﻿NO. 



SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS. I926 



253 



Numerous legends concerning the mythical hero called Hirokwati 

 were also recorded, with their songs. 



On August 24, Miss Densmore arrived at Chilliwack, British Co- 

 lumbia, to record songs among the Indians gathered at the hop- 

 fields where they were employed as pickers. These Indians were 

 more than i,ooo in numlier. During the next two weeks she obtained 

 more than 120 songs. 28 of which were recorded by old medicine men 

 who use them at the present time in treating the sick. The 20 In- 

 dians who recorded songs were from 16 localities distributed over 

 a territory extending about 400 miles north and south and about 150 



Fig. 242. — Indians playing Slahal game at Chilliwack, B. C. (Photograph 



by Miss Densmore.) 



miles east and west. Some live in mountain regions whence they go 

 to the railroad on pack horses, while others were from remote set- 

 tlements on islands or along the Pacific Coast. Among these locali- 

 ties were Cooper Island, Church House, Powell River, Metlakatla. 

 Port Simpson, the Nass, Skeena, Thompson and Fraser rivers ; and 

 the west coast of Vancouver Island. Mrs. Sophie Wilson, a singer 

 from Church House on Butte Inlet, is shown in figure 241. Among 

 the interesting songs is one said to have been sung by a seal, another 

 song is about a mountain goat, and another is the song of a doctor 

 who talked with a whale and received from it the power to heal the 

 sick. 



An interesting event of each Sunday at the hop-pickers' camp was 

 the playing of the Slahal game, its songs accompanied by pounding 



