widow of his
mother's brother or even to the relict of his mother's
mother's brother, or to the widow or discarded wife
of an older brother. A girl usually was married first to
the widower of her maternal aunt, or even of her own
mother (that is, she married her stepfather). She often
entered the household as the young co-wife of her
older female relative.
This practice of perpetuating or reviving former
alliances frequently resulted in great disparity of age
between marriage partners. This was justified by one
informant as follows: "Old woman teaches young boy
to make money; old man teaches young girl." When
the older spouse died, then "they pay it back," that
is, the surviving young spouse would be married to a
younger sibling, parallel cousin, or maternal nephew
or niece of the deceased, so that for the second marriage
the partners were more nearly of an age. Others felt
that to make the young person marry an old man or
an old woman was "a dirty shame."
Formerly it was not uncommon for a man to designate
in advance the nephew who was to succeeed him and
marry his widow. This young man, the "reserved
husband," was usually already living in his uncle's
house, and in former days apparently had access to
his uncle's wife, even before his uncle's death, although
he was not yet considered the woman's real husband.
The younger unmarried brother might have similar
privileges with respect to his older brother's wife.
Most of my older informants, as well as their relatives
in previous generations, had been married about three
times, some more often, and the last marriage had often
been with a much younger person. Separations as
well as deaths accounted for a number of such
remarriages.
Since kin ties counted so strongly in determining
the suitability of a proposed match, marriage can
hardly be discussed adequately except in reference to
kinship (pp. 475-496). Although kin ties tended to
produce marriages between persons of different ages,
they also brought together persons who already knew
each other well in most cases. Family affection or
at least tolerance probably had to take the place of
romantic inclination in such unions.
Of course, not all marriages of one lineage were
with members of another lineage with which the first
had already been connected. There were many examples
of marriage with other lines and other sibs, so that
often an individual had grandparents in three sibs,
not two: his own, his father's, and his mother's father's
or his father's father's. Although the second marriage
was apt to be with the close kinsman (or kinswoman)
of the deceased spouse, it was not always so; a child's
stepfather or stepmother might belong to another sib
from that of the deceased parent.
Besides kinship, other considerations involved in
marriage were the relative social positions of the two
parties, since aristocrats were not supposed to marry
beneath their stations (p. 463). Pretty young girls
were, of course, often sought by established house
heads, usually as second wives, and the girl's parents
often considered his wealth and prestige rather than
their daughter's preferences (p. 464). It was not
uncommon for a prominent Yakutat family to look to
southeastern Alaska or Controller Bay for a suitable
husband or wife for their child, and in this way a
number of Yakutat people "married into" Katalla or
Kaliakh River or Chilkat or Sitka. In such cases,
the husband might move to the village of his father-
in-law, especially if he were a young man and not yet
a house head. However, in other cases the wife was
brought to her husband's home, and her children might
establish a new branch of their sib or lineage through
this marriage, as the Teqwedi claim to have married
into Yakutat from southeastern Alaska (p. 251).
While the ordinary young son-in-law customarily
lived in his father-in-law's house and worked for him,
a rich man might make gifts instead. Whenever pos-
sible there was, in fact, an exchange of gifts. The nature
and quality of these presents was often the prime
consideration. Because a man received valuable gifts
from his wives' brothers it was possible for him to
acquire wealth through a judicious series of marriages.
This is what the notorious Xatgawet is supposed to
526 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
have done, and it was a device employed by the Tlingit
from southeastern Alaska in then- trading relationships
with the Athabaskans and with their less sophisticated
northern relatives.
On the other hand, the girl's father and his kin
often profited, as when Daqusetc (Chief Minaman)
regained possession of the Teqwedi's Killerwhale Drum
as part of the bride price for his daughter. "It was a
great thing when they got it back" (p. 459). But I do
not know how the girl herself felt about the match.
Another girl, however, who was sought in marriage
by an old man who offered a dancing hat, bearskin,
blankets, and money to her uncles and mother, ran
out of the house in such a tempest of tears that the
mother refused to sanction the match, even though
the uncles urged it. It should be remembered that a
woman was supposed to obey her brothers. In this
case, the girl (MJ) took refuge in the mission, which
was the deciding factor, especially since her own father
was dead. The mother, however, seems to have been
unusual, for on other occasions she also rejected the
money offered as bride price, protesting that her
daughter was "not for sale," and that when old enough
she would chose her own husband.
One old woman who had been married many times,
the first time as a substitute for her mother's sister,
explained that the girl did not have much to say about
her marriage. Her parents arranged it. If a boy wanted
a girl, his parents would go to see hers, and if the
latter concurred, the girl was supposed to agree. (KDI)
Another woman, however, said that the girl would be
consulted, and even intimated that she would have
more freedom of choice on her first marriage than on
the second (after her husband's death) when she could
be forced to accept the successor that his relatives had
picked. It was usually the mothers of the young couple
who made the arrangements for a first marriage, but
there must have been many individual variations.
Although several older women were questioned, they
knew of no case in which a girl had committed suicide
because she had been forced into an unwelcome match.
One woman, however, remembered hearing of a girl
who shot herself when her stepfather tried to take her,
or when the mother tried to give her to him; the
details were not clear. There were cases in which girls
ran away from their first husbands and were not
forced to return to him. In another instance, one girl
was supposed to have drowned herself because she
could not marry her father's young nephew, since the
latter had already been appointed by her father as
the successor destined to marry his future widow, the
girl's mother (cf. Case 10, p. 604). In my opinion, the
girl was drowned by accident or through her own
carelessness, even though she was despondent and
although the young man in question was blamed.
I also heard of a young man who shot himself because
he was spurned by the girl he hoped to marry, and other
youths were cited who had shot themselves or each
other because of a woman.
The ideal, however, was for a happy and enduring
marriage, even though divorce was not uncommon
a generation or more ago, and I heard of few couples
who married young and remained together until old
age. While marital fidelity and mutual affection was
desirable, there does not seem to have been any empha-
sis on romantic love. "Love songs" are essentially
asexual, since the same words may be addressed to a
sweetheart, spouse, father, or friend of one's own sex,
provided only the individual is in the opposite moiety;
even here it is the group of sib-children, not the spe-
cific individual, that is addressed (p. 573). I heard
nothing corresponding to our love stories, either in
folklore or in biographical accounts. Rather, the
ambitious, hard-working or lucky young man became
wealthy and then married the chief's daughter, but
the latter was more a symbol of his success than the
object of a romantic attachment (pp. 243-245).
Almost all of my informants had been married in
church and it was hard to discover what had been
the older ceremony.
"Young girls, they keep them, watch them, especial-
ly at night. Some may stay 3, 4 years in the room.
Then they give them to a husband, so they will love
each other and not get divorced. The girl's father and
uncles sit here [on one side] and the boy's relatives
on another. [The groom would be seated on a mat
in the middle of the room, and the bride would emerge
from a rear sleeping room to sit beside him.] They talk:
'This girl is 'anyAdi, descended from big people. You
going to be her husband as long as you live?'?'Yes.'
[Then to the girl:] 'This man going to be your husband
as long as you live? Even if he gets sick? You going
to have respect for your husband?'?'Yes.' "
Although the form of this reported speech seems
to have been influenced by the Christian marriage
service, there can be no question that the elders of
the couple lectured them on the duties of marriage
in the presence of the assembled relatives.
"Sometimes the boy's people give blankets and
coppers to the girl's mother. The boy gives things to
the girl's mother. Her father is going to give clothes,
dishes, to the young people so they can use it. . . .
The boy's mother gives things to the girl's mother
and daddy, and out of it the father gives two blankets
to the young couple."
The young couple live first in the house of the girl's
parents, "while they teach the girl to love him. Then
they go to the boy's home."
The informant had been married in this fashion.
"It's just like a meeting. We have no marriage license.
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 527
At the meeting, they give me all kind of good names.
We're 'anyAdi. They talk and say we're going to stay
together for good. If they [we] go away from each
other, they [I] going to disgrace for my people and my
kids. And they say he's going to disgrace for his people.
That's why we stay together. . . . The big people
all talk, and nobody can break this marriage." On such
occasions, the lineage and even the sib chiefs would
speak. The informant also referred several times to
her children as her "marriage license."
I gather that at a formal wedding, or even at a be-
trothal, the groom and his party would assemble at the
bride's house and pile up all his wealth offered as a
bride price. The groom would sit on a mat, formerly
woven of grass or cedar bark, and the bride would be
summoned from a rear room to sit beside him. Her
father and his lineage might give the groom and the
latter's line some ceremonial prerogatives, for I heard
of two songs that had been acquired in this fashion. For
example, when the KwacKqwan went to Klukwan to
get a Kagwantan wife for Cada, chief of Moon House,
the Chilkat gave them a "tribal" mourning song, used
at potlatches, along with the girl. The second
song acquired in this way was "S'eltin's marriage song,"
a Tsimshian dancing song, given to the Tlingit Kag-
wantan of southeastern Alaska (Swanton, 1909, p. 401,
Song 47; 1954, 3-1-B). According to the version I was
told, the girl was a Tl'uknaca (Raven), who married
a Kagwantan youth of noble birth. When they were to
be married, the bride came out to him in the middle of
the room, stepping on eight coppers that had been laid
down to form a path from the rear room. The coppers
were subsequently given away, presumably to the
groom's sib, and they were also given the song to which
the bride had danced out. It is perhaps properly called
'place beneath S'eltin's feet' (S'eltin?usi ye"di, or yidE?),
although Swanton translates it as "Sleltl'n's-return-
song.'
An informant who was married in 1916 had a very
different wedding. "I was 16 years old then. Both Nu
hit [Fort House, Kwackqwan] and Dis hit [Moon
House, also Kwack;qwan] wanted me for a daughter-in-
law. I had the bestest wedding. There were dances for
3 nights. Ca hit [Mount Fairweather House, Tl'uk-
naxAdi), my father's house, was just finished. I had a
big long veil and was the first bride in Yakutat to wear
one. My father's house was a great big one, and it was
just full. The party went on till late at night. There were
refreshments left over so we had another dance again.
We danced waltzes, quadrilles. Jack Ellis was the caller
for the dances. That was my first dance. Everyone was
dressed in that year's style."
This woman was the Galyix-Kagwantan daughter of
a Tl'uknaxAdi man, and married a Kwackqwan man of
Fort House. Although this marriage did not follow
the pattern set by her own father and mother, it did
follow those of the many unions in her husband's and
mother's mother's line that linked Galyix-Kagwantan
and Kwaclsqwan.
Adult Life
After marriage, there is little to tell that has not
already been discussed. Young husbands continued
their usual occupations, maintaining their rigorous
early morning training, working for their fathers-in-
law and their uncles, and giving gifts to their sisters
and then" sisters' husbands. Young wives were free
from the irksome food taboos of their girlhood but
had to observe those necessary when their husbands
were engaged in hunting or other chancy undertakings.
They worked hard, under the supervision of an older
woman: their mother, then- mother-in-law, their hus-
band's uncle's wife, or an older co-wife, depending
on where they lived. They gathered and put up food
so that they would have plenty for the winter and
also enough to share with other families in the big
house and with their brothers.
Soon there were babies, often one every year, al-
though with the high rate of infant mortality there
were more to mourn that to watch grow to adulthood.
Barrenness was a misfortune and women with large
families were admired. In answer to a question about
contraceptives and abortifacients, one woman said:
"Olden tune, I'm going to tell you, olden time they
like babies, you know. And that's why all girls they
take care of themselves, you know, so they can have
lots of babies, lots of family, you know. Strong families.
. . . Never heard of a girl that didn't want to have a
baby. This time, I know, doctor gives medicine to
somebody."
Since the man's life was more hazardous, hunting in
the mountains or on the sea, the wife and sister had to
protect it through careful observance of taboos, especi-
ally during menstrual periods. "In olden days they were
afraid of monthly. It was bad for a woman to be among
men. Men are going to die or get poor."
The menstruant or "bloody woman," literally the
'tabooed woman' (wuligasi cawAt) always went to the
birth house at this time. "She stays in a small place
outside for 4 days, until it's all over. The house is made
of planks. Even if she has a little baby she takes it with her."
An older woman explained: "There is a shack
near the tribal house where women go when
they're that way. It's a sin to be seen if you're that way.
Mustn't walk on the ground. The shack is built out of
red cedar drift wood and spruce bark, with a toilet
528 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
inside dug deep down. They put old rotten wood under
the toilet so your monthly wouldn't hurt." (MJ) It
will be remembered that this use of rotten wood by the
adolescent girl was said to protect her from incontinence
of bladder and bowels when she was old (p. 520).
Menstrual pads were made of the same moss (sixqa)
that was used for babies' diapers, and care had to be
taken of these to prevent any possible contamination
from spreading to men. "My mother used the finest
moss for pads, I remember that. . . . You burn [bury?]
the soiled pads under an old stump so the men wouldn't
see them. If you kept dirty pads, your brother would
die soon. Now they pass them around like anything."
This rather exaggerated statement reflects the older
generation's comment on the younger's lack of concern
for the old rules. Still, another woman stated: "In
olden time, they never keep it in the house, they never
keep it around the house. That's why they call it iigas
[taboo]. When bloody woman going to come in, every-
thing they take it outside. . . . When it's over, they
burn it up."
Both the menstrual period and anything connected
with it was called 'taboo' (ligas), and the same in-
formant explained:
"That money is just like human being. If you have
dirty thing by your side, it go away. If you do that
thing, you not going to have money. If I lazy, I not
going to have money. Can't put any dirty thing by
the door, or by your husband. Money's coming in there
[through the door]. They live good when they listen to
their mother. It's coming true."
Women were careful about their clothes. "They used
to wash women's clothes separately from men's clothes
because of their monthlies. It would make the men
weak, they wouldn't live long if they came near them
when they had their monthlies." (MJ) This informant's
mother used to wash her clothing separately from that
of her husband and her grown son all of the time, and
kept the bundles of dirty clothes separate, also. "It
didn't matter about small children's clothes."
A menstruating woman (and probably any woman
between puberty and menopause) should keep away
from fishing places on the streams (especially or only ?)
when the salmon begin to run. "A woman can't go
close to the river. It's ligas. That's why there's no more
fish in the river?girls get close to fishing. . . . Fish
see it?just like the blood. We go by that Indian doctor.
They see [the contamination in the river which looks
like blood]. That's why they train us like that."
To purify the water if a woman had broken the taboo
and to make the fish come back, the shaman would
put devilclubs and branches in the river. "They put
it in the water, you know, especially that devilclubs.
There's lots of devilclubs to put in the water. All that
tlgas wash out. That's hexwa [magic]. That bloody
woman wash out."
But when a woman was past menopause, (ligas
djiwAnAq, 'taboo released'), "monthlies no more,"
"she can fish when she's an old woman. She can do
everything." It was denied that there were any rites
to mark her new status.
Domestic life, of course, did not always run smoothly.
In the big multifamily houses and in the villages of
closely integrated lineages even the naughty escapades of
children could develop into serious quarrels involving
their elders. Marital friction could be aggravated if
brothers-in-law or sisters-in-law took sides because they
felt they had not been treated with proper respect. In
theory, most of the married-in spouses of the house were
the sib-children of the owners; that is, they formed a
group of joking relatives and were supposed to be jolly
together. In practice, of course, there were always
cantankerous persons without a sense of humor, or
lonely individuals who had married in from some dis-
tant village and who had no kinsmen at hand. No
doubt they were often suspicious of their housemates.
Some co-wives, even when related, quarreled constantly,
we are told, and must have made life miserable for the
husband who slept between them, as well as for every
one else in the house. The war party, the long hunting
trip, visits to relatives in other communities, even the
monthly retreat of women must have afforded relief
from such bickering. However, co-wives were usually
close relatives and good friends. Husbands who were
poor hunters and providers, or wives who were lazy
housekeepers, created domestic difficulties, and no
doubt a husband who had suffered bad luck blamed his
wife for some breach of taboo. Sometimes a happy
marriage might be broken up if an older brother decided
to exchange his elderly wife for his younger brother's
young one. In theory this was not supposed to matter
to the women concerned. More serious ruptures could,
of course, occur if the sibs of husbands and wife became
embroiled in feuds.
Some of the worst troubles were caused by jealousies
within the lineage, especially if a brother were envious
of another's good hick, wealth, or prestige. Such rancor
might smolder for a long time or lead to open violence.
If the more fortunate brother sickened, his rival would
be suspected and perhaps openly accused of witchcraft
(see p. 728).
The other great traditional source of trouble was
women, who might provoke quarrels or bloodshed
through wanton gossip or infidelity, Men, of course, also
philandered, but there seems to have been something
of a double standard, and the man was not as much
blamed as the woman. Thus, one woman who suspected
her husband of infidelity while she was away, acknowl-
edged that a man needed a woman every so often "or
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 529
he might get sick," but accused the girl or girls involved
of having used love charms. Traditionally it was only
the man who employed love magic, and while he might
be the subject of jokes, as was the man who had too
many wives (either simultaneously or in succession),
the women who used love charms or who married a
series of husbands were condemned.
A good wife was careful not to arouse suspicion of
extramarital flirtations. She must never "walk around
with a man." As one woman explained: "That's what
my mother told me?'not even your husband's brother.
You musn't walk around with him.' " The husband's
nephew, as the woman's potential future husband, was
in a different position. He might "hang around." But
even here there must have been danger lest the uncle
become jealous of his young rival (cf. The Birth of
Raven, p. 844).
"In the old days, husbands were pretty strict with
their wives. When they come back from hunting, they
look see if they got any of them 'berrypickers' louse
nests' in their hair. They're suspicious the women been
out with another man." (MJ) These "louse nests"
(qukifi CA ?isi, 'berrypickers' head snarls') are tiny
green burs which the woman may have caught in her
hair while lying in the grass with a lover, since illicit
affairs were conducted out-of-doors. These burs were
also called "slave's louse nests" (p. 471). An unfaithful
wife might pretend to be menstruating, as an excuse
for staying out in order to meet her lover, as was done
by the woman who precipitated the war between the
Sitka Kagwantan and the Wrangell people over a
hundred years ago (p. 280).
"They kill a man who leaves his wife, or kill a woman
who leaves her husband. The brothers kill her."
When husband and lover belonged to the same lineage
or sib and one had killed the other, there were no
formal means of restoring peace like those available
for intermoiety feuds. A number of traditional sib
histories record the break-up of a sib, and the emigration
of one section to found a new branch in a distant land,
as a result of such "woman trouble."
Actually, even a generation or two ago, a number
of women had illegitimate children both before and
after marriage, without provoking such disastrous
consequences. Other women left unwanted husbands
and found new ones, just as men divorced and re-
married or shifted wives. In this, the gap between
Tlingit ideal and practice was probably not dissimilar
to that found in contemporary America. Of course,
there were also infatuated husbands who sacrificed
much for their wives, as there must have been women
who endured a good deal for the sake of their husbands
and for domestic tranquility. I was told of one chief,
Chief John (Qalyix-Kagwantan): "He don't build a
house. He marry a pretty girl?worried about her, and
followed her around. The others built the house"
that he should have built.
Since malicious gossip and angry words were the
second traditional fault of women, the ideal wife did
not quarrel with her husband or with anyone else,
no matter what the provocation. MJ described her
grandmother as such a person, who did not interfere
in quarrels between her daughter and her son-in-law,
although both lived in her house. (Of course, she could
not have spoken to the man directly.) "My grandma
was calm. They give her credit for that. . . . She
didn't cause any more trouble. . . . My grandma
would say, 'My husband and I never slapped each
other or pulled each other's hair.' She said she never
followed him around when he was drinking. She knew
he remembered who he was married to, and would
come back." At a potlatch, this same woman was
honored for her good temper and thereby committed
never to quarrel (p. 467). "My grandma on my father's
side never quarreled. They gave a slave over that."
The ideal person of either sex was generous, not
stingy (ci-geq), especially not stingy with food (cAgun
'itut 'Ati). He was hard-working, helpful, and even-
tempered. Perhaps the most prized virtue was "kind-
ness," that is, gentleness of speech or politeness. The
person of noble birth lived up to his rank by not
bragging, insulting others, taking offense, or gossiping.
Just as the true aristocrat was "kind and gently," so
the good man who displayed such virtues was called
'anyAdi, though poor and of humble birth (cf. p. 467).
The good person ignored the misdemeanors of others,
and was literally 'heavy' (yA-dll) with solid virtue.
(The same expression was used for the wealthy aristo-
crat and for the person impervious to witchcraft.)
Such a person was also a "tl'et!Akw qa [crystal person]?
just like that sun?nothing in their body or then:
spirit?just pure. When something going on, he don't
get into it, just go away. Clean, clean things?like
crystal?that's what they call it?tl'et!Akw," and the
informant pointed to our glass ashtray. Although the
righteous aristocrat should be ready to avenge an in-
sult, the ability neither to participate in trouble nor
to blame others was a virtue prized as especially appro-
priate to those truly noble in birth, who had stain
neither on their genealogy nor on their character.
To preserve peace within the house, within the lineage
or sib, and between sibs, persons rubbed their mouths
ritually with a hard rock.
Old Age
Old age came quickly, according to our standards,
and the graveyards are full of men and women who
530 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
died at 40 or 50, even though a few lived to venerable
age. People now, however, look back on their ancestors
as stronger and healthier than themselves and as much
longer lived.
Thus, Yakutat Chief George, who died in 1903
(pi. 64), was described as a "big tall fellow. I think
every Indian man [then] is over 6 feet, big broad
shoulders. We're small now. My father was big, tall.
All were over 6 feet, big, husky. I think that's funny.
I think it's because thej? go in the water all the time.
Early in the morning they have to go hi the water??
even the babies, they carry them?the boys, the old
men. Every night they had a hot bath, steam. I think
that's why they grew big. . . . Maybe food, I don't
know. Maybe clothes. The chief gave the order no
clothes?be strong. Old days, Indians never used to
believe in clothes?make them weak."
Another man said: "People one hundred years ago
were pretty strong people. . . . They claim the cold
weather makes them strong. So they go in the cold
water, or in the snow." (SJ)
"Old people used to live against the North Wind.
They were strong people. Old Sampson was a hundred
and twenty years old. . . . They put the young boys in
the water. But we can't live that long," conceded a
third man.
"Nowadays it's new store grub," suggested one
woman (MJ). "We been using our own medicine be-
fore?lived to be a hundred and ten," added her
friend. "Blind Sampson?a hundred and ten?He's
not that old," and both ladies discussed the point.
(His tombstone near the Old Village reads: "BLIND
SAMPSON, OCTOBER 1948, AGE 110," but ac-
cording to the school census made in 1946 he was born
February 24, 1866. See pi. 30.)
There was discussion of other reported centenarians.
"Mrs. Joseph [Abraham, born May 5, 1867, according
to the school census; died in 1950] was getting her
second set of teeth. Long time ago they believe that
a person [who lived to be so old] go around Can geyf
[Old People's Bay] and come to the place where you
started. That goes to show you're over a hundred
years old. . . . Sitka Ned's ma [whose tombstone is
inscribed 'Mrs. Bessey, 1916, Age 100'] went around
Can geyf, and AJ's mother lived to be a hundred and
ten. . . . When the old one died it was all the same
sleep." (The latter's tombstone reads: 'MEMORY
MARY KO-MY-YECK, AGED 135 YEARS'; pi. 31.)
"In the old days, there was no sickness, no T.B.,
no toothache, no sore eyes, no blindness?only old
age. How come? Now you got rocks in your stomach
[gallstones]. In the old days, was no such thing as
tumor." (MJ)
'Old People's Bay' (can geyi) is apparently a figure
of speech.
"Just a feeling, just the way it looks to them. . . .
When they young, they start out on this bay." The in-
formant traced an almost perfect circle on the table
with his finger, moving it slowly around in a clockwise
direction. "Then pretty soon old age start affecting
them, and they say, 'Can geyi tunAx 'AX yadE qusmuk'
[old-people's bay out-of my face-towards it's-gently-
blowing]. That's the breeze from that bay, from the
old bay. [They say that] when they start to feel old. . . .
Lot of young people, after they're 20, start saying that
just for a joke, because they can't run around the way
they could when they were 16 or 17. They can't stand
racing or basketball like kids of 16. . . . And then they
start to fail, and they just keep going around, and after
they make the turn and come pretty close again to
where they started, they go to second childhood. And
they get so old they act like a child, and they go around
the fire and start eating that charcoal, just like a baby,
and start eating that charcoal from the fire."
"When they go around the bay, they turn into a kid,
you know. They eat charcoal just like a kid, just like a
baby, you know. They eat anything. They can't walk,
too, just go around like a little baby. Old people sit
like that," and she demonstrated by leaning back in
the chair, eyes closed, hands folded.
"They say: 'Can geyi djiyawaha?she go all the way
around Old People's Bay.' " The informant was
demonstrating with a counterclockwise motion, but
when questioned, reversed it.
"That's better, you know, to go like that sun go,"
but whether this was really a correction was not clear.
She did not know of any term that applied to persons
who died young without completing the circuit. "Only
thing I now is that very old people, then they goes to
baby place, you know. That's why it turns to a baby?
'At yAtxi qwani xutdjiwaha ['something's childrens'
spirits?qut djiwAhi.(?) they were born,' cf. Boas,
1917, p. 133]. You know that babies' place, that babies'
town. That's the place they go, way round Can geyi.
They goes to Babies' Land."
However, I could learn nothing of "Babies' Land."
It was apparently not a place where the souls of babies
stayed before birth, but seems to have been rather the
condition of senility.
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE
DEATH
531
Death Ceremonies
Death was a bereavement affecting all members of
the community. It initiated a series of observances
which finally culminated in a potlatch at which the
deceased was honored and those who had disposed
of the corpse and worked on the grave were rewarded
by the maternal relatives of the deceased. For the
Tlingit, death was the supreme event, providing the
major occasions and themes for cultural elaboration
and emphasis. Nowhere else can we see so clearly the
solidarity of the sib and moiety, balanced against
internal rivalries, or the mutual bonds between the
two moieties, as in the great rituals of the death cycle.
The most treasured material possessions and the most
cherished sib and lineage prerogatives were valued
because they were memorials to the dead, made or
displayed and validated on occasions connected with
death (pp. 606-607).
While death marked the end of this life and the
dissolution of the body, it was not the end of the
individual. Rather, with it began a period of ghostly
existence which was only a transition until the dead
person returned to his relatives in the form of a baby.
In former times, all bodies except those of shamans
(or of some prominent persons, or sometimes of slaves)
were cremated, but the practice was abandoned at
Yakutat in favor of interment after the mission had
been established, although it is said to have been
continued a little longer at Dry Bay.
After a death there was a wake of about 3 days, and
cremation usually took place on the fourth. This also
is the pattern of funerals today. The whole period of
mourning was said to have lasted 8 days, during which
there were many observances to be followed by the
bereaved. It was not made clear, however, whether the
8 days of mourning included the 4-day period of the
wake and cremation, or whether the 8-day mourning
period began on the following day, making in all 12
days of funeral rites, since periods both of 8 and of 12
days were mentioned by my informants. Possibly there
were variations in actual usage, or in the ways in which
it was conceptualized.
According to Krause (1956, pp. 155-157), reporting
primarily for the Tlingit of Sitka and Chilkat, the
funeral ceremony (which included the wake and "smok-
ing feast" of my informants) lasted for 4 days, or
rather 4 nights, immediately following the decease,
although these nights were not necessarily consecutive.
Cremation might take place on the third or fourth
day, but was sometimes delayed for a few days until
the corpse was "in an advanced state of decomposition"
(ibid., p. 163). This was especially the case if the de-
ceased were a chief or other prominent person, in order
to enable his relatives to prepare for the "cremation
ceremony." Poor people, who could not afford to give such
ceremonies, seemed to have disposed of the corpse sooner
and with less publicity (ibid., p. 157). The full scale
"cremation ceremony" for a chief began on the night
after the cremation and lasted for three more. Although
called "feeding the dead," because this was one of its
functions, the feast was actually given to members of
the opposite moiety from the deceased. During the
feast, those who had performed funeral services were
paid (Krause, 1956, pp. 163-164).
Although Krause does not clearly distinguish be-
tween the two series of ceremonies, it would appear
that once there were properly 4 nights of preliminary
ceremony ("smoking feast") before the cremation and
4 nights of feasting following the cremation (although
the total elapsed tune might be more than 8 days and
nights). I gather also that for ordinary persons these
ceremonies were greatly curtailed. At a later time, even
for chiefs, there were only the smoking feast on the
single night before cremation or burial and a single
night of feasting (or preliminary potlatch) after it. At
Yakutat, I believe, the smoking feast and the later
feast came to be combined, which further increases the
difficulty of determining the total length of the mourn-
ing period and the exact sequence of events.
Some of the observances after death were for the
welfare of the ghost and are believed to have been
taught by a Sitka man, 'Askadut, after his return from
the dead (p. 768). Other acts might be performed to
insure the reincarnation of the beloved dead (see pp.
777-778), and still other rites and taboos were to protect
the living. Some time, usually several months, elapsed
between the funeral and the completion of the grave
house that held the ashes of the deceased (or the erection
of a tombstone at the grave). When this was done,
another feast was held (pp. 538-539), the property of
the dead person was distributed to the heirs, and the
surviving spouse married the successor. The final ritual
was not reached, however, until a potlatch was held,
and this might not take place for several years since it
involved the accumulation of considerable property to
be distributed. Ordinary persons, who could not them-
selves give a potlatch, took advantage of those given
532 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
by their lineage or sib heads to honor their dead rela-
tives and to pay off their funeral obligations. In one
sense, there was no end to the drama initiated by death,
because at all subsequent potlatches all of the lineage
and sib who ha,d died were remembered by their
relatives.
A number of practices of former days are still ob-
served, or have been until recently. Unfortunately,
most of my specific information about death taboos
and observances are those affecting the female relatives
and the widow of a dead man, and I do not know how
far these might once have applied to the male relatives
or to the widower. However, it is obvious that the
death of a mature man, especially of the head of a
house, was a more serious blow to the community than
would have been the death of one of his wives, or of a
child, and for this reason his funeral would naturally
have been more elaborate. Furthermore, the actions of
women, from whom all the lineage "generated," were
believed to exercise a profound effect upon the welfare
and lives of all the members of their line and upon the
fortunes of their husbands or future husbands as well.
Thus, the rites and taboos enjoined upon women as
mourners must have been more rigorous than those
observed by men. A number of these practices repeated
those of the adolescent girl.
The whole round of the potlatch cycle, although
based on death, is reserved for a separate chapter
(pp. 607-651), as are Tlingit notions about the soul
and its fate, and the methods employed to insure
reincarnation (pp. 765-781).
The Corpse
Formerly, when a person was dying and hope had
been abandoned, his clothes were made ready in order
to dress his corpse as soon as possible. These were
probably his best garments, or even new ones. As he
took his last breath, the door of the house was opened,
"so his breath can go out of the house" (MJ).86 As soon
as death had occurred, all the relatives in the opposite
moiety (gunEtkAnayi) hastened to the house and
dressed the body. It was formerly wrapped in a Chilkat
blanket, with a headdress (cAki'At) on the head, and
was propped up to sit at the back of the house. Impor-
tant heirlooms or other property owned by the
deceased were piled beside the body.
86
 Harrington was told by the Reverend Axelsoii that in the
early days when a person died they at once put a little stick,
the size of one's thumb, in the mouth, to keep the jaws open.
"The body was always sitting up against the wall,
on a chair or on a box. . . . They never laid the body
down flat because it would be too hard for the spirit
to get up. The spirit had to get up and walk to Spirit
Town [sege qawu 'ani]. They got to dress you [the
corpse] with strong shoes and gloves?mitts of any
kind?because you going to go through a lot of devil-
clubs and bushes and nettles. If they don't put no
gloves on you, you never get through. . . . And they
always covered the face with a handkerchief. Just
before they took the body out they took off the hand-
kerchief so people could take a last look." (MJ)
MJ remembered seeing an old woman's body propped
up in state in a house at the old village on Khantaak
Island when she was a little girl. When the handker-
chief was lifted, "that lady at Khantaak looked awful,"
and the child was frightened.
Formerly, the body was kept in the house for 3
days and was said to have been cremated on the fourth.
All during this time, the members of the opposite
moiety kept watch beside it, night and day. They
were fed by the deceased's relatives, that is, by mem-
bers of the deceased's lineage and sib. Apparently
the best food available was given to them and at meal
times a little dish was set into the edge of the fire
for the ghost. It was said that if the food and water
for the ghost were put into the middle of the fire, the
dead could not reach it without burning his hands,
nor could he take it unless his name were called. "Then
he knows it's his. . . . The spirit of the fire waits on
him" (MJ). This was done by the deceased's mother,
if she were living, or by another close maternal relative,
and the rest of the food was given to the most closely
related gunEtkAnayi woman. If the deceased were a
man, this would be his widow, otherwise it was probably
a father's sister. "They feed the widow. Part of what
she eats goes in the fire." Apparently the other dead
were in some way present, and may also have been
fed in the same manner, for I was told that those
whose relatives did not have a dish of food for them
were imagined to be sitting way back, hungry and
envious.
Einmons (MS) reports that the Tlingit widow ate
sparingly and only in the evenings, and that in earlier
times she fasted on alternate days?eating only on the
second, fourth, sixth, and eighth evenings. The practice
of fasting corresponds to observances followed by
adolescent girls (p. 519), and by female mourners at
Dry Bay (see p. 536).
Mourners were supposed not to weep too much,
for this would make rain and sleet fall on the dead,
or so a man told me. Also, too much weeping might
make another die, added a woman. "If you cry too
much, they going to die . . . sister or brother, your
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 533
own children. That's why they don't cry too much
when they lost their daughter or something." The
same belief applies to the living. "My son's going to
Icy Bay. If I cry over him, my son, get lonesome,
he's going to have something happen to him That's
why we don't cry about living people." The woman
who told me this denied, however, that the dead would
return to take away the souls of those who grieved
excessively. Another informant corroborated the belief
that it was another relative of the weeper who would
die.
To judge by modern custom, the expressions of grief
were very violent. Long after the death they might
be renewed as, for example at potlatches or on any
other occasion when the dead were called to mind.
MJ said that when she was a child her grandmother
used to go outdoors and take her in her lap while she
sang and wept for hours over the death of an uncle
who had died many years before.
However, the sorrow at the wake was not unrelieved.
The gunEtkAnayi who sat beside the corpse and the
mourning relatives sang. This singing ('At tcA lA-'axtc)
was believed to clear away the underbrush from the
path of the ghost, and it therefore undoubtedly served
to comfort and distract the bereaved. The rites affecting
the mourners are described later, since they did not
terminate with the ending of the wake.
Emmons (MS.) specifies that the relatives of the
deceased always sang four mourning songs every
morning and night while the corpse sat in state, and
also while the cremation was being carried out. Krause
(1956, pp. 155-156) mentions mourning songs which
accompanied the feasting and giving of gifts to the
gunEtkAnayi during the four evenings preceeding
cremation, as well as during the cremation (ibid., pp.
157, 158).
The Smoking Feast
While my informants spoke of a smoking feast for
the dead person (seq-yis duwa'ii, 'invited for a smoke'),
it was almost impossible to determine when this was
usually held. According to Krause's information, we
might suppose it to comprise the first 4 nights of the
funeral, the last of which might occur after the crema-
tion. Swanton (1908, p. 430) reports that it was given
just before the corpse was carried out to the pyre. My
impression is that it was usually held the night before
the cremation (or the burial). One man indicated that
a slightly more elaborate feast than the usual food
served to the gunEtkAnayi was given the night before
the cremation, although he did not specifically mention
smoking in this connection. Rather, dishes with food
were put into the fire for the deceased.
Another man, who owns a meerschaum pipe which
formerly belonged to the Teqwedi Chief Minaman
(1810-90) of Shark House, said that this pipe was
used only when there was a "potlatch." "Sometimes
the other tribe give a potlatch just to smoke. It's the
night somebody died, or the next day." Apparently
the Teqwedi chief would take this pipe to the smoking
feast given by a Raven sib when one of its members
died. On such occasions, all the guests of the opposite
moiety, men, women and children, are expected to
smoke hi order that the dead might enjoy the tobacco.
Others who mentioned the smoking ceremony im-
plied that it was held after the disposal of the corpse.
My information from Yakutat is thus contradictory,
and would suggest that no specific day was set for
this feast, or that the original customs had been modified
and forgotten. Obviously all the tobacco which might
be smoked by the gunEtkAnayi while they were guard-
ing the corpse, like the food which they ate, was
supposed to benefit the dead. In most recent tunes,
I suspect the original smoking feast of more solemn
import was combined with a feast given after the
burial.
Krause (1956, pp. 155-157) described a funeral
ceremony which he and his brother had witnessed
among the Chilkat in 1880-81. This seems to have
corresponded to the smoking feast of our informants,
and was associated with the first 4 nights after the
decease, although there is no mention of the presence
of the corpse. The ceremony was given by the "Bear
tribe" (Kagwantan?) for one of their women. It was
held in a newly finished house, which was packed with
the Raven guests, the men near the fire, the women
against the walls, while 10 or 12 "Bear" men stood
near the door, singing mourning songs and pounding
with long poles on the floor. A few women (close
relatives) with blackened faces and cropped heads also
held poles, and from time to time danced in place. A
small boy stood near the fire, wearing the dead woman's
blanket. The gifts (blankets and bolts of cloth, etc.)
were distributed to members of the Raven moiety
during each of the four nights of this ceremony, while
the latter were also being feasted with berries and
sugar. A large carved pipe (perhaps decorated with
the Bear crest?) was circulated among the guests so
each could smoke. Several hundred dollars worth of
goods were distributed in this fashion by the "Bears."
The dead woman's husband (a Raven, of course) also
contributed almost "his entire fortune," although he
had concealed a few blankets with the trader "which
he held out for his future wife, a 12-year-old girl."
DAnawAq ('Silver Eyes'), the QanAxtedi chief, as
principal guest, received "the lion's share." "The
534 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
shaman of the Raven tribe" thanked each of the princi-
pal "Bear" donors.
In several respects this ceremony resembles the feast
or small potlatch now given at Yakutat after the burial
(see below, pp. 546-547) at which payments are made
to the guests for their work and at which the dead
person's spouse may also distribute property. This fur-
ther suggests a fusing of the preliminary tobacco feast
with the cermony after the cremation. Krause (1956,
pp. 157-158) also reported that a "large potlatch" was
given at Sitka in April, 1881, immediately following
the cremation of a chief. The relatives of the deceased
tore up and distributed blankets worth $500, presum-
ably to pay for the funeral.
That a feast was formerly held at Yakutat before the
corpse was cremated is clearly documented by the
following passage.
Albin Johnson (1924, pp. 74-77) describes a funeral
feast on Khantaak Island, which must have been held
before 1890, since it was attended by Chief "Janaa-
shoo" (Minaman).
"The Tlingit used to 'bury' their dead in various
ways. To burn the dead was the old method most
usually followed. Great men and sometimes children,
especially Indian daughters, were set in small houses,
especially built for this purpose, and were not
burned. To burn the corpse was, however, the original
way. A big fire was made, and the dead body was
thrown on it, amid screams, sobs, noise, and weeping.
When the corpse was burned, the bones that were
left were kept, and put into containers, and beautiful
pieces of cloth were wrapped around them [the bones].
Their old cemeteries were covered by such small
houses, resembling playhouses for children, in which
the bones were placed. Since the mission started, the
Tlingit people have learned to bury their dead like
the whites, and we missionaries conduct a sermon
for them and in particular give the converted a
Christian burial.
"On the little Island of Khantaak an old and
important man had passed away. I have forgotten
his strange name. It was late in the fall. Brother
K. J. Hendrickson and I went out to the island. In
a large house everything had been prepared for the
funeral. In a dominant position in the house the
dead man had been placed on a high platform in a
sitting position, so it looked as if he were still alive.
He was dressed in beautiful, brightly colored
blankets.
"Below him were four chairs destined for the
most important mourners. Now I and Hendrickson
were invited to sit in the middle, and on the one
side the first chief, Janaa-shoo was invited to sit,
and on the other side (the left), the sorcerer Dettion.
First there was eating: Boiled rice, bisquits, sugar,
coffee, seal meat and fat were eaten. The number
of mourners was not great. When eating, strange
tales from old days were told. The deceased was
especially mentioned: what he had accomplished in
his lifetime in the matter of bravery, in hunting
and fishing, etc. Some acts were performed as feasts
for the spirits of the dead. Somebody then took
the best food or the best clothes and threw them
on the fire, reciting the names of as many dead
persons as he could remember. They thought that
the spirits of the dead came to them at the feasts
and saw them and received their gifts. After such
a big, old-fashioned funeral the corpse was burned,
as described. This feast lasted for many hours.
We missionaries were offered canned peaches and
did not have to eat the disgusting seal fat and
what they had prepared as food. After the funeral,
the people held a wailing session, which lasted for
hours and nights, when they wept for their dead
people. They all wept, and they all started simul-
taneously at the order of the chief or the sorcerer.
At the same order they all stopped at once. There-
after they would laugh and dance and play, and it
looked as if they had already forgotten their grief."
Since "Janaa-shoo" or Minaman was the Teqwedi
chief, the funeral was evidently given by a sib of the
opposite moiety (Raven) for one of their dead leaders
or chiefs, probably a Kwackqwan man. The shaman,
Dettion, whom we have been unable to identify, was
also an honored guest, so must have belonged to the
Eagle-Wolf moiety (perhaps a Galyix-Kagwantan man,
the leader of his sib at Yakutat?).
Cremation
Although cremation is now obsolete, MJ had wit-
nessed two when she was a little girl. The first was at
'AkA, a summer camp on Aka Lake in the Ankau area
southeast of Yakutat, and probably occurred in the
late 1880's. The pyre was a crib of logs, about 4 feet
high, in which was laid the body, that of a young man,
dressed in his best clothes. Spruce limbs and brush
were put on the fire and seal oil poured on to make it
burn fiercely. The gunEtkAnayi poked the corpse with
long poles, and as the fire burned low, threw on more
seal oil. Later, when everything was consumed, they
gathered up the charred bones and put them into an
imported Chinese camphorwood chest. "They do this
when the relatives aren't looking. . . . My grandma
was appointed to pick up the bones. I went to watch.
My mother held my hand." Evidently the sight had a
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 535
horrible fascination for the child. The cremation was
carried out in the daytime, but MJ hazarded that
"they might do it at night, if the person died away
from home, and it was necessary."
In all essential respects this cremation was like one
attended by the Krause brothers at Chilkat, although
MJ made no mention of attendant mourners singing
and pounding on a plank with long staffs (Krause,
1956, p. 157).
The second cremation witnessed by MJ was that
of her baby brother, 1 month old, who died at the
sealing camp above Point Latouche. At this time (in
the 1890's), burial had become customary, but the
parents did not want to have to take the body back
to Yakutat for immediate interment. Instead, the
father's sister took the body into the hills, burned it,
and gathered the ashes into an expensive blanket.
MJ's little Chinese chest was taken to hold the remains,
and this was placed behind the tent until the family
returned to Yakutat when the chest was buried in the
cemetary.
Krause reports (1956, p. 157) that the wrapping of
the calcined bones in a blanket is done to preserve the
dead from the cold.
All handling of the corpse, from the moment of death
to the final disposal of the remains and the finishing
of the grave house or tombstone, was and still is carried
out by relatives in the opposite moiety. I was not told,
however, whether the corpse was formerly removed
from the house through an opening other than the door
or whether those that handled it had to observe any
special ritual precautions. In southeastern Alaska
while cremation was still practiced in the early 1880's,
the corpse was carried out through an opening made
by removing a wall plank from a rear corner of the
house, or else was hoisted through the smokehole.
Sand or a dead dog was thrown out ahead of the corpse
or a live dog might follow it, and ashes were often
strewn on the path behind it. After the cremation,
all those who had handled the corpse or attended the
ceremony took baths (Krause, 1956, pp. 157-158;
Swanton, 1908, p. 430; Emmons, MS.).
At a still earlier period, slaves were killed by the
Tlingit of southeastern Alaska, either at the cremation
itself, when some might be burned alive upon the
pyre, or during the feasts that followed, when they
were either strangled by a pole across the neck if the
deceased had died of an illness, or were drowned if he
had met his death in that way (Krause, 1956, pp. 159,
163-164, citing Shabelski, Simpson, Holmberg, and
Veniaminov). I heard nothing about such slave
sacrifices.
The bodies of shamans were not cremated, but were
laid in small elevated grave houses (p. 673). Sometimes
brave warriors or very prominent men were entombed
in a similar fashion. I have been unable to find con-
firmation, either from informants or from the literature
on the Tlingit, of Albin Johnson's report that children,
especially girls, were put unburned into grave houses
(p. 534). We should note, however, that among the
Copper River Eyak the dead were either buried or
burned, according to their own wishes or those of
their relatives (Birket-Smith and de Laguna, 1938, p.
164). The special treatment of children, if Johnson is
correct, must reflect an older Eyak practice.
According to Swanton (1908, p. 430), entombment
without cremation might be done to the corpse of a
very noted warrior because he was thought to be too
brave to need the warmth of the fire, and some individ-
uals might request to have their bodies put away
intact. Yakutat traditions indicate that the bodies of
enemies slain in battle were thrown into the water,
or left where they fell (p. 585). At one time the bodies
of slaves who died or were killed were probably thrown
out on the beach or in the woods, as was the custom
among the more southern Tlingit (Krause, 1956, p.
161).
The Yakutat people formerly had carved posts with
a hole in the back to hold the ashes of the dead (KDI),
or a chest containing the ashes was put into the grave
house. Both box and container were called 'someone's
cover' (qadake'di). Some persons of means might have
the bones or ashes of their relatives transferred at
intervals to new chests and grave houses as the old
ones decayed (HB for FI). The oldest type of grave
house known to my informants was described as a
little house with a gable roof, set on four posts. Ancient
grave monuments and modern graves are described
later (pp. 539-545).
When informants were questioned about the reports
of LaPe"rouse and Beresford that the people of Lituya
Bay and Port Mulgrave formerly decapitated the dead
and put the head in a separate box in the graveyard
while cremating the body (see pp. 539-540), they denied
that this was ever a regular custom.
"If someone dies from a bear, or out hunting, far
away, they just bring the head back," it was suggested.
Or, the body might be entirely cremated and the ashes
brought home. "Maybe they didn't burn the body and
send the ashes because there might be too much brush.
Or they were too high on the mountain [where there was
no wood], and they didn't want to bother with the
body." (MJ) Whenever possible, however, the corpse
was brought home to the lineage house for the cremation
(HB for FI). The scalps or heads of slain warriors,
either of one's own dead or of a noted enemy, were
customarily preserved (p. 584), which might explain
the skulls found by LaPe'rouse and Dixon.
The only time that a post-mortem was performed was
when a pregnant woman died, for the foetus had to be
536 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
removed and cremated or buried separately. The
daughter of Chief Minaman, who died in Sitka in 1890
of poisoned whiskey at the same time as her father, was
pregnant. "She just about to have a baby. She was
buried with the unborn baby. They claim if they do
that it cleans out the relatives. . . . Anyway, they all
died off. They believed it was on account of that. If she
had died right here they would have cut the baby out,
but all her close relatives were up here when she died.
She was down in Sitka." (MJ)
It is obvious that the observances at the death of
someone who had drowned and whose body had not
been recovered must have been different from those
previously described, although I do not know in what
particulars. In fact, when a person was supposed to have
drowned, the Tlingit expression was not that he had
'died,' but that he had 'gone into the water,' or that
he had been 'saved' or 'captured' by the land otters.
Every effort was made to recover the body, for if it
were not cremated (or buried), the soul remained earth-
bound in the form of a land otter (see pp. 744-754). It
is therefore difficult to know what would have been
done by the bereaved relatives or widowed spouse in
such a case.
The same belief applies to someone who is presumed
lost in the woods. Much of the same feeling prevails
today, so that deaths by drowning or by a plane crash
in the inaccessible mountains or by exposure when lost
are still the most tragic.
If the body is found, the funeral proceeds as usual,
and one would assume that the mourners or widowed
spouse would begin the usual rites (see below) as soon
as the body was brought home. However, in most cases
it was probably necessary to cremate it on the spot and
bring home only the ashes.
Even if the body were never recovered, the dead
person would be remembered at subsequent potlatches
and funerals when the dead were fed. In the case of a
person presumed drowned, however, when food and
drink were offered him these were put into the water,
not into the fire. The spot did not have to be at the
supposed place of death, however, simply in the nearest
bay or stream. There was also a custom, begun perhaps
only in Christian times, of erecting a memorial to the
dead as near to the scene of drowning as possible. Such
markers are described below (p. 545).
The Mourners
Except when a shaman died, the hair of the deceased's
female relatives was cut by the gunEtkAnayi. It was
not made clear, however, whether this was usually done
at the time of death, as indicated by the informant who
described the practice at Dry Bay, or at the time of
the cremation (Krause, 1956, p. 163, reporting Venia-
minov), or whether this was done at the end of the
mourning period, as was stated by a Yakutat informant.
The women's hah- was cut only for the death of an adult,
not for a child. If the deceased were a married roan,
his sisters also cut the hair of his widow.
Rites performed by mourners were briefly described
by a woman who was a little girl at Dry Bay at the
time of the death of her father's father's older brother,
a member of her own sib. This was about 1900 to 1905.
"When my grandfather's older brother died, that's
the time my father's people cuts our hair. Then we go
around without eating . . . about 12 days. Twelve days
they go around. They eat just a little bit. They drink just
a little water. We wish to be good people, and wish for
make lots of money, have lots of money, good living.
That's the kind of people they call it gAxni [mourners]."
She also mentioned that sometimes the mourners
carried long branches or 'mourner's brush' (gAxni WASI),
and danced with these, but did not make clear that this
had been done on this occasion.
According to Emmons' notes, it was the gunEtkAnayi
women, members of the widow's sib, who danced with
branches during the cremation, while the male relatives
of the deceased led the singing, and the female relatives
wailed. Swanton (1908, p. 430) says, however, that if
the dead person were much esteemed, his relatives of
both sexes donned their best blankets and carried such
canes, pointing them at the setting sun and lifting their
tips slightly to delay its sinking, while each made a
private wish for good fortune. Krause (1956, p. 163)
implies, that the mourning relatives would carry such
staffs while singing and wailing during the ceremonies
following the cremation. The ceremony described by
Swanton seems to have been performed for 8 days
during the rebuilding of a grave house for some
shamans at Dry Bay in 1909. A file of women belonging
to the dead shamans' sib walked out about a mile every
morning before dawn, carrying canes and wishing for
good fortune (cf. p. 646).
When questioned, my informant denied that men
cut their hair in mourning, because "men cut their hair
all the time. I just heard that girls, you know. We do
it one time. I was a little girl. I don't understand much."
In southeastern Alaska, Tlingit men formerly cut or
singed off their hair when mourning a relative, and
probably this was also done at Dry Bay and Yakutat
before White man's hair styles rendered the usage im-
possible. According to Krause (1956, p. 163), mourning
relatives of both sexes might even singe off their hair
by thrusting their heads into the cremation fire.
My Dry Bay informant explained that women's hair
was precious, and so was cut "to show you're sorry. . . .
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 537
That's why when loving man, good man, smart man
dies off in the family, they cut their hair." She denied
that the hair was washed first, because that
would make it too hard to cut. Part of the hair was
buried in a hole under a dead tree. The rest, in four
strands, was draped on the branches of a young tree.
After 8 days this was removed and put in a hole under
the tree. "That's hexwa [magic]. Then that girl's hair
going to grow good again. . . .
"That's a law, you know. If we don't cut our hair, we
going to have some kind of trouble. We cut if off in
place of that. Some bad luck, you know . . . some-
thing's going to happen to that [another] relation again.
That's why in olden time they cut your hair in place of
that other trouble. . . .
"After you got 12 days, 8 days?8 days, I guess?
they [presumably the gunEtkAnayi] going to wash your
hair with that special water . . . blueberries. So you
can get old, your hair not going to be white. . . . They
don't wash it clean, you know. Just make a wish: 'Don't
get gray hair.' "
She went on to explain that the blueberry juice was
used for the same purpose to wash the heads of adoles-
cent girls, and cited her grandmother who lived to the
age of 80 without gray hair as proof of the efficacy of
this treatment.
"That blueberries, that's hexwa. They wishing
'Don't get bad luck, you don't get too old gray hair.'
And in your mind you're going to wish, 'Oh, I get lucky
so I can get lots of money!' You don't say it out loud.
Just like you pray to God, you know. That's the way
we wish it?'married with a good man!' " The inform-
ant denied that washing or cutting the hair was to
remove dangerous thoughts of death.
The widow's hair was also cut. My Yakutat inform-
ant's mother was widowed in 1888.
"And they wash my mother's hair, too, before they
cut it?after 8 days. . . . My father's sisters cut it.
They used mussels?yis. There were no scissors then,"
MJ said. "I don't know about men in the old days.
. . . When a man dies, his widow, all his family would
cut their hair, [including] his mother. When Uncle
Ckman died [about 1901?], Mother [the dead man's
'sister' or parallel cousin] cut her hair, and even the
little girls, but not the boys. . . . They got a certain
way to do it?hexwa for the widow, they call it. . . .
They cut your hair, and they split this here?some kind
of bush?in the spring something grows on it like candy.
There's very few around here. They split the top of the
bush in two and put the hah- on top of it. The bush is
called KitsAn. It's for the widow. They leave it in the
bushes. The waving of the bushes means it grows back
on quick. And then after that, they head away from
that bush. They just don't look back again. They go
straight away from the bush so that none of her family
265-517?72?vol. VII, pt. 1 36
will die. The wind waves the bushes and makes her
hair grow quick back on her head again and none of
her people will die so easy." (MJ)
The differences in procedure may be accounted for by
the fact that the first informant was describing customs
at Dry Bay while the second was recounting practices
at Yakutat. I am confused, however, when the latter
also speaks of burning the widow's hair, together with
her old clothes. Perhaps part of her hair was left on the
bush and the rest burned.
"They don't cut the widow's hair now. That, my
uncle Ckman's widow was the last," she went on.
"They all get together in the house [Won" Bath House, to
cut her hair and that of the dead man's 'sister,' our
informant's mother]. . . . They took my mother's
beautiful hair and put it on a headpiece, cAki'At
[dancing headdress]. All the gunEtkAnayi grab it. It's
a wooden one. It's got sea lion whiskers on the top.
They put the hair in front of the sea lion whiskers. It
curls up like. My mother's got natural curls. They hate
to see that hair wasted. They grab it before it get
burn." (MJ)
The widow (1 sati cawAt, 'masterless woman') was
surrounded by taboos. She was supposed to "keep
quiet for 12 days. . . . She doesn't dare talk [except to
the gunEtkAnayi, for example, her husband's sister],
but not to her own people," and then may speak only
on matters of importance. (MJ) From the context of
this remark, it is evident that the taboo on idle talk
began at the time of death and lasted through the 4
days of the wake and funeral, and through the sub-
sequent 8(?) days of mourning. "She was not allowed
to speak and no one was allowed to address her for
eight days after her husband's death" (Krause, 1956,
p. 157).
During this time the widow was also forbidden to
work. "They have to tie your fingers together for 10,
12 days to keep you from working, like knitting. You
mustn't get angry with anyone, or talk. . . . Well,
you can talk, but you mustn't talk the way we're doing,
or tell stories." (MJ) The same informant said on
another occasion, "She dare not touch anything or do
any work for 8 days. Then they cut her hair and take
off the old clothes and burn up her hair and clothes."
"Then after 8 days, the widow gets new clothes, new
bedding?take away the bedding she was using with
her husband?gets everything new."
The burning of hair, bedding, and clothing, and the
furnishing of new clothes and blankets certainly sug-
gests removing the contamination of death, although
none of my informants expressed this idea.
The woman from Dry Bay said: "See, if your husband
died, you can't use a knife?or a cup, you can't broke
it?your [next] husband going to die. The first time
my husband died, that dish, that broke?I lost my
538 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME V
husband again [i.e., her second husband]. That's why
I believe that Tlingit law. My mother-in-law [mother
of the first husband] give me that dish and that cup. . . .
That's the one I broke. See, I lost my husband again."
Presumably it was after the disposal of the corpse
that a rock, symbolic of the life of her future husband,
was put in the widow's bed. Perhaps it was also at the
same time that a rope, representing the lives or her
own relatives, was tied around her waist. According to
Emmons' notes, during the wake the widow and all the
maternal relatives of the deceased were dressed in old
clothes (presumably those which were to be burned and
replaced by new garments). All had their faces black-
ened, a point confirmed by Rrause (1956, pp. 156,158),
but about which I secured no information. The widow
and male relatives of the dead belted their blankets
around their waists with ropes (cf. Rrause, 1956, p.
158). Since none of my informants mentioned the old
clothes or the rope for anyone but the widow, and since
neither Krause nor Emmons mentions the widow's
stone, I cannot be sure of the exact period during
which these were used. Quite possibly there were dif-
ferences in custom between Yakutat and southeastern
Alaska.
"A woman who has lost her husband has got a big
rock to sleep with, for 8 days, so she won't lose her next
husband. They make my mother do that when my
father died [1888]. I wonder what that rock is doing in
my mother's bed. My aunties on my father's side took
it away. I don't know what they done with it." MJ
further explained that sleeping with the rock was "to
make your next husband live longer?like a rock. She
[the widowed mother] had the stone beside her for 8
days. It's just a piece of rock."
A gunEtkAnayi woman also tied a rope or belt
around the widow's waist which she wore for 8 days.
"They tie a rope around the widow and put a stone
alongside, so her next husband won't leave so quick. . . .
I watch my mother and my aunts taking care of
Ckman's widow [about 1901 ?]. They got a belt tied
around, and after 8 days they take it to the woods. . . .
They put the belt over a stump. They dare not untie it.
It means her relations will die off. They took it over
her head or down her legs. The belt is made of spruce
roots. Now we use any kind of string. We still do it."
(MJ) The widow of a man who died in 1952 wore such
a rope.
The widow apparently was also given another rock,
often pierced by a hole so that it could be worn on a
cord around her neck. "A widow rubs her mouth with
it . . . before raven calls . . . and puts it beside her.
She does this and keeps it for 8 days. Then she puts it
in an old stump so her next husband won't die so
quickly." (MJ) This mouth rubbing with a stone, like
that performed by the adolescent girl (p. 521), is also
to guard against gossiping which might provoke strife.
The stone or rubbing amulet was also used to scratch
any itching place, since it was dangerous to use one's
fingers.
I do not know whether any such rites were per-
formed by the widower, or by the male relatives of a
dead person. Probably they once followed similar pro-
cedures and taboos, analogous to those adopted by the
peace hostage, although these are now forgotten.
The nephew of a dead man was expected to distribute
the meat of any seals (or other game animals?) which
he killed to the gunEtkAnayi in the village until his
uncle's grave had been fixed. This custom was still
being observed in 1952, except that anyone in the village
was free to ask for the seal meat. The uncle died in
March and it was believed that the nephew would
continue the distribution of seal meat until the fishing
season was over in the fall. In this case, I do not know
exactly when the uncle's grave was finished, for the
tombstone was being ordered in September when I left
Yakutat, and when I saw the grave in the spring of
1954 it had been erected.
The End of Mourning
After the cremation (or burial), perhaps that night
or the next, or at the end of the mourning period, or
possibly still later, the relatives of the deceased gave
a feast to the gunEtkAnayi. This was described by
Veniaminov (Krause, 1956, p. 163) as one of the
three great feasts or potlatches, since in southeastern
Alaska in the early part of the last century it seems
to have been given only by the relatives when a chief
or other notable had died. According to the account
cited by Krause (1956, pp. 163-164) it began im-
mediately after the cremation, when the mourners
had singed their hah" in the cremation fire and re-
turned to the house of the deceased. Here the widowed
spouse sat in the circle of guests, while the mourners
entered with singed hah- and faces smeared with soot,
carrying staffs. Then followed 4 evenings of wailing
and singing rnourning songs, the guests accompanying
the relatives. The latter might kill one or two of their
own slaves to serve the dead. At the end of the wailing
on the fourth night, the relatives would wash and
paint therr faces, pay their guests, especially those
who had helped at the cremation, and the ceremony
ended with a feast.
As practiced at Yakutat, the guests seem to have
been given small tokens of the rewards which they
would receive at a later potlatch. Even if they were
paid in full for therr services to date, they would
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 539
have to be paid again when the grave was finished
and the monument erected (pp. 609-610).
The only instances described in any detail have all
been modern funeral feasts, but from these we may infer
that, if possible, the favorite food of the deceased
was served to the guests after the funeral and tobacco
was smoked, the dead person again enjoying the
spiritual counterpart. As already mentioned, it is
impossible to distinguish with any certainty between
the smoking party held before(?) the disposal of the
corpse and the feast or ceremony held afterwards.
After the funeral, some little time, usually several
months, would elapse before the grave house was
completed or the monument erected. As soon as this
was done, the dead man's possessions were divided
among his heirs. Included were also the widow's own
dishes, feather beds, Ohilkat blankets, etc. Most of
these went to the nearest maternal relatives of the
deceased, but other sib-mates usually received some-
thing. If a nephew had been designated as the suc-
cessor to the dead man he would receive the major
share. The heirs in return gave some dishes and cloth-
ing of their own to the widow. Although it was painful
for the widow to part with these treasured possessions,
she could expect to receive valuable gifts at the final
potlatch for her husband. This is what happened after
the death of Xadanel in 1888.
The widow normally married a relative of her dead
husband as soon as the property was divided. It is
difficult to know how much freedom of choice she had in
the selection, or how much choice the man in the case
might have, for I was told of pressure successfully
applied to reluctant persons on both sides, as well as of
families taking into account the characters and pref-
erences of the two (pp. 490-492). It was, however, rare
that the widow married outside the sib of her former
husband, for that group still considered her "their
wife," and were ready to defend their rights, especially
in the case of a young and attractive woman or a
wealthy though elderly woman of noble birth. On the
other hand, the widow could still claim support and a
new husband from her dead husband's sib-mates.
No doubt cases varied greatly, depending upon the
personalities of the individuals concerned and upon
the number of men available or considered suitable to
take the widow. I gather that the White man's con-
demnation of plural marriages created additional
difficulties in cases where the obvious solution, in native
eyes, was to add an elderly widow as an honored co-wife.
Trouble also occurred when a widow attempted to
retain her husband's property, in harmony with White
customs but in defiance of native law. Sometimes this
was attempted as a bribe to induce a reluctant nephew
to assume his dead uncle's marital obligations. Some
women in recent years have been successful in keeping
their husband's property, even when this included his
sib heirlooms, but in 1912 a woman who tried to retain
her husband's things while refusing to marry any of
his kinsmen was so severely beaten that she died
shortly afterward.
Graves in the 18th Century
The oldest grave monuments of which we have any
record are those described by LaPerouse at Lituya
Bay in 1786, by Beresford with Dixon at Port Mulgrave
in 1787, by Ismailov and Bocharov the following year,
and by Malaspina and his party in 1791. Some of these
descriptions are fortunately very detailed and we also
have the sepia sketches by Suria, (pis. 59-61).
LITTJYA BAY, 1786
While searching for the bodies of the lost seamen,
LaPerouse's men came upon a native grave monument
which he called moral, explaining in a footnote (1799,
vol. 1, p. 389): "I have retained the name moral,
because it is more suitable than tomb to convey the
idea of an exposure to the open ah*." This was described
as follows:
"Our travellers saw likewise a morai, from which
they learned, that these Indians were accustomed
to burn the bodies of the deceased, and preserve the
head. They found one wrapped in several skins.
This monument consists of four tolerably strong
posts, supporting a little chamber of planks, in
which are reposited the ashes of the dead, enclosed
in chests. They opened the chest, unfolded the
skins in which the head was wrapped, and, having
satisfied then- curiosity, replaced every thing with
scrupulous exactness, adding presents of iron in-
struments and beads. . . ." [Ibid, pp. 389-390.]
The natives, though uneasy, took these away (p. 121).
YAKUTAT BAY, 1787 AND 1788
Beresford has described somewhat similar grave
monuments seen near the mouth of Ankau Creek, in
Yakutat Bay.
"When we came into this harbour [Port Mul-
grave], on the 23d of May, our attention was
a good deal engaged by the sight of a number of white
rails, on a level piece of ground, not far from the
creek"[Ankau] which I have already observed was
situated to the Southward of us. These rails were
about a mile and half from the vessel, and appeared,
at that distance, to be constructed with such order
and regularity, that we concluded them beyond the
reach of Indian contrivance, and consequently
540 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
that they were erected by some civilized nation.
Captain Dixon, willing to be satisfied in this par-
ticular, took an opportunity of going to the spot,
and to his great surprize, found it to be a kind of
burying-place, if I may be allowed to call it so,
where dead bodies are not deposited in the earth.
The manner in which they dispose of their dead is
very remarkable: they separate the head from the
body, and wrapping them in furs, the head is put
into a square box, the body in a kind of oblong chest.
At each end of the chest which contains the body,
a thick pole, about ten feet long, is drove into the
earth in a slanting position, so that the upper ends
meet together, and are very firmly lashed with a
kind of rope prepared for the purpose.
"About two feet from the top of this arch, a small
piece of timber goes across, and is very neatly fitted
to each pole: on this piece of timber the box which
contains the head is fixed, and very strongly secured
with rope; the box is frequently decorated with
two or three rows of small shells, and sometimes
teeth, which are let into the wood with great neat-
ness and ingenuity; and as an additional ornament,
is painted with a variety of colours; but the poles
are uniformly painted white. [These must be the
"rails" mentioned above.] Sometimes these poles
are fixed upright in the earth, and on each side
[of] the body, but the head is always secured in
the position already described.
"What ceremony is used by these people, in
depositing their dead in this manner, we never
could learn, as nothing of the kind happened during
our stay in the harbour." [Beresford, 1789, pp.
175-176.]
One would assume from the above description that
the decapitated but uncremated corpse had actually
been seen, yet it would be more consonant with all
known Tlingit customs if the body had been cremated,
as described by LaPerouse, even though the head, or
a head, were separately preserved in a box. Further-
more, the construction of the grave monument does
not quite correspond to those seen in Lituya Bay in
1786 or at the same place on Ankau Creek in 1791
(see below). The taking and keeping of trophy or
memorial heads, although perhaps less common in more
recent times than the preservation of the scalp, is
well documented (p. 584).
Near Sitka, Beresford saw a large cave in which was
"a square box, with a human head in it, deposited
in the manner already described at Port Mulgrave;
the box was very beautifully ornamented with small
shells, and seemed to have been left there very
recently, being the only one in the place. This cir-
cumstance seems to show, that the natives of this
place dispose of their dead in the same manner as
at Port Mulgrave, but probably make choice of
caves for that purpose, in preference to the open
air." [Beresford, 1789, p. 181.]
It should be noted that no mention was made of bodies
or of calcined bones in this cave. The head in the box
was therefore a trophy or memento like those more
recently found in a cave near Sitka (de Laguna, 1930).
When Ismailov and Bocharov visited Yakutat Bay
in 1788 they apparently saw native burial places,
for Shelikhov reports, on information received from
them:
"They burn their dead, place the ashes in a chest,
and suspend it on poles, called Imilasaby" (Coxe,
1803, p. 327). Although this description certainly fits
Tlingit and Yakutat practice as known in more re-
cent times, the word for the grave monument is not
Tlingit or Eyak. Nor is the word Athabaskan, as far
as I know.
Unfortunately, Colnett does not describe any graves
at Yakutat.
YAKUTAT BAT, 1791
The cemetery on the Ankau near Port Mulgrave
was described by Malaspina and Suria in several
passages.
"Having made an excursion to the nearby island,
we came to a little one [islet], but of an agreeable
amenity; it was covered with grass, many-hued with
flowers, although the greater number of plants
which were encountered were strawberry patches
with fruit very little different in taste from those
cultivated in the gardens of Spain. This spot was
used for the deposit of the bodies, as it seemed to
us, of persons of distinction. We saw three monu-
ments: one of these was shaped like a large and
horrible figure, holding in its claws a box in which
we believed were the ashes of some personage [pis.
60, 61]; another which the chief told us contained the
ashes of his father, and which was formed of two
pillars which supported a box, about one vara [2.8
feet] in size, in which were calcined bones [pi. 59].
The ditches which were in front of these monu-
ments, and the half-burned timbers which were
found in them, inclined us to believe that which
the natives gave us to understand, that they cre-
mated the dead, like some other Indians of the
coast." [Malaspina, 1849, p. 289.]
[On June 30, Don Felipe Bausa] "had moreover
penetrated somewhat up the river close by [Ankau
Creek], and visited, not without much admiration,
the graveyard mentioned by Captain Dixon. The
circumstances surrounding this place are all so
curious and capable of casting so much light on the
religious principles of these people that we would
have been guilty not to have visited it.
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 541
"Accordingly on the following morning [July 1],
Don Thomas Suria, Don Jos6 Espinosa and other
officers went by boat directly to the river and a
little after nine were in the indicated spot. Oppor-
tunely four or five natives appeared who were
wandering in the nearby fields, looking for straw-
berries to eat. They appeared, in truth, to be of
the lower class, and in consequence, little apt to
satisfy the curiosity, but as the principal object
of this excursion was to collect for the Royal Cabinet
something from the sepulchres, this company was
more opportune at the time than would have been
that of the local harbor, who, either from motives
of fear or of veneration, perhaps might not have
permitted the execution of our plans.
[No para.] "After first measuring them, Don
Thomas Suria drew hi perspective the posts and
beams that enclosed a large habitation that seemd
to be intended for the winter. Then they were oc-
cupied for a long time for the same objectives with
the ancient sepulchre and finally with the newer
one, which, because of its location, ornamentation
and good preservation, could not do less than cause
wonder and admiration. Finally, not offending the
natives, since they had been provided with gifts,
they took out and sent to the boat one of the boxes
that had been in the ancient sepulchre. It was
lightly ornamented on the outside with the usual
little snail shells {caracoles) [i.e., opercula]; inside
it was another smaller box, in which were found,
enclosed in a kind of small basket (esportilla),
some few calcined bones, mostly pulverized. Never-
theless, the view of these sepulchres which
accompanies this narrative will give a better idea
of its different parts and properties than could
be comprehended from a difficult and tedious des-
cription. We will only state that we understood
from the natives that these sepulchres were solely
for the Ankaus or reigning family, and that there
was no doubt that the bodies were burned around
the huge figure, since, besides the indication to
this effect by the natives, they saw three or four
excavated little ditches, the size of a man, in which
were covered with some planks and stones the
charcoal or wood which had served as the pyre.
We shall speak later at greater length on this inter-
esting part of the customs of these people, and will
venture our conjectures on the interpretation of
what we were able to observe." [Malaspina, 1885,
p. 161.]
[On the trip to Disenchantment Bay, Malaspina'a
party examined Knight Island, or the "Isle of
Pines."] "On its south shore, there could be seen
other sepulchres, identical with those which we had
visited in the vicinity of the port." [Ibid., p. 164.]
[The report later returns to a discussion and
description of these grave monuments, adding some
further details.]
"Among the many reasons and positive data
which dispelled all doubts as to the succession [of
chieftainship] being hereditary in the family of the
Ankau, and the distinction which it merited, our
attention was particularly drawn to the repository
of the dead of this same family, which we examined
with great care and the peculiarities of which were
represented with great accuracy by the painter
Cardero [sic; pis. 60, 61]. We have never been
able to understand whether the colossal monster
represented an idol or whether it was only a frightful
reminder of the ravages of death. We were led to
believe the former when we considered that there
were in its immediate vicinity several pyres on
which various bodies had been cremated, and in the
casket which was held under its claws or hands,
one could see a bowl-shaped basket, the crown of
a European hat, a wolf skin, and a piece of board.
The height of the monster was not less than ten and
a half French feet; the whole was made of pine wood;
the ornaments on the box were small shells inlaid
in the same wood, and the coloring was of red
hematite, with the exception of the teeth, the claws,
and the upper part of the head, which was painted
white and black. The two repositories at the sides
held in their upper boxes (caja) two baskets, one
larger than the other, made well fast, the contents
of which it was not easy for us to discover. The
lower box was covered with a few loose boards,
itself loose on the ground, and contained a small basket
with a few calcined bones, broken into such tiny
pieces that it was scarcely possible to distinguish
that they were parts of the cranium and of the
first two vertebrae of the neck. [Footnote: One of
these boxes with the small basket and the bones
was sent to the Royal Cabinet.]
"The face of the monster looked to the east. Its
name (according to some plebian natives who were
with us), Iukitchetch [yu-kitc-etc, or yu-kit-xetc, "this
-??], and the two monuments at the sides corre-
sponded to two sons of the present Ankau, as he him-
self informed us on our return from this excursion.
[No para.] "Even more remarkable was another
repository [pi. 59], no more than two musket shots
from those already described, and even though the
function was the same, to shelter a small casket
inside and to elevate another a greater distance above
the ground, its ornamentation and painting better
furnished, the hair which hung from either end of
the poles which served to support the box, and the high
posterior peak probably placed there to remind the
passer-by of the person whose ashes were deposited
542 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
there, all gave to this place an admirable prominence
which then acquired a new degree of beauty with
the pleasant environs surrounding it. Some officers
of the Descubierta who visited this site, accompanied
by the same Ankau, were able to ascertain that it was
the repository of one of his wives. Don Antonio Tova,
on the other hand, found a similar group of monu-
ments, facing in the same direction and with the
same monster, on the Isle of Pines [Isla Pineda,
Knight Island], which finally led us to believe that
each branch or family makes its own particular
monument, which made of wood and afterwards
neglected, in a few years falls victim to weather and
time." [Malaspina, 1885, p. 346.]
[Surfa has also left us a description of the cemetery.]
"In then: burials they keep some system and put
up monuments to the posterity of the good memory
of their dead. The geographer [Don Felipe Bausd]
gave us an account of the various monuments which
he had seen on the bank of a river [Ankau Creek] by
which he had entered to take a certain bearing, a
river which was quite close to the anchorage. One
morning the commander arranged for us to go in the
boat to look at these monuments which no voyager
had seen. [See, however, Beresford with Dixon, 1788.]
We therefore went and saw their sepulchres hi this
form. A little bit away from the bank of the river,
or rather arm of the sea (because this enters into it
and by signs the Indians even gave us to understand
that it divided the island and passed to the other side
of the great sea [either by an opening into the Ankau
lagoons which is now closed, or via Summit Lake and
Lost River], there is. . . ." [Suria mentions the
strawberries, wildcelery, etc. (Wagner, 1936, p. 257).]
"Near these on the right-hand side there were two
square boxes raised from the soil 2% yards and held
up by four pillars, also square. Of these boxes that
on the left-hand side had on the face of it to the
front various masks and other signs of which we do
not know the significance. At the foot of these boxes,
that is, on the surface of the ground there are others,
which were those that we explored and inside found
a calcined skeleton between some mats. This box
with all it contained we took on board." [Ibid., pp.
257-258.]
Farther along was the frame of the winter house
with decorated house posts, and the chief seemed to
indicate by gestures a potlatch or ceremony connected
with the funeral (involving the sacrifice of slaves?)
From these accounts and Suria's sketches, we know
that near the mouth of the Ankau, probably very near
the site of the present ANB cemetery, there were the
remains of cremations and at least four monuments in
which the ashes Avere placed. The most famous of these
was the figure of a Bear, holding a box under his paws
(pis. 60, 61). In style, this figure is perhaps not too
unlike the Bear Post carved at Yakutat about 1875.
Like the latter, the grave monument seems to display
a Teqwedi crest. On each side was a box or open-sided
shelter raised on four posts, with a box on the ground
below. I gather that the monument on the left was the
older of the two, and from it the Spaniards took the
lower box. These two monuments were believed to
contain the ashes of the Ankau's sons, who would, of
course, belong to the Eagle-Wolf moiety, since the
Ankau was a Raven man. Lastly, there was a grave
monument (pi. 59), variously ascribed to the Ankau's
father or to his wife, which might well have contained
the ashes of both, since they were likely to have be-
longed to the same sib. This consisted of two boxes,
the upper one carved with the face of a Bear, very like
that carved on the petroglyph from the Ankau lagoon
(de Laguna et a!., 1964. pi. 3, 6). This is supported on
each side by two posts or planks carved to represent
Killerwhale fins, and decorated with hair like dance
paddles. The lower box rests on the ground, but is
surmounted by a crest hat or helmet, apparently rep-
resenting a Wolf, from which rises an exaggeratedly
tall pile of cylinders. These monuments were painted:
red, black, and white are the colors mentioned.
Not only do these grave monuments indicate that
the Bear and Killerwhale were crests already repre-
sented at Yakutat before the end of the 18th century,
but that they were rendered in the style characteristic
of Yakutat art (and Tlingit art in general) of a later
period. Moreover, the placing of these monuments at
the Ankau and also on the southern shore of Knight
Island would support native tradition associating the
Ankau graveyard with the Teqwedi (see below, p. 544)
and the Knight Island site with the Teqwedi leader,
^Catgawet. It is a great pity that no graves of the
Raven moiety were mentioned by Malaspina or Suria.
Graves of the Late 19th Century
and Modern Times
The oldest grave houses that contained the ashes
of the dead were described by informants as boxlike
structures raised on four posts, like caches. There
were also posts, presumably carved with sib crests,
that were hollowed out behind to contain the ashes.
Those of each sib were grouped together, usually
behind the lineage houses of the sib, so that the 'village
of the dead' (sege qawu 'ani) duplicated in its arrange-
ment the village of the living. Only the corpse of the
shaman was carried farther away.
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 543
By the 1880's, modifications had been introduced
in the construction of the grave house. It was appar-
ently built on the ground and therefore bore a closer
resemblance to an actual dwelling. One such grave
house was built by Xadanek Johnstone at Situk for
his dead mother and placed close behind his own
Coward House. His daughter described the grave
house as like a little house with glass windows. Inside
one could see the camphorwood chest containing the
dead woman's charred bones, and the things which
she had used in life, including her baskets and dishes
with food. There were also Chilkat blankets hung
around. These things had been repurchased from the
members of the opposite moiety to whom they had evi-
dently been given for funeral services, or who might have
rightfully claimed them when they were to have been
burned. "He was his mother's favorite boy, and his
mother was scared of just the least bit of thing, that's
why he built that house and put her bones in there.
You just look in and see nothing but that fancy trunks."
The other chests in the grave house held the ashes
of ^adaneks sister and of his maternal uncle. Other
grave houses at that time were often surrounded by
a fence, and the man had been planning to add a
fence to this when he died in 1888.
"Before that, they put a fence around the house.
And some poor people can't afford a house, put up a
fence. And some people can't afford a fence and put
just a wooden cross." (MJ) The last obviously refers
to the practice of Christian burial, which was just
being introduced with the establishment of the mission.
Unfortunately we have no published descriptions of
native graves or funeral practices at Yakutat after
those of Malaspina and Suria until the end of the 19th
century. For example, Seton-Karr (1887, p. 132) men-
tions only that the body of a child who died of arsenic
poisoning in 1886 was cremated. He apparently did
not witness the performance, and has nothing to say
about the funerals of the adults who died a few days
later from the same cause.
Mrs. Shepard (1889, p. 228) gives only a very brief
description of the graveyard on Khantaak Island in
1889:
"These Indians cremate their dead. We saw
several little houses like sentry-boxes, with a window
on one side, in which were set, sometimes one and
two, often three, elaborately ornamented leathern
chests, in which we were told the ashes of the dead
reposed. In one more pretentious than the rest there
was a small clock; it was not running and I could
not imagine their idea in putting it there."
The same type of grave house was observed at
Kayak on Wingham Island in 1906 or 1907, although
by that time the natives of Controller Bay were in-
huming the dead. Thus, Higginson (1906, p. 20) notes:
"There is an Indian graveyard at Kayak that
will repay a visit. Small houses are built over the
graves, and through the windows are to be seen
dishes, provisions, lamps and other articles for the
use of the dead. Houses, fences and Russian crosses
are all painted white."
When Xadanek died in 1888, the mission at Yakutat
had just been started, and he was apparently buried,
not cremated, for his daughter mentioned seeing him
in his coffin, and later was active in erecting a handsome
monument over his grave. This led to a misunder-
standing with his nephew, Sitka Ned, since it was the
duty and privilege of the latter, not of the man's
child, to pay for the furnishing of his uncle's grave.
Xadanei: must have been one of the first to be interred,
for cremation continued to be practiced for a few years
longer.
There always seems to have been the feeling that the
dead should rest near the houses where they had lived,
and so now, as formerly, bodies are brought home for
burial, sometimes from considerable distances. As
the older villages became deserted, their sites were
often used as burial places for those who had lived
there. At the same time, other cemeteries were estab-
lished near the newer villages. There were presumably
cemeteries adjacent to all settlements where lineage
houses were erected, although for many of these nothing
now remains to mark the location.
Old cemeteries, no longer used, are at the abandoned
villages on the west side of the mouth of Dry Bay, at
Situk, on Khantaak Island, and also on the hill between
the Old Village and the mission. The original graveyard
on Khantaak Island, which probably contained both
cremated ashes and burials, was at Point Turner,
south of the village on Port Mulgrave. This was washed
away during the great earthquake of September 1899.
Many of the coffins or boxes of ashes were rescued and
buried at the village, which by that tune was abandoned
(pp. 287-288). The village site is now crowded with
graves, the last of which date from 1921. Here the dead
are grouped according to sib, as was reported to have
been the custom in still earlier times. From north to
south, there are the graves of Teqwedi, Kwacl:qwan,
Ti'uknaxAdi, and Galyix-Kagwantan, probably cor-
responding to the original alinement of houses, although
the Ti'uknaxAdi were said not to have had a house in
the village, and the Galyix-Kagwantan house is re-
ported only by Emmons (p. 319). The graves of a few
White men are clustered somewhat apart near the
southern end of the cemetery.
The graveyard on the hill between the Old Village and
the mission (pi. 31) seems to have been used during
the same period as that on the island opposite, although
no such clear group nig of graves could be observed,
perhaps because of the nature of the terrain. Most of
544 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
the graves which could be identified were those of
Kwacliqwan, although there were a few belonging to the
Teqwedi and to the Sitka Kagwantan. One of the
latter is empty because the nephews of the dead man
took his body back to Sitka the year after burial.
There was also a small K'ackqwan cemetery on the
flat below, near the shore, which was destroyed when
the road was built from Yakutat to the Old Village and
to the lagoon beyond. Some of the monuments, in-
cluding one or two that formerly stood near their
houses hi the Old Village in memory of persons who had
drowned, were moved to the point north of the Old
Village near the turn of the road to the lagoon (pi. 30).
These are dated from 1902 to 1948.
When the Yakutat Camp of the Alaska Native
Brotherhood was founded in 1921, the sandy point at
the mouth of the Ankau was adopted as a common
cemetery for the Yakutat people (pis. 32, 33). The
point is visible both from the Old Village and from the
modern town. Although during World War II there was
an Army bridge across Ankau Creek and a road running
all around Phipps Peninsula, it now can be reached
only by boat. Very near the site of the modern cemetery
was the settlement noted by Dixon, Malaspina, and
Vancouver, and the graveyard described by Beresford
and sketched by Suria. One would gather that the
striking monuments seen by Malaspma's party in 1791
had already fallen by 1794 (since they were not men-
tioned by Vancouver), although this seems unlikely.
At any event, I was not able to discover any trace of
older occupation near the ANB cemetery. Although my
informants had no trustworthy recollections of any
tradition about the older site, they did report that a
Teqwedi shaman had been put into a grave house near
the ANB cemetery. The oldest dated monument is that
of the reputed centenarian, Mrs. Bessey, who died in
1916, and who is said to have been buried here because
she wished to be near the grave house of her mother's
brother, the shaman. This would suggest that the
Teqwedi had used Ankau Point as a burial place ever
since the eighteenth century. In the modern cemetery,
however, there is no segregation by sib, but the graves
of biological families are grouped together.
At these cemeteries can be traced the changing styles
in graves. All of the older sites have grave houses, built
of commercial lumber, with gable roofs but without
doors or windows and apparently without floors. These
show that the custom of erecting grave houses survived
until comparatively recently, although the house was
built over the interred remains and did not hold a chest
of ashes or shelter a coffin inside- Some graves were
surrounded by a wooden fence, often built of commercial
turned posts, like those of a banister. At Khantaak
Island there was a group enclosed in a wrought iron
fence.
A slightly newer feature, introduced about 1900(?),
was that of covering the grave with a solid slab of
cement. Many of these slabs are unmarked and could
not be identified by informants, and many others that
were identified seem to have been made some tune after
the original burial. Such slabs may cover a single grave
or those of several relatives. Some have initials or a
name spelled out with round pebbles, occasionally with
marbles or beads, or an inscription that was cut into
the cement before it hardened. MJ claimed that it was
her mother and a baby sister who were the first to have
cement put over their graves, and that her husband, a
White man, had gone "down below" (southeastern
Alaska or the States) to get the cement.
At about the same time, or perhaps a little later,
marble tombstones or monuments were imported from
the States. Again, MJ claims that the first ones were
procured by her husband for her father and mother,
but erected some tune after their deaths. Such monu-
ments usually have an inscription, but it is not always
possible to discover the identity of the person or persons
named, especially when a native name is transliterated
into English spelling. Quite frequently, several names
appear on a single shaft, and several shafts may be set
on one large cement slab. A number of these stone
monuments are known to have been erected long after
the original burial, perhaps replacing an earlier wooden
grave house. Some of the first marble monuments are
said to have been carved with sib crests, copied from
wooden models sent to the stonecutters in Portland or
made up by the latter from verbal instructions. Most
of these early stone figures have now disappeared. They
obviously took the place of the carved mortuary col-
umns that held ashes, or the carved wooden figures on
grave houses.
The grave of iadanek Johnstone (1888) on Khantaak
Island, originally had a grave house and fence, and two
of the carved posts from Coward House at Situk were
believed to have been left on the grave. Later, the
grave was covered with cement and was said to have
had a stone marker surmounted with a large Bear, the
Teqwedi crest. This tombstone cost $400 (MJ). Still
later, this fell down and was replaced by a rather plain
but impressive shaft.
The modern cemetery at Ankau lacks grave houses,
and the graves are either covered over or walled
around with cement. Most have tombstones of con-
ventional type, those for children being frequently
decorated with cherubs or lambs. Within the past few
years (since about 1950) some monuments of brown
marble have been set up.
The most elaborate grave house was one seen at
Situk hi 1949. It later collapsed and the debris had
been entirely cleared away by 1952. This was a small
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 545
house of commercial lumber with gable roof, glass
windows on four sides, and a door at the end with a
china knob. On the wooden floor inside was the cement
box or tomb of Situk Jim, who died in 1912, identified
by JIM spelled out on the top with pebbles set into
the cement. Beside it was the unmarked tomb of his
brother, Situk Harry, who died in 1945.
In the cemetery between the Old Village of Yakutat
and the mission, there is said to have been the large
grave house of Yakutat Chief Yaxodaqet (II), mother's
brother of Chief George. This once had a large wooden
Raven on the roof, but now no traces of grave house
or of the carving remain. It is said that the Raven
was sold to some museum or collector. (Cf. pi. 167.)
Only a few marble monuments with crest figures
were seen. One of these, on Khantaak Island, was a
fallen and broken shaft that had been carved to rep-
resent an Eagle in a nest on top of a stump. It was
incribed "SHORTEY CREETHE 1891-1909," whom
I was unable to identify, and "KITTIE CHARLEY
1875-1909," the Teqwedi wife of Sitka Charley, head
of the Tl'uknaxAdi Whale House in Sitka. On the
point just north of the Old Village, are a number of
stone monuments to Kwackqwan men, which had been
moved to the site from their original locations (pi.
30). Two of these gravestones are squared monuments
each with a Raven carved on one face in low relief.
These are to Bear Bit Billy, "BILLEY," Chief of Fort
House, who died in 1902, and to Jack Shakokon, a
son of Ca-kuwakan of Coward House, who died in
1912. In the modern cemetery at Ankau Point the
tombstone of Jack Ellis, who died in 1952, is incised
with a figure of the Tl'xjknaxAdi Frog, in recognition
of his hope to build a Frog House at Yakutat (pi. 33).
There also seems to have been the custom of erecting
a monument to those who had died by drowning,
usually as near to the scene as possible, but I do not
know how old this practice was. A Teqwedi man, the
brother-in-law of Chief Yaxodaqet (II), drowned in the
Arhnklin River some time in the last century. About
1900 a wooden "flag" was set up near the mouth of
the river in his memory. This was a wooden placard,
about 6 by 4 feet, painted white, with his name and
dates of birth and death. The "flag" was attached by
ring bolts to a pole 10 feet high, so that it could swing
in the wind (SJ). This was not the first monument of
its kind, for Schwatka in 1886 (p. 76) noted a high
pole with a weathervane at the top, which had been
erected near the outlet of Lost River from Summit Lake,
in memory of a young Indian who had died there some
years before in a terrible storm. About 1896, I was
told, two Kwackqwan brothers drowned in the Ankau,
and a wooden cross with their names was put up here.
The same custom has continued up to the present
time. A marble shaft, on which two hands are incised
as if clasped in friendship, was erected in the Old
Village, in memory of Sitka Ned and his wife, both
prominent builders of named houses (Teqwedi and
Kwackqwan), who were presumed lost from their boat
in 1926. The monument was later shifted to the point
north of the Old Village (pi. 30). A most impressive
marble shaft stands at the mouth of the Ankau for
Henry Adams (Kwackqwan) and Norman Lott (Eskimo-
English), who drowned here in 1948 and whose bodies
were never recovered. The setting up of such markers,
like the making of graves and erecting of tombstones
was, of course, the responsibility of the maternal kin
of the deceased who paid the members of the opposite
moiety for doing the actual work.
Modern Funerals
Changes in the character of the cemeteries accom-
panied other changes in funeral customs. Thus, while
clothing, including valuable Chilkat blankets and other
ceremonial costumes, were once burned with the body,
it later became customary to inter these with the dead.
The grave of Situk Jim is said to contain three to four
thousand dollars worth of clothing and regalia.
According to a credible White informant, it is still the
custom to deposit food (canned goods, cookies, soft
drinks) and sometimes a suitcase (presumably full of
clothing) in the grave. One man told me that he in-
tended to be buried with his crest blanket, in order to
prevent quarrels among his heirs. Flowers, often ex-
pensive wreaths and hothouse blooms, are put on the
new grave. Apparently food is still set into the fire for
the deceased at some funerals.
When a woman died as a result of a tragic accident
in the early spring of 1954 a modern funeral could be
observed. Her body was brought back to her mother's
house, where both relatives and female members of the
gunEtkAnayi gathered. The latter dressed the body in
new clothing, and wrapped it in a soft new blanket.
A little later in the day it was brought to the ANB Hall,
where it lay flat on a stretcher at the back of the hall,
the face covered with a silk scarf. Here the body was
kept for 3 days, the gunEtkAnayi keeping vigil in the
hall, where they were fed by relatives of the deceased.
The close relatives of the dead woman were also in the
hall during this time. While some of the gxmEtkAnayi
might sit up all night, singing old songs and playing such
games as checkers, Chinese checkers or Monopoly and
exchanging stories, others were given blankets and
matresses on the floor where they could rest. There was
also a public meeting in the ANB Hall, the first evening
after the death (Sunday), at which the minister spoke,
546 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
and prominent men of both moieties lamented the dead
and preached sermons about the death. Meanwhile, a
skilled carpenter among the gunEtkAnayi men was
making the coffin. On the fourth morning, after the
body had been put into the coffin and her sisters had
posed beside it for the photograph they asked me to
take, the coffin was carried to the church for a funeral
service, at the conclusion of which the face was un-
covered for the last tune, and almost all the towns-
people filed by to look. It is not the custom for the
relatives or sibmates to accompany the coffin to the
cemetery; rather they take leave of the deceased at the
door of the church, and the gunEtkAnayi pall-bearers
carry the coffin to a skiff waiting at the landing place
below and ferry it across to Ankau Point. Here they
dig the grave and bury the coffin.
It is still customary to have a feast for the dead the
night after the funeral, given by the bereaved to the
members of the opposite moiety. At this party the
favorite foods of the deceased may be served, and those
guests who had performed funeral services (caring for
the corpse, making the coffin, keeping vigil, attending
to the grave) are given small gifts, kerchiefs, yarn, etc.,
as tokens of the greater rewards which they will receive
when full payment is made at a final potlatch. The
latter will not be held until after the grave has been
covered with cement and the tombstone set up, or
they may be paid at a small potlatch as soon as cash
becomes available at the end of the fishing season, with
a second potlatch or payment made for finishing the
grave. I believe that the old smoking feast for the dead
is now combined with the feast after the funeral, for I
was told of a smoking feast held in the cemetery for a
woman who died in 1935. On this occasion, cigarettes
were passed around in a large dish, and members of the
opposite moiety were expected to smoke for the benefit
of the deceased's spirit. Now, it would be customary
to hold the party in the ANB Hall or in a restaurant
in Yakutat.
"The last time when they were feasting for Jack
[Ellis, who died in March, 1952], I made Siwash bread
boiled in oil, and old-fashioned candy. They [the
speaker's sibmates] liked it so much before I give it
away to opposite tribe, they pretty near eat it up!
Anything your old mother, or sister like to eat [referring
to a hypothetical relative who had just been buried],
you put it in the fire, call their name and they get it,
but not too close, or they burn their hands." (MJ)
The expenses of funerals are heavy. Thus, at a recent
one the relatives of the deceased spent $160 just to feed
the watchers at the wake. The Alaska Native Sister-
hood, however, regularly raises money through Bingo
games and this fund is available to help defray costs.
In this case the coffin was paid for by the fund. For
another recent funeral, the Sisterhood provided flowers
and refreshments for the first night. For the subsequent
nights, the deceased's sibmates paid for the food and
coffee, although the Sisterhood fetched the things from
the store and charged them to the family. Sometimes,
the relatives may order a commercial coffin flown in by
air, but they are usually made by an expert native
carpenter. The tombstone is always as handsome as
the family can afford, often costing several hundred
dollars. In addition, there must be special payments
made to those who erected it, as well as to all those who
assisted at the funeral. For example, the monument to
Henry Adams and Norman Lott, whose bodies were
never found, is said to have cost $3500. Payments are
usually made at a potlatch to which all members of the
moiety of the deceased make a contribution, so that
every guest receives something. In some cases, the
workers may be paid at the graveside when the grave is
finished, yet they would expect to receive something
more when a potlatch is given.
Widows and bereaved mothers now wear black ker-
chiefs on their heads as a symbol of mourning, and the
former, as already mentioned, may also wear a string
around the waist for the ritual 8 days. The widow's
hair is no longer cut. She apparently resumes her
usually bright-colored head scarf when her husband's
grave has been finished and she is ready to remarry.
Elderly women who have lost then- husbands and other
relatives and who do not intend to marry again con-
tinue to wear the black kerchiefs. The end of mourning
would normally come after the tombstone had been
erected on the grave and the potlatch or "party" was
given for this. At such a feast, the deceased's property
might be distributed to his heirs.
Such a funeral party was given in the fall of 1952,
marking the end of mourning for a Tl'uknaxAdi man
who had died that spring. This was held in a restaurant,
the Tl'uknxAdi providing the food. At this "potlatch,"
there were complicated transfers of money, for the
Kagwantan widow distributed her husband's estate
among his sibmates, plus moneys which the Kagwantan
had collected to increase these payments. Then, the
dead man's sibmates as hosts paid the members of
the opposite moiety for their services at the funeral
and for covering the grave with cement, so that, in
effect, much of the money was returned to the original
donors.
The widow said that she had known her husband
would want his funeral to be conducted in the old
way, which was why she had arranged this. It had
cost her $1500, that is, through the distribution of
his estate and her own contributions to his sibmates.
It is not clear whether the cost of the tombstone
IN THREE PARTS THE LIFE CYCLE 547
which was ordered at that time was included in this
amount. Apparently she did pay $800 for the stone
(including transportation and the subsequent cost o,f
erection?), although according to the older notions
this should have been the charge of his sib. While
she mentioned specific sums, it is impossible to work
out the full amounts involved and just how the pay-
ments were made. For example, the deceased had left
an account of $3200 in a bank, of which the lawyer
got $1200. Of the remainder, the widow had given
away or loaned other sums to her husband's nephew
and to other close relatives in his own sib, apparently
prior to the funeral party, although this was not clear.
There was said to have been left only $375 for the
widow and $185 for the son. This inheritance followed
Territorial law, not the old-style native pattern under
which the widow and son would have received nothing,
so it is obvious that the distributions of money to
the dead man's sibmates were, in effect, a substitute
for the inheritance they would have received in former
days.
Thus, at least two men and two women in the dead
man's sib who were considered close relations (cousins),
each received $100 at the party; other sibmates were
given sums of $50. All the dead man's clothes were
given away, and the widow put the money with the
garments to be distributed. The Ti'trknaxAdi are said
to have "fought over the money?old way," although
this was not further explained.
In addition, the Kagwantan had gotten together $250
to give away. To this sum, the widow herself contributed
$100, the son $50, and others $5 to $10 each. Apparently
the money was handled by the widow at this party
(cf. pp. 610, 640-642).
Then the Tl'uknaxAdi, as hosts and debtors, "paid
the opposite side for taking care of the funeral." The
Tt'uknaxAdi were "supposed to stand all the expense
of the funeral," but the Kwac?qwan can also (would
also) contribute, the amounts depending on how much
they could afford and how closely related they might
be to the deceased. I did not learn how much was paid
by the Tl'uknaxAdi for the funeral.
As in former days, the graveyards are never visited
except in connection with a funeral or to work on a
grave. However, Memorial Day has come to be a com-
munity feast for the dead. In preparation, wreaths are
ordered from Juneau and the women make boxes full
of beautiful artificial flowers. Everyone goes to the
cemetery at Ankau Point early in the afternoon, to
weep over the recently departed, and to clear away the
weeds from the graves and decorate them with flowers
(pi. 32). Quantities of food have been brought along,
and families eat together, sitting on the graves of their
relatives, sharing cake and soft drinks with their
friends. In the late afternoon, the minister will lead the
group in singing hymns before they go home. In 1954,
one native man who had been converted to the Church
of Christ stretched out his arms and "spoke with
tongues."
In the Memorial Day observances there is, I believe,
a real communion with the dead, and the old custom of
feeding the dead at the fire during a potlatch was
compared to these. Formerly on Memorial Day, when
people went to the cemetery, "they used to have kind
of a party there, a long time ago. We eat there and they
talk back and forth, but not this time" (1954). Ap-
parently the leading men spoke as if it were the old-
style feast for the dead. On Memorial Day too, flowers
and food may be dropped into the water for those who
had drowned. "For drowned people they put the food
in the water?even lunch buckets, thermos bottles, and
all. . . . My mother, before she died, she reminds us of
our little sister that got drowned. We always got flowers
and put them in the water on Decoration Day, and
Mother puts a dish of grub in the water. They put in
anything they used to eat?the dead person. Nowadays
they put in cigarettes, candy, soda pop. In olden times
they used to put in dried berries."