The Salish People: Volume I. Charles Hill-Tout
not ties, which was a specialty. He set them to work and for two days let them alone. On the third day he went into the woods to see how they were getting along and found they had not been carrying out the conditions of the contract, which called for a tie eight feet long, seven inches wide and seven inches thick. Some were so heavy that it took two men to handle one. He was paying them $4 a day to spoil his timber. So they had to take a contract for so much a tie. Then the ten lumberjacks said ‘Give us our time.’ So he paid them off at $4 a day and they went away. The two real tie-cutters were kept and they advised him to advertise for tiecutters, which he did and got a dozen really good men. He fulfilled the contract for 50,000 ties and got a second contract. When this was completed it was suggested to him by the CPR agent that he should put in a mill and cut the bigger timber which the CPR would require. This he did and ran the lumber mill for about ten years.”
SQAKTKTQUACLT, OR THE BENIGN-FACED, THE OANNES OF THE NTLAKAPAMUQ [THOMPSON], BRITISH COLUMBIA1
The following story is one of several which the writer recently obtained from Chief Mischelle of Lytton. It is not complete as the old Indians used to relate it; he had forgotten the latter portions of it. It was originally so long that those listening to it invariably went to sleep before it was concluded. Few Indians, I was informed, know so much of it as Mischelle. It is important, therefore, to place on record what I was able to gather from him. Mischelle was a good raconteur, and took the liveliest pleasure in relating to me his store of lore. My method of recording was as follows: I made copious notes at the time, and expanded them immediately after. When written out, I read them to him and corrected them where necessary according to his instructions. They are, therefore, in their present form substantially as he gave them.
In the remote past the red-headed woodpecker was a very handsome man who had two wives, a black bear and a grizzly bear. They were not animals then, but women in bear-form.2 When the woodpecker was a youth he had gone away by himself into a solitary spot, as was the custom of young men, and fasted and practised himself in athletic exercises, asking each morning before sunrise that Kokpe (the chief) would bless him. Kokpe heard his prayer, and as a sign of his favour gave him the beautiful red cap which now distinguishes his avial descendants to this day. When he had thus secured the favour and blessing of Kokpe, he returned from the mountain and married his two wives. He became a great hunter. Six sons were born to him by his wives — three by each. After the children were bom, he lost his love for the grizzly and showed a marked preference for the black bear. This made the grizzly bear very angry and jealous; but she hid her feelings and determined upon a revenge which included not only her co-wife and the sons, but also her husband himself. So one day, when the woodpecker was away hunting, she called her eldest son to her and gave him the following instructions: “The black bear and I are going out root-digging today. When we have gone, I want you to make some berry-soup. You must make it very thin and poor. The black bear’s boy will also make some. He will make his very thick and rich. When you have made yours, give it to the black bear’s boy, and he will give you his in exchange. Your soup will make their stomachs ache. When you have eaten your soup, ask your half-brothers to go and bathe with you in the river. When you are in the water together, seek an opportunity to drown your half-brothers, the black bear’s children, and roast the youngest for me, that I may eat him for my supper when I return tonight.” The son promised to do as his mother had bidden him.
The black bear in some way got to know what the grizzly had instructed her eldest son to do, and warned her first-born to be on his guard against his half-brother. She further told him to make some soup also, and give it to the grizzlies in return for theirs, but to make his soup rich and thick and tempting, and then they would eat heartily of it and become very full and heavy, so that when they went into the water they would be unable to swim. After each of the mothers had thus instructed her first-born, they set out together to dig roots. The root-ground was some distance from their home, and on reaching it they sat down side by side to rest before beginning the work. Sitting thus, the grizzly bear presently began to admire the black bear’s hair. “What lovely hair you have, dear sister!” said she, stroking it as she spoke. “But I see some lice in it; lay your head in my lap, and I will take them out for you.” The black bear did as the other suggested, and the grizzly made pretence to crush the lice between her nails. She continued this for a little while, and then complaining that her fingers were sore with killing the vermin, suggested that she should be allowed to kill them with her teeth. The black bear, suspecting nothing, assented to this also, merely admonishing her to be careful not to bite her. The grizzly promised to use care, but, getting her rival’s head in a favourable position, presently caught the black bear by the base of the skull with her sharp and powerful teeth, which, penetrating into the brain, killed her instantly. Leaving the body where it lay, she hastened back towards home again. On coming near home, she stopped at a cross trail to await the woodpecker, who always returned by that trail from his hunting. She presently saw him approaching; and as he drew near, assuming her most pleasing manner, she cried out to him thus: “O dear husband, I am so glad you have come! I was on my way home from the root-digging, and knowing that you always came by this road, I sat down to wait for you. You look very tired; come and rest with me awhile, and we will go home together. You must be weary after your long hunt; rest your head in my lap, and tell me what game you have brought home.”
The woodpecker, who was really tired from his hunt, and inclined to rest, did as his grizzly wife suggested, and laid his head on her lap. Presently she asked: “May I smooth your beautiful red cap? You have ruffled it in the forest.” The request being granted, after she had smoothed the ruffled cap she began to stroke his hair gently and caressingly. A few moments later she cried out: “0 dear husband, you have lice in your hair; let me take the nasty creatures out for you!” The woodpecker, who was a very clean person, was greatly distressed to learn that there were lice in his head, and readily consented to have them taken out, straightway laying his head face downwards in her lap for the purpose. Without loss of a moment the revengeful, jealous wife seized the favourable opportunity and caught her husband by the back of his head with her sharp teeth and made them meet in his skull, killing him instantly. Flinging his body into the bush, she hastened home, anxious to taste the supper she had bidden her son prepare for her.
In the meantime events at home had not turned out as she had desired. After the mothers had gone to the root-ground, the two eldest boys made their soup as they had been instructed, and when it was cooked each exchanged soup with the other. When the black-bear boy shared the soup he had received from the grizzly boy with his own brothers, he bade them eat sparingly of it. When the little grizzly boys tasted the soup they had received, they found it so nice that they ate it all up at once; but the little black-bear boys complained of theirs, and ate but little, declaring that it had no more flavour than water. When the meal was done, the eldest of the black-bear boys suggested that they should all go down to the river and bathe, and play in the water. As this suited the plans of the other, it was agreed to, and to the river they went. On reaching the bank, the black bear’s eldest son said: “Let our two youngest brothers have a swim together, and see who will beat.” The two little ones jumped forthwith into the river, but not being able to swim were both drowned. They were pulled out by the others and laid on the bank. The two middle boys now made an attempt, and were drowned in like manner. “Now let us try,” said the grizzly boy to the other, intending to drown him when he got him into the water. The other agreed. They both jumped into the river; but as the grizzly boy had eaten so much soup, he was in no condition for swimming, and in the struggle which followed was himself drowned.
The black-bear boy now returned to shore, pulling his half-brothers with him. When he was out of the water he took his own two brothers and held them head downwards, so that all the water ran out of their lungs, and they presently began to breathe once more, and in a little time were all right and well again. He then built a big fire, and taking the youngest of the grizzly boys he spitted him with a big stick and set him to roast before the fire. The other two he threw into the fire, which soon reduced them to ashes, so that no sign of them remained.
When the little grizzly boy was sufficiently roasted he stood him up on his legs by the fire to keep warm for the old grizzly mother’s supper. When this was done, he called his two brothers to him, and told them that they would now have to leave their home and run away by themselves. So the second brother3