86 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



enabled to get anything like a eonneeted narrative from him at all. 

 The old man recited his story chapter by chapter, that is, tally by tally, 

 and the intei-preter followed in like order. The following is the sub- 

 stance of what I was able to record : 



In the beginning there was water everywhere and no land at all. 

 When this state of things had lasted for a long while, the Great Spirit 

 determined to make land appear. Soon the tops of the mountains showed 

 above the water and they grew and grew till their heads reached the 

 clouds. Then he made the lakes and rivers, and after that the trees and 

 animals. Soon after this had been done, '' Kà-là'nà'' the first man, was 

 made. The Great Spirit bestowed upon him the three things an Indian 

 cannot do without, viz., a wife, a chisel or adze, and a salmon trap. 

 Ka-la'na was a good man and obeyed the Great Spirits commands, and 

 in course of time his wife bore him many sons and daughters, who spread 

 out over the land and peopled it. When the land was full of people and 

 Ivalana had grown very old. the Great Spirit took him away one day 

 and the people saw him no more. Now, as Kalana had advanced in 

 years the people had become very wicked and vexed the Great Spirit. 

 And after he had left them they became worse. AVhen this state of things 

 had been going on for a long time, the Great Spirit made the waters rise 

 up over all the land above the tops of the highest mountains, and all the 

 people were drowned except one man named Cheatmuh, the first-born of 

 Kalana, and his wife. These two escaped in their canoe, which iloated 

 about on the water for a long time, and at last, when they were nearly 

 dead with hunger, settled on the top of a high mountain which was not 

 quite covered wilh water. After this the waters subsided, and Cheatmuh 

 and his wife descended from the mountain and built themselves a house, 

 and in course of time repeopled the land again with their offspring. A 

 long interval now went by and the people Avere happy and prosperous. 

 Many salmon came up the Squamish every season, and there was food 

 for everybody and to spare. 



But the Great Spirit became angiy with them again a second 

 time after Cheatmuh's death, and this lime he punished them by 

 sendino- a ffreat snow-storm upon the land. Day after day, and moon 

 after moon, the snow fell in tiny flakes, covering everything and 

 hiding all the land, and the streams, and the rivers, and the trees. The 

 snow was remarkable for its extreme fineness, and it penetrated every- 

 where. It came into their houses and put out the fires, and into 

 their clothes and made them wet and cold. (In this part of his 

 recital the old man was exceedingly interesting and graphic in his 

 description, the very tones of his voice lending themselves to his story, 

 and 1 had gathered, long before the interpreter took up the story, that 

 he had told of something that was very small and had penetrated every- 

 where.) Soon all the stores of fish and all available firewood was con- 



