PEOPLE OF YANCOUVER ISLAND. 83 



Kit-katla now is, for instance, drifted to Fort Rupert, while the Fort Enperts drifted to 

 Kit-katla. Some of the people had small canoes, and by anchoring them managed to 

 come down near home when the water subsided. Of the Hailtzak there remained only- 

 three individuals : two men and a woman, with a dog. One of the men landed at Kâ- 

 pa, a second at another village site, not far from Bella-Bella, and the woman and dog at 

 Bella-Bella. From the marriage of the woman with the dog, the Bella-Bella Indians 

 originated. When the flood had subsided there was no fresh water to be found, and the 

 people were very thirsty. The raven, however, shewed them how, after eating, to chew 

 fragments of cedar (T/iui/a) wood, when water came into the mouth. The raven also ad- 

 vised them where, by digging in the ground, they could get a little water ; but soon a 

 great rain came on, very heavy and very long, which filled all the lakes and rivers so that 

 they have never been dry since. The water is still, however, in some way understood 

 to be connected with the cedar, and the Indians say if there were no cedar trees there 

 would be no water. The converse would certainly hold good. 



It will be observed that two original versions of the flood story seems to have been 

 combined in that above given, the result being that both mountains and canoes appear 

 as means of safety. 



One of the most remarkable local stories which I have met with, is that attaching to 

 a little stream which enters Forward Inlet, Quatsino Sound, a short distance south of the 

 principal village of the Kwâ'-tsï-no. This stream is named Tsoo-tsT-o-le, and an intelligent 

 Indian told me that on its upper waters peculiar beings named A-tlis-im reside. These 

 people — for they resemble Indians — come sometimes down to the sea to fish, and they 

 have been seen at night crossing the inlet in black canoes. If followed to the shore, they 

 lift their canoes up on their shoulders and hasten away inland. Thus the Indians know 

 that their canoes are not made of wood, but of some very light material. 



On enquiring particularly of Ow-It as to this, the following more detailed and proba- 

 bly more authentic version of the story was obtained : — 



Very long ago, at a time when the people were celebrating their winter feast or 

 " cannibal dance," the possessed individual, or medicine man, was dancing on the end of a 

 sort of projecting jetty formed of large split cedar planks, fixed together end to end, and 

 anchored out with stones and ropes. Something having happened to displease him very 

 much, he tied one of the stones about his neck, and plunging into the sea, was drowned. 

 Overcome with distress or shame, his wife, taking her children with her, fled away into 

 the woods near or up the little stream above referred to. The runaways multiplied there 

 and were afterwards seen by the Indians at various times. They had forgotten how to 

 speak, but communicated with each other by whistling. These people were said to be the 

 original ancestors of the Kiâw-pino or a part of them — a statement somewhat at variance 

 with that previously given as to the origin of this tribe. 



At another time, the Kwâ'-tsi-no saw a man in a canne, on the sea, who, on being 

 followed, landed, and folding up his canoe, hurried away up the valley of the Tsoo-tsT-o-le. 

 The Indians, however, determined to pursue him, and did so till they reached a lake of 

 some size from which the river comes, the head of which is said to reach nearly to the 

 present trail running from the Winter Harbour Lagoon to Kopriuo Harbour. The man 

 followed is supposed to have been a descendant of the fugitives jîreviously mentioned, 

 and was a sorcerer of great power. He drew his bow, and as his pursuers were coming 



